Why the Lionesses are not taking the knee against Italy in Euro 2025 semi-final tonight | OneFootball

England will make different anti-racism gesture following Jess Carter abuse

England will make a stand before their Euro 2025 semi-final against Italy in Geneva by refusing to take the knee.

Taking the knee was introduced as an anti-racism gesture in football in 2020 following the killing of George Floyd by a police officer in America.

The action of taking the knee - done before kick-off after the referee’s whistle - has been taken by football teams as a means of protest against systematic racism.

But the Lionesses have decided to halt their use of the gesture ahead of their semi-final against Italy as their way of demanding progress.

Why are the Lionesses not taking the knee?

The Lionesses squad came together to discuss how they should respond after Carter received racist abuse following their penalty shootout win over Sweden, when she was criticised for her performance despite the fact England eventually won on penalties to reach the semi-finals.

Carter, who says she had also received abuse before the Sweden match, has since decided to suspend her use of social media for the remainder of the tournament due to the abuse she has received.

Jess Carter has revealed she has been targeted with racist abuse on social media throughout euro 2025

The FA via Getty Images

In a press conference on Monday, England midfielder Georgia Stanway explained the team’s decision to no longer take the knee.

“It's just to change it up,” Stanway said. “We felt like the knee was just a little bit repetitive. It comes to a point where the knee isn't doing what we wanted it to do, so now our decision is to stand and hopefully that will bring up more conversation.”

In a joint statement on Sunday, the England team said: “It is clear we and football need to find another way to tackle racism.”

What will the Lionesses do instead?

The Lionesses players will instead stay standing on the pitch before kick-off rather than take the knee against Italy.

They hope to convey the message that the gesture of taking the knee is only meaningful if it brings about tangible societal change.

It remains to be seen whether the Italy players will continue to take the knee or will stand with the England players, but Italy head coach Andrea Soncin has said his side stand in “maximum solidarity” with Carter.

He added: “We are very ready to take part in any campaign to avoid this violence. We haven't spoken about [a gesture] with the girls. As I said, we have the greatest solidarity, of course there is the greatest solidarity. As a coach, I will accept whatever the players decide to do.”

Who still takes the knee?

Taking the knee is not as commonplace as it was in 2020 and 2021.

At Euro 2025, each of England’s opponents so far - France, the Netherlands, Wales and Sweden - have all joined the Lionesses in taking the knee in matches. But those teams did not take the knee in their other matches against each other.

Host nation Switzerland and Iceland took the knee before facing each other in Group A on July 6 but the gesture has not been common practise throughout the competition.

American footballer Colin Kaepernick was the first high-profile athlete to take the knee. He did so during the national anthem before a 2016 NFL match, explaining that he could not stay standing to show pride in the flag of a country that oppressed black people.

Colin Kaepernick of the San Francisco 49ers kneels in protest before an NFL game

Getty Images

What is England men's stance?

England’s men’s team were one of the first football teams to adopt the gesture of taking the knee in the lead-up to the delayed Euro 2020, which took place in the summer of 2021.

They continued to take the knee up to and including their 2022 World Cup campaign in Qatar, before a team meeting between the players led them to drop the gesture.

Players felt it was best to align with the Premier League approach of only taking the knee around key campaign dates such as Kick It Out weekends.

The FA have left players in both the men’s and women’s teams to make their own minds up on which gestures to make and when to make them.

Voices for and against

Lionesses head coach Sarina Wiegman has said she is in agreement with her players’ decision.

“Taking the knee, that's not enough,” she told BBC Sport. “We have done that for a while. The impact is not good enough, it's not as big as we think. When there is this form of racism we felt we have to do something else, something different, so that's why we are not taking the knee.”

Former Lionesses midfielder-turned-pundit Izzy Christiansen told BBC Radio 5 Live: “I think it's powerful. I like the unity, I like the stance they are choosing to make. The fact they have changed their stance on not taking the knee to standing, I think sends a message in itself.”

Former Manchester City defender Nedum Onuoha agreed, but raised one concern.

“I am all for a powerful statement,” he said. “It is good to have diversity of thought about a situation.

“My only concern is if Italy decide to stand as well, when the game is about to start it looks like nothing is happening. It then no longer is a conversation-starter, it is dead and buried. Essentially what people will see when watching is what happens at the start.”

Italy defender Cecilia Salvai said England captain Leah Williamson and Italy captain Cristiana Girelli would discuss how Italy approach tonight’s match.

“Yes, I believe that we will talk,” she said. “We will discuss tonight, and our captains are dealing with this issue, and as our coach said, we are open and willing to do anything necessary to give a strong message.”