Abuse growing in women's football, says England's Lucy Bronze

England defender Lucy Bronze says players are getting more abuse the bigger women's football becomes after team-mate Jess Carter revealed she has been sent racist messages during Euro 2025.

Carter has said she will take a step back from social media after experiencing "a lot of racial abuse" during the tournament and the Football Association has confirmed "working with police to ensure those responsible for this hate crime are brought to justice".

The Lionesses will also stop the anti-racism move of taking a knee before matches, saying it was "clear we and football need to find another way to tackle racism".

And Bronze, an ever present in England's run to face Italy in Tuesday's semi-final, said players have had to deal with "more abuse" since achieving international success.

"The bigger the game gets, the bigger the noise becomes, the more fans there are but the more critics there are," said Bronze.

"We're obviously open to critics, that's why we love the sport, but we're not open to abuse. Especially in women's football, the online abuse seems to be getting worse and worse.

"We see it more in the stadiums in men's football and online, but I think with women's football there seems to be a real target online.

"It's something that we're very aware of. There is a way to make a change. There is a solution. I don't have the answer, but I'm sure that there is one."

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