The Lionesses squad celebrated defending their European Championships title with an open-top bus parade in London but one of their star players missed out on the festivities
England defender Jess Carter explained she was keen to get back into action as soon as possible for club side Gotham FC just days after winning Euro 2025. The centre-back played the full 120 minutes as the Lionesses beat Spain in Basel, but flew straight back to the United States – meaning she missed Tuesday’s trophy parade in London.
The other NWSL players in Sarina Wiegman’s squad joined the celebrations in the capital. However, Carter said she sometimes struggles getting back up to top speed after a lengthy break and wanted to keep her momentum going, adding that her England team-mates were “super supportive” of her decision to return to club action.
“I was just itching to get back,” Carter said at a press conference ahead of Gotham FC’s match against Chicago Stars. “I want to be part of this team, helping this team win games.
She added: “We speak a lot, especially with the national team, about that post-tournament decompression and figuring out what the right thing was for the players. For me, I think it was that I struggle sometimes to have time off and then have to go again.
“So I always find it easier to come back and get going. They [the Gotham staff] manage my training well and adapt to what I need, and obviously we’ve got a few weeks where we’ve only got maybe a game at the weekend, where maybe I can be managed in the week before a game.”
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Carter started all but one of England’s games at the Euros, coming off the bench in the semi-final against Italy. She also had to deal with the off-field pain of being subjected to racial abuse on social media, with her team-mates and the FA lending her their support.
“Throughout this tournament I’ve not felt that and I’ve been really quite sad and disappointed at the fact that I’ve not been the relaxed Jess I know,” Carter said after the final “I’m someone that is what will be will be. We go out there, give our all, and either it’ll be enough or it won’t.
“That’s not how I’ve played this tournament until I got to this final where I thought ‘I’m going to give it my all. If we lose, we lose and if we win great’.”
The defender spoke of the support manager Wiegman gave her in extra-time against Spain, with England triumphing on penalties after a 1-1 draw in Basel. While her social media hiatus means she hasn’t seen all the fall-out from the win, she has seen some of the boss’ celebrations.
“I did see the clip of Sarina, that’s one I couldn’t miss out on,” Carter added. “I haven’t really seen much so I can’t really say I feel like I’ve missed out too much yet, but from what I’ve heard – and we still have a bit of a group chat – it looks like they’ve had the most amazing time with the most amazing experience and I’m so happy they all got to go back and have the celebrations that we all deserve to have.”
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