Euros abuse made me not want to leave hotel – Carter

Jess Carter, the England defender, claims that she did not want to leave her hotel room after being racially abused online during Euro 2025.

In a plea of guilty earlier this month, the 60-year-old Nigel Dewale, 28, admitted to using abusive language at Carter’s TikTok account during the tournament, which defending champions England won.

People with brown skin were called “murderers” and “groomers,” according to the messages, which made disparaging remarks about Carter’s race.

The former Chelsea and Birmingham City centre-back added that she believes the abuse that female players are receiving is “increasing.”

Carter, who currently plays for Gotham FC in the United States, said she had to step back from social media because she had experienced “a lot of racial abuse” right up until the start of the competition.

In case those who were claiming that those things would be traveling with us to Switzerland, Carter said, “I didn’t want to leave the hotel.”

Carter stated in a special interview with BBC Sport: “

Carter made her England debut in 2017 and won the Euro 2022 medal with her.

But her tournament last year was blighted by the messages sent by Dewale, who was granted unconditional bail when he appeared at Blackburn Magistrates’ Court on January 9th.

“It’s probably the first time in my life that I have experienced a significant knock on my confidence,” Carter said.

On January 28, Gotham will take on Brazilian side SC Corinthians in the semi-finals of the inaugural Women’s Champions Cup at Brentford Stadium while Carter is in the UK.

She saw a significant change in how players were treated between the two countries when she left Chelsea, where she was nine-times Women’s Super League champion, in 2024.

Carter said she has noticed supporters at Gotham are friendlier than those in England, despite the “amazing” supporters who support the Lionesses and travel to games.

They simply seem to be so happy and upbeat and tell you how great you are, even if you haven’t done it well, she continued.

Because “my happiness comes before any other sport,” I’ll decide where I think will be most happy for myself and my family, whatever I choose to play.

When Carter claimed that it was “clear we and football need to find another way to combat racism,” the squad made the decision to stop the anti-racism gesture of taking a knee before matches.

Carter said the notion that women’s football is a place for people to be who they want to be is starting to fade as the game expands.

You’re starting to doubt who you want to be, and that’s not what we want, she said.

It should still be family-friendly, we said. Although we want fierce rivalries, abuse shouldn’t have to accompany it.

However, things only get worse, particularly with the Lionesses.

Carter said she has aided police wherever she can in defusing Dewale’s case despite not having closely followed the case. Dewale was informed that all sentencing options, including prison, were open until March 25th for pre-sentence reports and that the case would be adjourned until then.

She praised the social media companies, who have been “really amazing,” for their assistance in tackling online abuse, but Carter is unsure how the problem could be completely resolved.

What I’ve learned from everything is that the standards for what the police class as crossing the line are a little different from those used by social media companies who think they have crossed the line, she said.

If social media companies aren’t willing to give up that information or if they don’t think it’s in violation of their standards, the police can’t do anything about it if they want to interfere and intervene and take action.”