The Rise of Hannah Hampton: From Villareal Striker to accidentally being in goal...

This year belonged to women’s sport. The Lionesses won back-to-back Euro’s, the country was buzzing, and from Saviour Michelle Agyemang to tougher-than-her-middle-name Lucy Bronze, the headlines wrote themselves. But one name has been echoing louder than the rest, the double H. Hannah Hampton. The goalkeeper you’re going to be hearing about for a very, very long time.

So, let’s get into the rise of HH, and how she became England’s newest icon.

Early Days in the Sun

Photo Credit: The Times

Hannah Hampton might be Birmingham born, but her football life started under the Spanish sun. At just five years old, the Hampton family traded the West Midlands for Villarreal, where Hannah joined Villarreal CF’s youth system, not exactly your standard after-school club!

And fun fact: she wasn’t even in goal.

Hannah spent five years playing as a striker. Yes, striker. The girl who would one day become England’s coolest, calmest No.1 was out there scoring goals, not stopping them.

When the family returned to the UK in 2010, she joined Stoke City’s Centre of Excellence (the closest thing to an academy setup at the time), before moving to Birmingham City at 15 to stay in top-tier youth football.

From Front to Back: The Switch That Changed Everything

Photo Credit: Birmingham City FC

Hannah’s first-ever game in goal was completely accidental. Stoke’s keeper got injured, Hannah volunteered, and boom… an England scout happened to be in the stands. One game in, and she gets scouted for England as a keeper. A week later, she is back in outfield and gets scouted for England there too, nothing was going to stop Hannah playing for her country. So Hannah had to make a decision. She settled on keeper for England, outfield for club. 

Eventually she became a full-time goalkeeper at 14, and that was that, the Hampton era had begun.

Stepping Into Senior Football

Photo Credit: Natalie Mincher / SPP

Hannah made her senior debut for Birmingham City just before turning 17, in a League Cup game against Doncaster Belles on 5 November 2017, and signed her first professional deal shortly after turning 18.

Her breakthrough came in the 2018–19 season, when Ann-Katrin Berger moved to Chelsea and the starting spot opened up. Hannah seized the opportunity, and won Birmingham’s Young Player of the Season and received her first senior Lionesses call-up.

When her contract ended in 2021, she made the move across the city to Aston Villa, where, during her time at the club, she made her England debut against Spain at the Arnold Clark Cup and became part of the history-making Euro 2022 winning squad.

Chelsea: The Turning Point

Photo Credit: Harriet Lander/Chelsea FC

People questioned Hannah’s move to Chelsea in the 2023 summer. Going from Villa’s number one to Chelsea, a team notorious for depth everywhere, felt like a gamble.

Over the 2023 Christmas break, she emerged as Chelsea’s No.1, and never looked back. She finished last season with a shared Golden Glove alongside Phallon Tullis-Joyce and helped Chelsea go an entire WSL season unbeaten.

The statement was clear: Hannah Hampton is here to stay.

Summer in the Hamptons: Hannah Makes Her Mark

Photo Credit: Sky Sports

This summer, we saw Lioness Legend, Mary Earps, announce her international retirement, meaning the stage was set for Hannah to make her tournament debut this summer in the 2025 UEFA Women’s EURO. And take it she did. 

This Euro’s, England was known for its taking-it-to-the-line, heart-in-your-mouth kind of moments, compared to what felt a bit more of a breezy 2022 competition. Two penalty shootouts in the knockouts, one of those in the final. Everything on her shoulders, and Hannah delivered.

England retained the Euros, and Hannah cemented herself as one of the biggest talents in world football.

And the winning didn’t stop there. Hannah has gone on to win multiple personal accolades as a result of her season with Chelsea and performance at the Euro’s. Here’s a list to name a few…

• UEFA Women’s Euro Team of the Tournament

• First-ever Ballon d’Or Yashin Trophy

• Top 10 finish in the Ballon d’Or

• BBC Women’s Footballer of the Year

• FIFPRO World 11

• Glamour’s Woman of the Year

  
  

This wasn’t a breakout. This was a takeover.

Defying the Odds

With all this success, it’s hard to believe that Hannah was told she may never be able to play an elite sport, all due to a condition she was born with called Strabismus - an eye condition which can cause double vision and difficulties with depth perception. 

Hannah had surgery young, but it didn’t guarantee anything. She went on to defy all odds, not just becoming elite, but world-class. 

Her story isn’t just about talent. It’s about resilience, reinvention, and shutting out every expectation placed on her.

The Rise Continues

Photo Credit: Harriet Lander/The FA/Getty Images

Hannah Hampton has already lived multiple lifetimes in football: a striker prodigy in Spain, a teenage keeper by accident, a WSL starter before 20, a Euro winner twice over, a Golden Glove holder, and now the face of England’s next generation.

And the best part? She’s only just getting started.