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When England begins its trophy defense at Euro 2025, the television public is probably the most important for a lioness, since 12 million people went to watch the World Cup final in 2023. This alone illustrates the challenge to which Hannah Hampton.
For millions of occasional viewers, the treble of Chelsea – and the role of Hampton in IT – will have passed them. Many of these millions may not have watched a match since the penalty of Mary Earps Save against Spain and its subsequent prize for the sporting personality of the year.
The control of the 24 -year -old goalkeeper who won this opportunity as n ° 1 of England will be different from everything that is previously experienced in women’s football in this country. “It’s absolutely enormous,” said the old international England Sue Smith Sky Sports.
“Mary has established such a high level and, winning all these prizes, everyone knows Mary Earps, goalkeeper of England, isn’t it? Even in the street, people say to me:” What happened to Mary Earps? Why did she retire? Who entered? “”
Hampton had a taste of what to expect in categorical victory 7-0 against Jamaica on Sunday. His inability to keep the ball out of the net for a goal that has been refused due to a player who pushed her away while he was standing in an offside position was a subject of discussion, however.
“People will literally examine everything Hannah does so that this level of control is something that she has never experienced before. There is a lot of pressure on Hannah, but she seems to be the type of character to be able to face it.”
Hannah’s development was incredible. She has a lot of qualities and rightly deserved the n ° 1 shirt, I think.
Hampton paid her contributions as an Earps deputy during each of the last two major tournaments and although it was by an injury and a rotation in which she initially trusted more playing by England Sarina Wiegman, she seized these opportunities.
Statistics reflect its improvement since it was immersed in the action of the female Super League in adolescence for Birmingham City. There was an progress in Aston Villa before Hampton proved by winning WSL consecutive titles as No. 1 from Chelsea.
During the 2023/24 season, Hampton’s goals prevented the superior statistics at the Earps’ in Manchester United, and she followed another solid projection from last season, while her rival did not play as much as she would have liked in Paris Saint-Germain.
But it is with the ball at its feet that Hampton has the edge. “Obviously, Mary has the experience, but the only real difference that I could see on the field was the fact that Hannah’s distribution is a little better in terms of bite,” said Smith.
“I think it is impressive that she can do it on both sides, so that she can play in both directions. The fact that she can move away and go for a long time, she is just very comfortable with the ball at her feet and I think it is the main difference in terms of the way Sarina wants to play.
“She wants the goalkeeper to be able to make both. She wants to build in the back, go through the defense and in the midfielder, but also to say directly if the opportunity is lit for a quick transition, so I think it is a bonus and the main reason why Hannah has the shirt.”
Again, the statistics reflect this, highlighting Hampton’s evolution. In its last season in Birmingham before connecting to Carla Ward at Villa, its passing precision was less than 50% – largely because the style of these sides had to appear longer.
It started to change in 2022/23, demonstrating that Hampton’s death was a force and since her move to Chelsea, she has prospered. A precision of passing in his half of 92% last season eclipses anything by Earps in his WSL career.
“Chelsea is even more based on possession with Sonia Bompastor,” said Smith. “With Emma Hayes, it was a little more direct. I would not say that there is a massive difference but they want to have more ball and Hannah adapts perfectly.”
For the whole drama of the early retirement on the eve of a tournament, it is a familiar story. User experience of young people. A change was inevitable given the eight -year -old gap. Only the calendar of this one surprised. “I thought there would be a battle,” said Smith.
“I thought it could be a bit of Hannah’s shirt, so Mary could resume the relay. I am not saying that 32 is old for a goalkeeper, but Sarina had to think about making someone and Hannah excelled. The stops against Spain were brilliant.”
This match of the League of Nations was the first major examination of the way Hampton would react. Her reflexes were tested very early and she delivered, although her command of her box was missing a little while Spain increased the pressure in the second half, winning 2-1.
“These were high -level reaction stops. It is something that she is very good. Speaking to coaches who worked with her, he is really someone who wants to learn and wants to improve. She knows where her weaknesses are and where to improve.
“You could always see that she had potential. When you speak to goalkeepers coaches, they would tell you that it is first class and that it just needed to continue to learn, to continue to obtain different experiences with different managers. Remember, she is only 24 years old.
“She arrived in Birmingham and they have trouble, but that obviously helped her learn her job and gain experience. She went to Villa and developed from there. By moving to Chelsea, she just seems to have gone from good to excellent.
“When you are going to win the triples as part of this stingy defense of Chelsea, it simply proves that you have the capacity to play at the top. She was in tournaments, she has acquired experience as number two and she played for Chelsea in high pressure games.
“So, she is used to all this and Sarina is very good to bring them to block the noise from the outside. She always talks about keeping them in their own little bubble and making sure they are concentrated, not to read things about what others say.”
A note of caution, however. Hampton style, the very reason for its inclusion, has an inherent risk. The size of the sample during a tournament is small. All laps of Laps assumes excessive importance. And were Hampton lasts even when she won admirers.
Opta records that Hampton made five mistakes leading to shots during the WSL 2024/25 season – more than any other player in the competition. There was the routine intake fell against Tottenham, but most of these errors were displaced passes.
Inevitable, perhaps, when you try to spin the needle. Only one of them was punished – and even it was late in a 4-2 victory against Brighton. Hampton will have to hope that any error awaiting him in Switzerland will also be without consequences.
“I hope she doesn’t make mistakes and everything is great. But being number one is a different pressure and all players make mistakes at some point. How do you manage this? How do you face it and react if this error comes to a high-level tournament?”
It’s the unknown and with two goalkeepers behind her lacking international experience, everything is on Hampton now. “She seems to have mental tenacity to manage him,” said Smith. In front of the millions of people, we are about to discover it.
Sky Sports to show 215 live games next season
Since next season, the coverage of the Premier League in Sky Sports will have 128 games at least 215 live games exclusively.
And 80% of all the Premier League television matches next season are on Sky Sports.
