LONDON (AP) — Manchester City forward Khadija “Bunny” Shaw didn't travel with the team for Thursday's League Cup semifinal victory over Arsenal after being subjected to "racist and misogynistic” abuse on social media over the weekend.
City did not give a reason for the Jamaica international's absence, but head coach Gareth Taylor said Shaw had been impacted by the abuse.
“When you are affected by things like that it's really, really difficult,” he told Sky Sports after Thursday's match. “I've not really had time to have a good conversation with her about it, but she knows and she needs to know that the whole team and the whole club are behind her on this.”
Shaw, one of the top women's soccer players in the world, was targeted after a Women's Super League game Sunday against Arsenal, which City described as “disgusting treatment." City did not expand on the content of the messages but said they had been forwarded to authorities.
“Discrimination of any kind, either in stadiums or online, will not be tolerated and has absolutely no place inside or outside the game,” City said in a statement Wednesday. “Bunny has decided not to share the messages publicly so as not to give the oxygen of publicity to the vile individuals who sent them.”
In 2023, FIFA said one in five players at the Women’s World Cup that year received “targeted discriminatory, abusive or threatening messaging." Almost half of “detected and verified” abusive messages from that tournament were homophobic, sexual and sexist, according to data from FIFA’s social media protection service.
City beat Arsenal 2-1, with Mary Fowler scoring twice, including a winner in the fifth minute of stoppage time. It will face Chelsea in the final on March 15.
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The Associated Press
