England Women defender Jess Carter has revealed she has been racially abused on social media during Euro 2025 – with her Lionesses team-mates hitting out at the vile messages. The 27-year-old defender has started all four of Englands games in Switzerland so far but revealed she has been subject to racist slurs on her social media accounts since the tournament began.
Alongside a statement released on Carters Instagram, a separate post from her Lionesses team-mates said it was not right that some of us are treated differently because of the colour of our skin and said they would not be taking the knee before Tuesdays semi-final with Italy.
The FA, meanwhile, have contacted the UK police when they were informed of the abuse Carter has been subjected to, and CEO Mark Bullingham confirmed the social media platform used had also been alerted.
Carter wrote: A message to the fans… From the start of the tournament I have experienced a lot of racial abuse. Whilst I feel every fan is entitled to their opinion on performance and result I dont agree or think its ok to target someones appearance or race.
As a result of this I will be taking a step back from social media and leaving it to a team to deal with. As ever I am grateful for all of the support from the genuine fans but I am taking this measure to protect myself in a bid to keep my focus on helping the team anyway I can.
Hopefully speaking out will make the people writing this abuse think twice so that others wont have to deal with it. We have made some historic changes with this Lionesses squad that I am so proud to be a part of and my hope is that by speaking out about this it will make another positive change for all.
Im now looking forward and focusing on putting all of my energy into helping my team. Lionesses condemn vile abuse from fansIn their own message released by the full squad and timed to support Carters statement, the Lionesses demanded those responsible should be held accountable for their actions and said they needed to find another way to stand against racism as a team.
Their statement on X said: We stand with Jess and all Lionesses players past and present who have suffered racism. No one should have to endure such vile abuse, be that in football or any walk of life.
Representing our country is the greatest honour. It is not right that while we are doing that some of us are treated differently simply because of the colour of our skin. Until now, we have chosen to take the knee before matches.
It is clear we and football need to find another way to tackle racism. We have agreed as a squad to remain standing before kick-off on Tuesday. We hope the game can come together to see what more can be done.
For now, we will return our total focus to an important semi-final. In the meantime, we know the FA are working with UK police and the appropriate bodies. Those behind this online poison must be held accountable.
Bullingham said in a statement that the FA had used measures previously put in place to alert the police as quickly as possible to the abuse suffered by Carter. Our priority is Jess and giving her all the support she needs, he said.
We strongly condemn those responsible for this disgusting racism.As soon as we were made aware of the racist abuse Jess received, we immediately contacted UK police. They are in touch with the relevant social media platform, and we are working with police to ensure those responsible for this hate crime are brought to justice.
Regrettably, this is not the first time this has happened to an England player, so we had measures in place to allow us to respond quickly and where possible provide information to support any potential police action.
We will continue to discuss with the relevant authorities and social media companies about what more can and should be done to prevent this abhorrent abuse. Meanwhile, FIFA President Gianni Infantino said in a statement: We stand with Jess.
We stand with every player and every individual who has suffered from racist abuse. Sky Sports have contacted Meta for a comment. No one needs social media – Bronze issues warningEngland defender Lucy Bronze: I think no player needs social media.
I think thats one thing that we can always remember, is that we play football because we love the sport. We love playing, we do love connecting with our fans. Social media is a great way to do that, but we dont need it.
I think thats something that the platforms should be very aware of, is that no one needs social media. If you want to carry on in sport, especially, we can thrive without it, but it is sad that players are missing out on so many of these great messages.
Someone like Jess, shes had an amazing tournament. I think she was one of our best players in the Netherlands game, for example, and she should be able to see messages and the fans and the support and live in that moment, because its something you should be able to celebrate.
So its sad that players are having to choose between this roller-coaster that social media sends us on. Fans have used performances as an excuseSky Sports News Anton Toloui: Its clear the team are all going to be around Jess Carter and trying to make sure she feels supported, and not isolated, in such a difficult time for her.
Shes been so under the microscope in terms of performance over the last few days, as have England as a whole. Their performances havent been up to the standard they want. But people have used that as an excuse of going beyond that and into the realms of unacceptable behaviour.
Its clearly a difficult time for the defender. Hate Wont WinSky Sports is committed to making skysports.com and our channels on social media platforms a place for comment and debate that is free of abuse, hate and profanity.
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