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 today after defender Jess Carter revealed she has been targeted with racist abuse on social media throughout the tournament.

On Sunday, England's players said that it was clear that football needs to find another way to tackle racism. Wiegman said: "We’ve been taking the knee for a while now, but the impact is not good enough, and it's not as big as we think.

"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 said that the squad will stand at kick-off instead of kneeling.

Police are investigating the abuse suffered by Carter, whilst 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.

She said: "It's horrendous and 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. Jess isn’t just thinking about herself, she’s thinking about other players - and 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 it.

“Our captains are dealing with this. We are open and willing to do anything necessary."

During her media conference on Monday, Wiegman confirmed Carter is available to play today as England bid to reach a third successive major tournament final. "Of course we have had a conversation," said Wiegman.

"It's a hard situation but Jess is a very strong person. She wants to move on too, but she and we felt we had to address this - we can't let it go.

"We want to perform in the match, and she's ready to perform and compete. That says a lot about her and the team."

Secretary of State for Culture, Media and Sport, Lisa Nandy, warned that the Online Harms Act will not root out online racist abuse on its own. "I'm not going to criticise the Lionesses for one moment - I think they deserve our full support,” she said.

"We brought in the Online Harms Act this year to make sure there are sanctions for companies that don't take this content down and we are doing a lot of work in schools to educate young people about the impact of online abuse, but it's incumbent on all of us to call this out. I think the act will continue to be tested every time a problem surfaces and it's incumbent on those such as Ofcom and social media platforms to be proactive in rooting this out.

"But there is a societal issue as well and as a government we take that seriously. We have a responsibility to make sure people understand the impact of their own actions and that young people understand how to navigate the online world without causing harm to themselves or others - and it's a responsibility we take very seriously."

Taking the knee before football matches became widespread in 2020 following the murder in the US of George Floyd - an unarmed African American man - who was killed during an arrest by white police officer Derek Chauvin. England's men's and women's teams adopted taking the knee, including during the European Championships that took place in the summers of 2021 and 2022.