'Guess what? We'll do it again': Sweden footballers vow to keep taking a knee
The Sweden defender and Chelsea captain, Magdalena Eriksson, has hit back at criticism the Swedish national team received for taking a knee before their Euro qualifier against Hungary on Thursday night.
The Sweden team had made it clear that they were going to show the Black Lives Matter movement their support but after the game the players were heavily criticised on social media for their action.
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The former Swedish ice hockey goalkeeper Sofia Reideborn was one of those who were critical of the players, saying that the action would make people stop watching women’s football and that the players were “ruining it for future generations”.
Eriksson, however, was unrepentant in her response, releasing a statement saying: “To take a knee was never close to being a hard decision for us. This was always the right thing to do. We know what we stand for and believe in. Yesterday we took a knee to show that we are against racism and discrimination in any way.
“This is not about politics or a political act. This is about humanity and the fact that we believe everyone is equal and no one should ever be treated differently because of the colour of their skin, their race, sexuality, gender or anything at all.
The Chelsea captain, who moved to west London from Linköping in 2017 and was part of their title-winning squad last season, added that they would continue to take the knee in the future, starting with the game against Iceland on Tuesday.
“Hatred has no place in our world and after receiving criticism for doing what we did we are only more confident that this was the right thing to do. And guess what … we’ll do it again. We’re not the problem. The people who make a problem of our act unfortunately are!”
