Chloe Kelly issues apology for Lionesses victory parade incident - 'Emotions got better of me'

Chloe Kelly has apologised after swearing while being interviewed on live TV in front of thousands of Lionesses fans.

Kelly was joined by her England team-mates for a victory parade down The Mall in London on Tuesday. The team had the Euro 2025 trophy with them on an open-top as they were greeted by an estimated 65,000 supporters in central London.

Manager Sarina Wiegman and captain Leah Williamson then led the squad up onto a stage outside Buckingham Palace, where they were interviewed by Alex Scott. There were some heartwarming moments, including Wiegman doing a duet with Burna Boy and Williamson holding back tears as she spoke.

But there was also a moment where Kelly – the scorer of England’s winning penalty against Spain on Sunday – turned the air blue. She said: “It feels so good to stand side by side with each and every one of these girls.

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“It's so f****** special. It's incredible to stand here today with a winners' medal around our necks and I'm so proud to be English.”

It wasn’t the first time that the Arsenal forward had been caught on camera swearing, having dropped the same word after picking up her winners’ medal from Prince William in Basel. This time she quickly took to social media, writing: “Ooops. Emotions got the better of me. Sorry for the F bomb. Love, CK x.”

Kelly’s apology is sure to be accepted by the vast majority of football fans, who watched her play a crucial role in England’s second straight European Championship triumph. Kelly helped turn two games around after coming off the bench in the knockout stages and kept her cool to blast in the winning spot-kick on Sunday.

Another hero from Switzerland was goalkeeper Hannah Hampton, who excelled in the high-pressure situations of penalties. “They [her teammates] got me through the whole tournament, when it didn’t start off the way I wanted [it] to and they just kept me going,” she said on stage.

“To be standing here with this group of girls is amazing. Don’t let people tell you what you can and can’t do. If you’ve got a dream and you really believe it, just go out and do it. I got told many times that I’m not good enough, that I shouldn’t be playing football from the start, so just keep doing it and, if it makes you happy, go follow that smile.”

Williamson struggled to hold it together while addressing the huge crowd. “I’m in the trenches, I’m holding back tears,” she said. “I’ve been crying all the way down the Mall. This is unbelievable. Thank you for coming out.

“My message is, everything we do, obviously we do it for us and our team, but we do it for the country, and we do it for young girls. This job never existed 30, 40 years ago and we’re making history every single step. Thank you so much for being with us. Stay with us, this story is not done yet.”

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