English coach Sarina Wiegman has expressed her support for her player Jess Carter the day before the semi-final against Italy at the European Football Championship in Switzerland. The English player announced on Sunday that she had received racist messages via social media.
“It’s sad that we have to deal with this,” Wiegman said on Monday at a press conference. “It’s ridiculous and disgusting. But this goes beyond football. She is not the only one who has to deal with racism. But she has the full support of the team and me.”
Carter said on Sunday with a message on Instagram that she had received racist messages since the start of the European Championship and for that reason stopped using her social media for the time being. She received support from the English Football Association.
Carter also raised the messages with Wiegman, after which action was taken. “We wanted to send a message to the world. It is a difficult situation, but Jess is a strong person. We cannot just let this pass.”
Wiegman does not think that this will distract from Tuesday’s game, in which defending champions England want to secure a place in the final. Carter can ‘just’ play, according to the coach. “We want to perform and so does Jess. That says a lot about her and the team.”
According to Georgia Stanway, the issue has made the English team closer. “There are things that we will never understand and racism is one of them. We must banish this from our society and from football.”
“We don’t know how to get that done, but all we can do now is be united and support Jess. She is not fighting this battle alone. That is also the beauty of football. You are never alone. The people who do this are not fans.”
The English team simultaneously announced that they would no longer kneel against racism before kick-off, as had been the case until now. “We felt that kneeling did not bring what we wanted,” Stanway explained the decision. “We will now stand. Hopefully that will bring about more change.”
Wiegman can qualify for the European Championship final for the third time in a row on Tuesday. The Hague native led the Netherlands to the European title in their own country in 2017, after which she repeated that feat five years later with England.