More abuse as women’s football grows – Bronze

After team-mate Jess Carter revealed she had been sent racist messages during Euro 2025, England defender Lucy Bronze claims that players are receiving more abuse as the bigger women’s football spreads.

After witnessing “a lot of racial abuse” during the tournament, Carter has said she will stop using social media, and the Football Association has confirmed that it is “working with police to ensure this hate crime is brought to justice.”

The Lionesses will also ban the practice of kneeling before games in protest of racism, saying it was “clear we and football need to find another way to combat racism.”

And Bronze, who has been a fixture in England’s semi-final against Italy, said players have experienced “more abuse” since achieving international success.

The more fans there are, the more noise the game generates, according to Bronze, “but the more the game grows,” said the coin.

“We love the sport, but we’re not open to abuse,” we say. “We’re obviously open to critics.” The abuse online seems to be getting worse, especially in women’s football.

We see it more in the stadiums both in men’s and online, but I believe there is a real target for women’s football.

Before the competition, Sarina Wiegman’s squad met to discuss abuse and how it has grown to be a “huge factor, specifically in women’s football,” according to Bronze.

Alessia Russo, the England striker, mentioned preferring to avoid social media because of how “damaging” the abuse can be before her move to Switzerland.

And Chelsea’s Lauren James, who was subject to racist abuse during the Women’s World Cup and the Women’s Super League season afterward, has remarked that abuse “never really stops.”

Katie Boulter, a British tennis player, was interviewed by BBC Sport about being the subject of online abuse and death threats.

To combat abuse and discrimination, football clubs, players, and sporting organizations launched a four-day boycott of social media platforms in 2021.

Bronze added that she hoped that “noise will be reached around the world” by standing before kick-off rather than kneeling.

“We are aware that those at the top have the power to ultimately implement changes.” But as players, I believe we always have a point, she continued.

“Our voices are loud enough to be heard by people all over the world, whether it’s on social media platforms or in international organizations like Uefa and Fifa.”

We’re very proud as a Lionesses team of having created this voice and a platform to help us reach the heights. We’re willing to make a difference using that voice and platform.

She continued, “People need to be held accountable,” and she also demanded more action from social media platforms.

For her to speak out about racism and bullying in public, team-mate Carter said: “For her to do so is empowering for our entire team in general, especially the likes of Michelle Agyemang, who is in her first tournament.

Carter says, “It gives people more power to be brave, stand up, speak up, and see all the team-mates and the country behind them.” In situations like this, that means a lot.

Many players are aware that this has always been a problem in the game of football. We are all so disappointed that supposedly devoted fans wrote these messages as Jess did yesterday.