Jess Carter ‘ready to play’ in Euro 2025 semi-final after ‘disgusting’ racist abuse | OneFootball

England manager Sarina Wiegman said it is “really sad” to be occupied by one of her players suffering “ridiculous and disgusting” racist abuse before a Euro 2025 semi-final and confirmed that defender Jess Carter is “ready to play” against Italy if required.

Carter spoke out at the racist abuse she has received throughout Euro 2025 on Sunday, with the 27-year-old deciding to step away from social media and the Football Association working with UK police to identify those responsible for the hateful posts.

England’s players have been angered by a team-mate suffering racist abuse during the tournament and decided in a meeting on Saturday night that they will not take the knee before kick-off against Italy.

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Jess Carter has started all four games for England at Euro 2025 (The FA via Getty Images)

"It’s really sad that we have to be occupied by this, it’s ridiculous and disgusting what’s happening,” Wiegman said on the eve of her third successive major tournament semi-final with England.

"It goes beyond football, we have to support Jess [Carter]. She’s not the only one who gets this abuse [and] that’s why she wanted to address it. She’s fully supported by the team and myself.

“Of course we had conversations, and although it's a hard situation, Jess is a very strong person. She wants to move on too, but she also felt, and so did we, that we have to address this, we can't just let it go.

“So we did, she did. We know there's the match going on, and we want to perform, we're ready to perform, she's ready to perform, and to compete. That also says a lot about her and the team.”

Midfielder Georgia Stanway said the racist abuse suffered by Carter and the Lionesses’ collective response has “brought us together as a team” and said anyone posting abuse towards players on social media “are not fans”.

On the decision to not take the knee against Italy, a symbolic anti-racism gesture the Lionesses have performed for several years, Stanway said: "We've decided not to take the knee because we want more action to be made. We want to create more of a talking point and a point to make more change.

“That starts with social media and people having access to be able to do certain things. So our stance and opinion stay the same, and that's what we've decided as a collective. "

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England said they want to ‘send a message to the world’ by standing with Carter (The FA via Getty Images)

Wiegman was confident the Lionesses will be able to switch their attention to the pitch when they face Italy and said. “They don't need a message, the team came really well together.

“We spoke about it, everyone wants to perform tomorrow, but we wanted to address this and send a message to the world. It says a lot about the team."

Dutch coach Wiegman is aiming to lead England to a third major final after reaching the finals of the Euro 2022 and the 2023 World Cup and was asked towards the end of her press conference whether she had fallen in love with the country.

“Yes I have. But not the one Georgia was talking about. It’s incredible but there are some people that do disgusting things.”