The keeper who defied doctors to replace Earps as England No 1
How the Lionesses goalkeeper overcame turbulent years at Aston Villa, scrutiny from the media and her own doctors to become England’s first choice at Euro 2025
ZURICH — The flight was a little over an hour. A quick hop over the Channel, but one which would shape so much of Hannah Hampton’s summer – even though she was not actually on the plane.
On board from Paris back to England, Mary Earps was steeling herself for a goodbye conversation with Sarina Wiegman. She was about to tell her she was not willing to be a back-up option at Euro 2025.
The shock of Earps’ international retirement has cast something of a shadow over Hampton’s rise to Lionesses No 1. When in fact, she is not just first choice. She is realistically their only choice, with neither deputies Khiara Keating or Anna Moorhouse having a senior cap between them.
It may feel unprecedented – yet in a sense, Hampton has been here many times before. Underestimated, overlooked – an unlikely star of the side looking to go back-to-back in the Euros.
Defying the doctors
Birmingham-born, one of the earliest signs of Hampton’s determination to prove herself came when her family relocated to Spain and back again while she was still a child. Years were spent playing with boys at Villarreal – as a striker – and the club were so impressed they offered to write her a letter of recommendation for a new team when they learned she was going home.
Hampton refused. She was adamant that like every other Stoke City hopeful, she should have to earn her place through a trial. It would prove to be a fateful move.
One day, during her five years there, a goalkeeper got injured and her coach asked for someone to put their hand up. The young forward obliged and immediately took to her new position.
At school in Burntwood, Staffordshire, she was already excelling in multiple sports. That, in itself, was remarkable. Hampton was born with an eye condition that to this day means she has no depth perception.
You can hear Hampton speaking to The i Paper about that below:
“I was told from a young age that I couldn’t play football,” she recalls. “That it wasn’t a profession I could pursue. The doctors told my parents that.”
At Birmingham Children’s Hospital, she underwent surgery to improve her vision. Though it is still a major challenge playing in goal with reduced eyesight, she credits the hospital with where she has got to now, and works for them as an ambassador.
The Villa years: ‘The stories weren’t always true’
By age 16, she was playing in the first team at Birmingham City after being spotted by the now Manchester United boss Marc Skinner. It was with the Blues that she would meet another figurehead who has shaped much of her career.
Carla Ward later took her across the city to Aston Villa, where she started to cement herself in England’s squad – but that was where Hampton first hit a wall. When Ward dropped her for a Women’s Super League game, rumours circulated about her attitude – the same reports then dripped through to her international career, amid claims Wiegman had a problem with her too.
It was later insisted that all that was wide of the mark, and she had simply been absent while she underwent muscle surgery. However, those who have worked with Hampton note how much she has matured over the past three years.
As she struggled with the unwanted attention of the period, even briefly considering quitting football, she recalls: “You can’t let all the scrutiny win. I think if you do that, it just adds fuel to the fire and I wasn’t willing to accept that.
“I wanted to show who I am as a person and show that [the stories] weren’t always true. So I thought, ‘just dig in’. I did that and I’m sat here right now. I think I can say that I’ve proved people wrong.”
The guidance of Emma Hayes certainly helped. At the end of her Villa contract, Hampton signed for Chelsea. A surprise move, perhaps, when the champions already had Ann-Katrin Berger, Zecira Musovic, Emily Orman and Nicky Evrard on the books.
Would she even be first choice? It was initially unclear, but four trophies later, the decision to back herself has paid off again.
Replacing Earps
Fast-forward to this summer, the spotlight will be harsher and more unforgiving than ever. Upon learning of Earps’ retirement, Hampton sent a text to congratulate her. Then, she was catapulted straight into the fire.
The reaction has not always been helpful. Such was the backlash to Earps’ exit that sometimes, for Hampton, it could feel as if fans did not want her in goal.
While Earps was “villainised” for retiring, Hampton was simply collateral damage. But the truth was that she had already established herself as No 1.
Until April 2024, Earps had not missed a competitive England game for 19 months. Two errors later, against Sweden and the Netherlands, Wiegman decided it was time to give Hampton a shot.
In the meantime, Earps left Manchester United for Paris Saint-Germain. That came with additional pressures of travelling and carving out time for family – and it proved a testing first season in France which ended trophyless. Hampton, meanwhile, was flying at home in the WSL, winning the 2024-25 Golden Glove.
Lionesses life without Earps should not have felt unthinkable, but it did. Before the 2022 Euros, she was far from guaranteed her place, only usurping Ellie Roebuck in goal due to the latter’s long-term injury. Roebuck would later go on to have a stroke, and has been nursed carefully at Barcelona, ruling her out of the England picture for now.
Hampton may be a little understated. She is unlikely to shout “f*** off” after saving a penalty – as her predecessor famously did in the 2023 World Cup final – or kickstart a campaign for women’s goalkeeper shirts. But that is partly because Earps has ensured those who came after her did not have to.
Instead, Hampton’s legacy could well be defined by what happens over the next four weeks – and whether, like Earps, she can become England’s new Queen of Stops.
