Hannah Hampton: From England exile to Euro 2025 breakout star after emerging from Mary Earps’ shadow | Football News

In March 2021, Hannah Hampton sat deflated on the Birmingham City pitch, unable to hold back the tears after missing out on selection for the Team GB squad for that summer’s Olympic Games.

Hampton received the news an hour ahead of a 4-0 hammering by Everton and struggled through the 90 minutes as the 20-year-old who had become accustomed to overachieving for her age was brought down to earth with a bang.

Those tears were back a little over four years later in Basel on Sunday night as the sheer joy of England’s historic Euro 2025 triumph was uncaged following six gruelling, not always enjoyable but unfalteringly resilient performances.

The magnitude of the 24-year-old’s personal growth since that miserable night in the West Midlands will take some time longer to sink in.

Hampton, of course, played every minute of the Lionesses’ journey in Switzerland this summer, saving two penalties in the quarter-final win over Sweden before doing the same against Spain and earning herself player of the match trophies in both.

Michelle Agyemang took home the Best Young Player of the Tournament but Hampton has emerged as England’s breakout star, the latest triumph against adversity which has dogged her in more ways than one.

The eye condition which affects Hampton’s depth perception and threatened her footballing hopes from a young age has been well-covered. But the self-inflicted exile from both England and club duty months after the last Euros has been forgotten, deservedly, through her actions since.

In October 2022 she was dropped for seven games in a row by her then-club Aston Villa and left out of the England squad over attitude issues. She had only two international caps back then, but it was reported she may never add a third under Sarina Wiegman. Things turned sour enough that there were suggestions she could walk away from the game altogether.

Fast forward to this summer, and Wiegman was willing to see Mary Earps retire from international football rather than guarantee her the No 1 jersey ahead of Hampton, who had just lifted back-to-back WSL titles with Chelsea but had yet to play a tournament game for her country.

“You can’t let all the media scrutiny win,” Hampton said in the build-up to the Euros. “I think if you do that it just adds fuel to the fire and I wasn’t willing to accept that.”

Team-mates now queue up to heap praise on the goalkeeper who prevented more xG than any of her 18 rivals between the sticks in Switzerland.

“She’s had a great tournament,” captain Leah Williamson told Sky Sports in the wake of Sunday’s victory. Earps’ shock retirement rocked England as much for her cultural significance as her international experience, and shone the spotlight firmly on Hampton in a way even those negative headlines hadn’t.

It was a watershed moment which could make or break her. She went into the finals as England’s only capped goalkeeper, with the added pressure of being a guaranteed starter but at least spared the noise of continued speculation over her rivalry with Earps.

And all that was before losing her grandfather two days before the start of the tournament, which she only revealed after her heroics this weekend.

Halfway through her tournament debut she had already picked the ball out of her own net twice. But she, much like England as a whole, was not to be cowed.

It was thought Hampton had been preferred to Earps because of her quality on the ball. A drilled through-ball to Alessia Russo for England’s opener in the 4-0 thrashing of the Netherlands in England’s next game, and labelled as the pass of the tournament by my colleague Laura Hunter, kickstarted their journey to Basel.

Along the way she created four chances for her team-mates, double that of any other goalkeeper. She was integral to Wiegman’s new-found direct approach, completing 15 passes into the final third – the best any of her rivals could manage was five.

But it wouldn’t be right for her to be remembered solely for her playmaking. Not even for ending the quarter-final win over Sweden wielding a tissue up her nose to stem a war wound, a 21st-century take on the Terry Butcher bandage.

In the loneliest position in football, Hampton showed maturity and calmness and a level of consistency which was far from guaranteed given the spotlight on her. She may play for England’s most successful club but as Earps has shown since 2022, the malaise around the Lionesses is a different ball game.

Agyemang’s heroics against Italy took the headlines but wouldn’t have made a difference had Hampton not kept out what appeared a certain goal from Emma Severini minutes earlier.

Remember, she has still made only 22 appearances for the Lionesses. Just 13 when Wiegman’s squad was named in June. And has had to follow on from the most renowned goalkeeper in the history of women’s football.

Her childhood eye condition was meant to write her off as a professional athlete, let alone a world-class goalkeeper. Her earlier misdemeanours may have threatened her club and international career, but ended up shaping her into a better player and person, in the words of her colleagues.

In a squad which as made resilience its tagline, Hampton’s claim is as strong as anyone’s.

“She had to step up and I think she has been amazing. It’s a little bit like a fairytale,” was Wiegman’s assessment. “Every player has their story, and hers has been incredible.”

In the book shop of football the tale of Hampton’s career is one of the feel-good reads of the summer. But with her England career still in its infancy and a third consecutive WSL title up for grabs at club level, the sequel may be even better.