Jadon Sancho Breaks Silence And Slams Racist Abuse After England Euros Loss

England footballer Jadon Sancho has issued a statement for the first time since England lost the Euro 2020 final on Sunday, July 11.

The men’s national team made it to the final of a major tournament for the first time in 55 years, and went all the way to penalties against Italy.

In a lengthy post on Instagram, the footballer wrote, ‘I’ve had a couple of days to reflect on Sunday’s final and still feel a mix of emotions. I would like to say sorry to all my teammates, coaching staff and most of all the fans who I let down. This is by far the worst feeling I’ve felt in my career. It’s hard to even put into words the real feeling, but there were so many positives to take away from this tournament though the defeat will hurt for a long time.’

He continued:

My first thought before going into any football match is always “How can I help my team?, how am I going to assist ? how am I going to score ? how am I going to create chances ? And that’s exactly what I wanted to do with that penalty, help the team. I was ready and confident to take it, these are the moment’s you dream of as a kid, it is why I play football.

These are the pressured situations you want to be under as a footballer. I’ve scored penalties before at club level, I’ve practiced them countless times for both club and country so I picked my corner but it just wasn’t meant to be this time.

We all had the same ambitions and objectives. We wanted to bring the trophy home. This has been one of the most enjoyable camps I’ve been part of in my career so far, the togetherness of the team has been unmatched, a real family on and off the pitch.

Sancho continued to say that he wasn’t going to pretend that he hadn’t seen the abuse that he, Saka and Rashford have received, but stated that this was ‘nothing new’ for the three Black footballers. With this in mind, he called on people to be held accountable for their actions.

Sancho continued, ‘Hate will never win. To all the young people who have received similar abuse, hold your heads up high and keep chasing the dream. I am proud of this England team and how we have united the whole nation in what has been a difficult 18 months for so many people.’