‘The headwinds are real’ -profit intends to keep fighting for equality through sports

It has been five years, and Allen Hopkins is more motivated than ever. As he surveys the American soccer landscape, the executive director of Black Players for Change has seen, well, change.

The organization he co-founded in 2020 has now been around for half a decade. Introduced to offer support to Black and minority footballers and stakeholders in American soccer, Black Players for Change began as a meeting of minds, and has since expanded into an important and powerful non-profit organization.

It has become instrumental in the way Major League Soccer identifies racism, approaches social issues, and educates its players on discrimination in the sport. And for the players themselves – those with individual causes and concrete passions that fight against racism and discrimination in local communities – it offers foundational support. And despite the latest wave of political and social vitriol that has swept through the United States, the organization, five years in, is showing few signs of slowing down.

“It’s that spirit of unity, collaboration, partnership,” Hopkins told GOAL. “You know that when all those things, the hard things – they call them soft skills, yeah, really the hard skills – when those things come together like that is when we’re really going to get to a place where we feel like we’re the best in the world.”