How Hannah Hampton earned the Lionesses No.1 jersey and forced England goalkeeping icon Mary Earps into international retirement ahead of Euro 2025

It was at the start of 2024 that things began to change on the goalkeeper front for England. Earps started all six Nations League fixtures at the end of 2023, after her outstanding World Cup, but a couple of iffy performances here and there, combined with Hampton's growing stature at Chelsea, led to the latter starting to get opportunities that had been extremely hard to come by previously.

The Blues' goalkeeper got the nod in the Lionesses' first game of the New Year, a 7-2 friendly win over Austria, and while she by no means stole the show, there was nothing she could do about either goal conceded and her all-round game was strong, in distribution and commanding of her area. It didn't feel like a huge thing at the time, though it did seem to confirm Hampton's status as England's second-choice goalkeeper, after she had spent a while being third in the pecking order.

When she got another run out in the April international break, however, that felt significant. Hampton's place in the line-up for a Euro 2025 qualifier against Ireland marked the first time since September 2022, when Ellie Roebuck started against Luxembourg, that someone other than Earps played a competitive fixture for the Lionesses.

"She's growing into competition with Mary," Wiegman told ITV of Hampton, praising her "great" form for Chelsea which had helped to turn up the heat on Earps. It was the start of a storyline that would dominate the next 12 months.

Perhaps the biggest moment in the race to be England's No.1 came a month later. After Hampton played against Ireland, Earps was restored to the XI for the visit of France in May, with it clear in the difference in standard of opponent that she was still Wiegman's go-to. However, there was less than a minute on the clock when the Lionesses' boss was forced to throw Hampton in for her biggest England experience yet.

Earps went down with a hip injury just seconds into the match and on went her team-mate, who grabbed the opportunity with both hands. The outing might've ended in defeat to France, but Hampton wasn't at fault for either goal and she made an outstanding save to keep it close.

More significantly, Earps then withdrew from the England squad. Hampton started the win in France a few days later, making a massive late save to preserve victory, and she kept her place for the last two Euro 2025 qualifiers, despite Earps coming back into the fold for the Lionesses' July camp.

From there on out, it felt like Hampton maintained the edge in the battle to be No.1. There were ups and downs in that regard, such as when Earps started the high-profile friendly against the United States in November - and was her team's best player. Moments like that meant it always felt like a real race, right until the end. But by the time Earps shockingly called time on her international career in late May, she had started just three of the Lionesses' last 10 games.

Of course, the other extremely big moment in the battle to be Wiegman's first-choice goalkeeper was that decision by Earps to step away from the national team. It came as a total shock to everyone, including the England boss herself, who was reportedly 'angry' with the timing. Indeed, the news broke just a week before the Lionesses' squad for Euro 2025 was named.

However, in terms of the race to be England No.1, the Telegraph reported that Earps had already lost and it was that itself which played a significant role in her decision to retire. Hampton had earned the shirt.

So, how was Earps' usurped? How did she go from being the undisputed No.1 to being told she was going to be second-choice at Euro 2025? After all, it's not like she suddenly turned into a bad goalkeeper. No, it was more the pressure Hampton was applying as she upped her game to new levels following the move to Chelsea, which came in the summer of 2023.

Only Khiara Keating, the young Manchester City star who has also made the cut for Euro 2025, had a better save percentage than Hampton that season, with her form leading to incredibly high praise from then-Chelsea boss Emma Hayes. "I say this as the future USA coach: England are so lucky," she told reporters. "I remember watching her play at Birmingham and I said, ‘She is going to be a top, top goalkeeper’. I genuinely believe Hannah has all the ability to become the best in the world."

That only continued throughout the 2024-25 season - which, in stark contrast, wasn't a good one for Earps. While Hampton starred in Chelsea's treble-winning campaign, one also featuring a run to the Champions League semi-finals, her England team-mate was part of a Paris Saint-Germain side that crashed out in European qualifying and ended the year without a trophy or even a permanent manager.

But if there is one attribute or area of Hampton's game that allowed her to, with the aid of such great form, edge ahead of Earps, it is her distribution. While the 32-year-old is by no means bad with the ball at her feet, Hampton comes from a new generation of goalkeepers who were trained to excel in that regard. That's enhanced by the time the 24-year-old spent in Spain as a young girl, training as an outfield player in Villarreal's academy.

"The way Sarina wants to play, if you have a goalkeeper that can play with her feet, you've got an extra outfield player and at the top level, you need that. I think that is the difference," Karen Carney, the former England international, said on ITV last week. "She's, for me, the best goalkeeper, I would say in the world, with the ball at her feet."

A changing of the guard is extremely common in football, and that is exactly what England have seen in the No.1 role this year. It was always going to be interesting when that happened with Earps, given she was a late bloomer on the international scene anyway and was delivering incredible quality on the biggest stages until the end. But a combination of Hampton's irresistible potential and her impressive form, combined with Earps' injury that at least accelerated the switch, paved the way for the younger goalkeeper to get her chance to shine this summer.

How will Hampton handle this new pressure? She might be quite experienced in club football, having broken through at Birmingham as a 17-year-old, but she will make her major tournament debut on Saturday when England take on France. That said, she's dealt with a lot of attention over the last couple of years. That's not only as the race with Earps has heated up, but also surrounding a report in the Guardian after the World Cup that said her 'behaviour and attitude' had led to her being dropped by England and that she was 'unlikely' to play for Wiegman again.

"[It's been] hard at times," Hampton said in an interview with ITV last week. "I don't think I'd really prepared for the negative side of the media, to the point that I did want to quit football. I wanted to pack it and I didn't like it, and I didn't know who to turn to, because I thought everyone was against me at that time. I think it's changed me to almost not care what people think. Just go prove people wrong. Let them have their say, but it's not going to affect me."

There's going to be a lot of expectation, attention and pressure on Hampton this summer as she takes a new step and prepares to succeed Earps. But she's been through plenty, on and off the pitch, over the last few years, and while that has been tough, it appears to have stood her in good stead for the challenge ahead.