BBC Women’s Footballer of the Year 2025 Contender Hannah Hampton

Hampton to cheat the possibilities after being born with a serious eye condition:

“I don’t think that the doctors who have predicted – or anyone who can predict – that your National Goalbekeeper does not have the depth of thinking and was born with the thoughts of people who can do it.

“But I think I always tried to prove the doctors wrong from the get-go when they said I wouldn’t be allowed to play professional sports, and I wanted to do my happiness and put a smile on my face.”

On playing for “mentality monsters” Chelsea:

“I think that Chelsea in general, it is a club of mentality monsters. They want the players to win. I want to be with the players.

On Euro 2025 Penalty Shootouts:

“I strained my back. But at that moment, I wasn’t thinking about that. I was thinking about doing it for myself 180 minutes.

On the advice he would give his younger self:

“I’ll say every chance you get. I didn’t know I wanted to be a guardian. In the end, maybe I chose it. And I choose every time.