England were eliminated from this year's World Cup in the last eight of the competition, but still won widespread praise for their overall performance, with fan disappointment much milder compared to last year's UEFA Europa League final. According to HateLab data, England suffered 168 incidents of cyber-violence during the World Cup, a figure far lower than the more than 3,000 hate messages that appeared in the hours following last year's European final defeat, with captain Harry Carney the main target of cyber-violence attacks.
Looking back at last year's European Cup final, players Bukayo Saka, Raheem Sterling and Charles Sinzu were targeted after losing the 12-yard battle against Italy, with over 3,000 hate messages, many racially charged, directed at them in the hours following the match. Despite England's elimination in the last eight of this year's tournament, online violence improved significantly, with only 168 hate messages recorded throughout the tournament. Muffy Williams, who was in charge of the survey, noted: "Compared to the European Championships, this year's World Cup has seen a significant reduction in racist messages, with the majority being positive and encouraging. This is probably due to the absence of triggers like mistakes by black players."
