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Chelsea and England’s goalkeeper Hannah Hampton has been named BBC Women’s Footballer of the Year 2025, following an impressive year of performances for both club and country. At 25 years old, Hampton played a crucial role in Chelsea’s success last season, helping the team secure a domestic treble with 13 clean sheets across 22 Women’s Super League matches. Her rise to become England’s first-choice goalkeeper has been marked by stellar displays, including saving two penalties in the Euro 2025 final shootout against Spain, leading the Lionesses to victory.
Coming in second place in the public vote was Hampton’s England teammate Alessia Russo, while Spain’s Aitana Bonmati claimed third. Other nominees selected by an expert panel—which included coaches, players, administrators, and journalists—were Spain’s Patri Guijarro and Mariona Caldentey. The panel evaluated performances over a 12-month period running from September 2024 through August 2025. Hampton expressed her surprise at winning, stating, “I definitely didn’t expect it with all the other players nominated. I think they’ve all had unbelievable years.” She is only the second goalkeeper to earn this accolade, following former England teammate Mary Earps, who won the award in 2023.
Earlier this year, Hampton found herself amid controversy following statements made by Earps in her autobiography. Earps, who retired from international football after Hampton took over the number one jersey for England, accused the national team’s coach, Sarina Wiegman, of rewarding “bad behaviour” by recalling Hampton to the squad in 2023, alleging Hampton had previously been dropped for being “disruptive and unreliable.” Hampton responded calmly to the media attention, saying, “People are entitled to their opinions. People can say whatever they want to say. It’s down to myself whether I want to let that affect me. I definitely know it’s not going to.” She added, “I want to achieve a lot more in the game and I can’t dwell on people’s thoughts. That’s going to hinder me, not help me.”
Hampton’s performances were pivotal in England’s successful defense of the European Championship title in Switzerland. The team won two penalty shootouts en route to the crown, with Hampton playing a decisive role. In the quarter-final clash against Sweden, after England had come back from a 2-0 deficit to level the score, Hampton saved two penalties during an intense 3-2 shootout win. In the final against Spain, which ended 1-1 after extra time, she denied spot-kicks from both Mariona Caldentey and Aitana Bonmati, securing a 3-1 shootout victory for England. Reflecting on her contribution, Hampton said, “It was my way of giving back to the team. They’ve run around for the 120 minutes to make it go that far and they’ve helped defend heroically in moments that we’ve needed it throughout the game.”
Taking over from Earps, Hampton managed enormous pressure and expectations during the European Championship. She admitted, “I knew that if England got knocked out earlier, there would have been a lot more spotlight on me. I just thought, you know what, just go and enjoy your football. I’ve always said I perform better when I enjoy it.” Adding to the emotional weight, she revealed that news of her grandfather’s death came just two days before the tournament began. “When I then got the news about my grandad, that gave me that extra push to go and show everyone what I can do because that was our dream together,” she shared. Acknowledging the challenges athletes face beyond the pitch, Hampton said, “People forget that we are just human beings. We all have feelings, we all have our own struggles that we’re going through outside of football.” She also thanked the goalkeepers who came before her for helping to elevate the profile of women’s goalkeeping, stating, “It’s a lonely position, but it’s also very rewarding. You could be the hero at moments and you could also be the villain at moments… The keepers before me Carly [Telford], Karen [Bardsley], Mary [Earps], even before that, they’ve changed the perception of women’s goalkeeping. I’m just another body in that that’s obviously helped change the way along with Khiara [Keating] and Anna [Moorhouse] at the moment.” According to Hampton, women’s goalkeeping “has definitely taken off” and efforts to shift perceptions continue to progress steadily
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