Mary Earps unable to accept Lionesses' offer of Wembley tribute following international retirement

The FA extended an invite for Earps to be honoured at the national stadium on November 29, when England are due to face China in a friendly match, the penultimate game of 2025 and the first at Wembley since before the European Championship - as it goes, Earps had announced her international retirement just three days before that game against Portugal.

That invite came after she was "promised" a send-off to mark an era-defining England career when she called time. However, the date in question - which is England's only scheduled game at Wembley at the moment - doesn't work for Earps. Talks remain ongoing between the FA, Earps and her representatives as all parties strive to find a suitable date to honour her achievements as a Lioness.

Earps was a veteran of the domestic women's game in England for years before establishing herself as an international starter. She had played her way into the Lionesses squad while at Reading in 2017, but went to the 2019 World Cup as third choice behind Karen Bardsley and Carly Telford after playing precious little football during a disappointing season at Wolfsburg.

That coincided with falling out of England contention altogether. But a move to newly promoted Manchester United in 2019, working closely with influential coach and mentor Ian Willcock, saw Earps rise once more, completely dedicated to her craft and ultimately reaching new heights.

Sarina Wiegman saw fit to name her No.1 upon taking charge in the autumn of 2021 and Earps repaid that faith with exceptional performances en-route to winning Euro 2022. Dancing on the desk in the press conference after that final endeared her to the masses suddenly discovering women’s football, followed by a Best FIFA Women’s Goalkeeper award, her starring role as the Lionesses reached and narrowly lost the 2023 World Cup final, and a second FIFA gong.

Earps, who retired with 53 caps to her name but was criticised for the timing of it after already losing her starting place to Hannah Hampton, also made a difference off the pitch, publicly fighting Nike in 2023 after replicas of her England goalkeeper jersey initially weren't made available for fans to buy.

Earps left Manchester United in the summer of 2024, running down her contract and suggesting that, beyond her 30th birthday, she didn't have time to wait for a squad rebuild to run its course if she was to realise ambitions of winning regular major silverware. A move to Paris Saint-Germain followed, but so too did swift Champions League elimination, and to a degree falling out of the English media's spotlight. Hampton's emergence as a very credible successor and Earps no longer performing at her 2022 and 2023 peak perhaps accelerated her decision to retire internationally.

All of that made it surprising for fans to then see her name on the list of players nominated this week for 2025's FIFPro World XI, chosen by players from all over the world but questionably ahead of arguably more deserving but less high profile individuals like Phallon Tullis-Joyce, Cata Coll and Chiamka Nnadozie.

Goalkeeper. Lioness. Legend. is the tagline that adorns the cover of Earps' imminent autobiography, titled All In: Football, Life and Learning to be Unapologetically Me, set for release on Thursday, October 30.

The latter part of the title is a reference to the moving acceptance speech she gave upon collecting her Best FIFA Women's Goalkeeper award in 2022. That use of the term 'unapologetically' has also previously influenced the design of a clothing line under her brand MAE27, and has become a kind of personal buzzword synonymous with Earps and her journey.