England manager Sarina Wiegman says her players decided to stop taking the knee before matches because the impact of the anti-racism gesture is “not good enough”.
The Lionesses will not take the knee before their Euro 2025 semi-final against Italy on Tuesday after defender Jess Carter revealed she has been targeted with racist abuse on social media throughout the tournament.
On Sunday, England’s players said they would stop taking the knee as it was “clear we and football need to find another way to tackle racism”.
“Taking the knee, that’s not enough. We have done that for a while. The impact is not good enough, it’s not as big as we think,” Wiegman told BBC Sport’s Dan Roan on Monday.
“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.”
England midfielder Georgia Stanway told BBC Sport that the squad will stand at kick-off instead of kneeling.
“We feel like it has gone past that [taking the knee] now,” Stanway said.
“We feel it is still happening even when we are taking the knee. We have decided that we will stand and we will not do that.
“We think that is a way of making change in itself because we want to get people talking – we want to tell people that what is being done isn’t enough.”
Police are investigating the abuse suffered by Carter.
The head of football’s international anti-discrimination body, Fare, questioned England’s decision to stop performing what it considers a “powerful anti-racist act”.
Stanway praised Carter’s decision to go public about the abuse and pledged the support of the squad for their team-mate.
“It’s horrendous,” said Stanway. “It’s really difficult because we will never understand, but we want to create an environment where Jess feels safe and we want her to be able to tell us in those moments where she is experiencing something because as a collective we can be so powerful in order to try and make change.
“That is exactly what we have done now. It is not only Jess thinking about herself, she is thinking about other players, she is thinking about the next generation and it is such an unselfish thing to do to be able to talk about something you are going through in order to try and make change at the end of it.”
Italy have declared their solidarity with England and when asked if there will be a gesture at the match, defender Cecilia Salvai said: “I believe we will talk and discuss tonight and our captains are dealing with this. We are open and willing to do anything necessary.”
