Jess Carter has admitted she felt “relief” when three of her non-Black England team-mates joined Lauren James in missing penalties in the Euro 2025 quarter-final shootout against Sweden.
Carter, who was the target of online racism during the tournament, feared James would have been on the receiving end of “astronomical” social media abuse if she had been the only England player to miss.
Beth Mead, Alex Greenwood and Grace Clinton all missed, too, with the Lionesses still managing to progress to the semi-final.
They then beat Spain in the final in another shootout.
Carter told ITN: “It’s horrible to say but it’s almost like a sigh of relief when other players that weren’t black missed a penalty, because the racism that would have come with LJ (Lauren James) being the only one that missed would have been astronomical.
“It’s not because we want them to fail – it’s about knowing how it’s going to be for us (England’s black players) if we miss.”
Carter revealed the psychological impact of the abuse she suffered made her feel “scared” when England head coach Sarina Wiegman told her she had been selected to play in the final.
“That’s the first time I’ve ever been scared; too scared to play,” she said.
“I think it was a mixture of such a big game but then on top of that, (I was) scared of whatever abuse might come with it, whether it’s football based or whether it was going to be the racial abuse that was going to come with it because I did something wrong.”
Speaking about the impact the abuse had on her, Carter added: “It makes you feel really small. It makes you feel like you’re not important, that you’re not valuable.
“It makes you second guess everything that you do – it’s not a nice place to be. It doesn’t make me feel confident going back onto the pitch. My family was so devastated by it as well and so sad.”
Football Association chief executive Mark Bullingham said during the tournament that the governing body had referred the “abhorrent” abuse to the UK police.
