The Lionesses after winning Euro 2022 at Wembley
(Picture: PA Wire)UEFA has said seven police investigations are open into online abuse connected to the Women’s Euro 2022 tournament.
The Lionesses made history on Sunday when they became the first senior England side to win a major tournament since the 1966 World Cup.
The football governing body said Wednesday that it had flagged hundreds of abusive posts online throughout the tournament, leading to seven police enquiries by English police.
It said that of 447 posts across social media platforms flagged for review during the knock-out stages, around 28 percent were targeted at coaches, and around a quarter were directed towards specific players.
For the final, which saw England beat Germany 2-1, a total of 189 posts were flagged, with just under half classified as sexist posts, it added.
In a statement, UEFA said: “Following each match, UEFA shared all match-related findings, including all the necessary information to report online abuse to local authorities.
“Furthermore, to facilitate access to remedy, all the data has been shared with the English police, with seven investigations currently open.
"The actions around online abuse will continue after the final whistle at Wembley.
“UEFA will build on the lessons of the past month to concentrate on all of its final competitions, including youth, women’s and men’s finals matches."
The stats came a day after the broadcast regulator revealed more than 300 abusive tweets are sent to Premier League footballers every day.
The study said eight out of 10 of the most abused footballers on Twitter in the Premier League were Manchester United players, along with Tottenham’s Harry Kane and Manchester City’s Jack Grealish.
