Sarina Wiegman has said that England wanted to “send a message to the world” following online racial abuse suffered by defender Jess Carter during Euro 2025.
Carter, who has started all of the defending champions’ four matches so far in Switzerland ahead of Tuesday night’s semi-final against Italy, took to social media on Sunday to reveal she planned to take a step back from online platforms to focus on the rest of the tournament.
Wiegman spoke of her sadness that the squad have had to be occupied by “ridiculous and disgusting discrimination” and gave Carter her full support, adding she is “ready to perform”.
In a statement on Sunday the England team confirmed that instead of taking a knee they would remain standing before the game against Italy in Geneva. It read: “It is clear we and football need to find another way to tackle racism.”
Speaking in a press conference on Monday, Wiegman said: “It’s really sad we have to be occupied by this. It’s ridiculous and disgusting. It goes beyond football so we have to pay attention to that and support Jess.
“Of course she is not the only one to get abuse and [experience] racism and that is why she has addressed it. She is fully supported by us, the team and by myself.
“We have conversations. It’s a hard situation, but Jess is a very strong person, she wants to move on too. But she also felt she had to address this, she couldn’t just let it go, so she did – we did.
“Then we know there is a match, we want to perform, she is ready to perform and to compete. That says a lot about her and the team. The team wants to perform tomorrow [against Italy] but also felt it was important to send a message to the world.”
Asked if she expected to have a full complement of players available for the semi in Geneva, Wiegman said: “That’s what it looks like, yeah.”
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England defender Lucy Bronze passionately supported her team-mate Jess Carter who spoke out about receiving racist abuse during the 2025 Euros.
FIFA President Gianni Infantino has offered the governing body’s support to England, while Football Association CEO Mark Bullingham condemned the abuse and said the FA has been in contact with UK police.
England team-mate Lotte Wubben-Moy said in an Instagram post that she planned to come off social media as well.
Georgia Stanway, also speaking in a press conference ahead of the Italy game, hopes England’s stance will spark a bigger anti-racism drive across the sport.
“If anything it’s brought us together as a team,” Stanway said. “There are some things we will never be able to understand and this is one of them.
“We need to cut it out of society and football. Right now all we can do is show our support and togetherness and be united in what we think is right.
“It might sound like one person is fighting this battle but we’re all behind her and stand with her. That’s the beauty of football, we make change as a collective, and then we’re more powerful.
“We felt [taking] the knee was a bit repetitive. It’s not doing what we want it to do. Our decision is to stand and hopefully that will stimulate more conversation and change, and hopefully get the topic talking.”
Soncin: We stand in solidarity with Carter
Italy head coach Andrea Soncin says his side stand in “maximum solidarity” with Carter.
The Italians are through to their first women’s European Championship semi-final in 28 years, but will have to knock out defending champions England if they want to reach their first final since 1997.
Despite the magnitude of the occasion, Soncin feels Italy have a “huge responsibility” to stand up to the kind of vitriol directed at Carter.
“Of course there is the greatest solidarity towards her and towards all violence and abuse situations,” said Soncin.
“Any type of violence is not accepted, cannot be tolerated. Because of the role we play, we have a strong and huge responsibility in giving positive messages, and especially educational messages, first of all for the children who will be the adults of tomorrow.
“It is a cultural campaign, a cultural battle, we all have to fight together.”