The English Football League has announced that all its clubs have agreed to interview at least one black, Asian and minority ethnic (BAME) candidate for vacant managerial or first-team coaching jobs.
The decision, which was reached at an extraordinary general meeting on Thursday, is an extension of the trial of a voluntary recruitment code that was piloted by 10 EFL clubs last season.
The new arrangement, based on the NFL's 'Rooney Rule', will come into force on January 1 and last until the end of the 2018-19 season.
"We acknowledge that some would like to see us go further and move faster, but the priority, at this time, has to be to understand whether a code of this type is capable of delivering the positive results that everyone in the game is seeking," EFL chief executive Shaun Harvey told BBC Sport.
"By supporting the extension of our positive action measures, EFL clubs are leading the way to address the under representation of BAME managers and coaches in professional football.
"Having operated such measures in both academy and first-team football over a whole season, we believe that this approach has the potential to deliver the right outcomes if operated by all clubs over a period of time."
Research by the Sports People's Think Tank and the Fare network revealed that fewer than one in 20 senior jobs in English football are currently held by BAME coaches, despite BAME players making up more than a quarter of all squads.
Giuseppe Labellarte
