GENEVA (AP) — England defender Jess Carter is ready to play in the Women’s European Championship semifinals after being targeted with racist abuse online, her coach Sarina Wiegman said Monday, adding that it's “sad” and “disgusting” that the team has to deal with such an issue.
Defending champion England plays Italy on Tuesday, two days after Carter, who is Black, revealed she was subjected to racist abuse this month that was reported to police at home.
“She’s ready to perform and to compete. That says also a lot about her and about the team,” Wiegman said at the Geneva stadium.
“Of course, it’s really sad that we have to be occupied by this,” the coach added. “It’s ridiculous, it’s disgusting what’s happening and that goes beyond football.”
England trailed by two goals after a rough first half-hour against Sweden in the quarterfinals in Zurich, then rallied late to level the game. England won a memorably chaotic penalty shootout.
Carter is “not the only one that gets this abuse or this racism,” Wiegman said, adding her team was ready to send a “message to the world.”
England midfielder Georgia Stanway said the collective support for Carter “probably brought us together as a team.”
Carter also got support from the Italy camp, where defender Cecilia Salvai said she hoped “she can play this game 100%.”
“She’s not the first one that has been the victim of this abuse and we have the greatest solidarity with her,” Salvai said in translated comments.
Italy coach Andrea Soncin said the abuse cannot be tolerated and his team was ready to join England in any shared gesture at Tuesday's game.
“We have a strong and huge responsibility in giving positive messages,” he said.
Stanway also revealed that when England players talked about the abuse Carter faced, some wanted to take time away from social media "because they’re fed up with it.”
Tournament organizer UEFA, like world soccer body FIFA and the International Olympic Committee, try to protect athletes with online platforms that flag up abusive posts reported to social media operators.
UEFA acknowledged last week this strategy has limited success because of the regulations applied by social networks.
“Although it’s a hard situation, Jess is a very strong person,” Wiegman said. “She also felt, and so did we, that we had to address this. You can’t just let it go.”
The 27-year-old Carter has played 49 times for England, and came to Euro 2025 after helping her club Gotham FC in New Jersey win the CONCACAF Champions Cup final.
Carter's teammates at Gotham include her partner Ann-Katrin Berger, the goalkeeper who was the star of Germany’s win over France in the quarterfinals. Germany plays tournament favorite Spain in the other semifinal on Wednesday in Zurich.
The final is played Sunday in Basel.
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AP soccer: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
Graham Dunbar, The Associated Press
