35: Mary Earps MBE, England, M&S Eat Well Play Well, Official England Sticker Collection

You wait over fifty years for football to supposedly “come home” and then it turns up twice in the space of three years. While England’s Lionesses emulated the infamous 1966 World Cup victory with an extra-time win over Germany on home turf back in 2022 they retained their title in Switzerland this year with penalty shootout success against world champions Spain. Their path to glory had all of the twists and turns one could want from a major tournament with an early setback against France, snatching victory from the jaws of defeat in both knockout stages through a young player who didn’t even make the competition’s sticker album culminating in a cathartic final exorcising ghosts of their World Cup final defeat to the same opponents in 2023.

The list of Lioness heroines is hard to cap. Leah Williamson led her side admirably with solid performances in defence. Lucy Bronze, seen performing her own physio during the quarter final, revealed she played the entire tournament with a fractured tibia which takes Bert Trautmann’s approach to injury to new levels. Chloe Kelly came off the bench to produce heroics and excellent celebrations in equal measure while fellow super sub Michelle Agyemang belied her youth with composure in front of goal to save both knockout ties. Perhaps the greatest plaudits, however, should be reserved for goalkeeper Hannah Hampton who saved a frankly preposterous four penalties across the two shootout victories along with vital stops, high quality command of her penalty area and exemplary distribution during the tournament. Her performances take on extra significance when you consider that she was born with strabismus which affects her depth perception.

Prior to the tournament the Lionesses were rocked by two significant withdrawals from their initial squad. Millie Bright, who had captained the side to the 2023 World Cup final and led Chelsea to two successive Women’s Super League titles, opted to take time to recover after a mentally and physically exhausting domestic campaign. Perhaps more shocking, however, was the international retirement of goalkeeper Mary Earps. Although she had fallen behind the aforementioned Hampton during England’s Nations League campaign there was no doubts around her place in the squad or the potential impact she might have in the tournament as a whole. Then again the inclusion of four goalkeepers in the group was taken by some to suggest manager Sarina Wiegman was preparing for the future and Earps acknowledged this in her retirement message stating “This is a new era and a new England team, and I’m looking forward to watching them this summer.”

Earps’ route to the no.1 jersey was hardly straightforward. She was first called up to the senior squad in 2014 following impressive performances during her university days but did not make her debut until 2017 in a 4-0 victory over Switzerland. While a regular squad member, including for the 2019 World Cup, it was not until 2021 and Sarina Wiegman’s arrival as manager that she was installed as the Lionesses’ first choice. England hosted the UEFA Women’s Euro 2022 and Earps started the three group games keeping clean sheets in all of them while the likes of Beth Mead, Alessia Russo and Ellen White helped put fourteen past their opponents. The quarter final against Spain pushed the Lionesses further, and Esther Gonzalez became the first player to get past Earps, before a 4-0 dismantling of Sweden in the semis set up a final against Germany. The Lionesses prevailed after extra time to win their first major tournament and Earps, having conceded just twice, was named in the Team of the Tournament.

While her performances in the Euros had introduced her to a wider audience it was in 2023 that Earps became a global star. In the inaugural Women’s Finalissima against Brazil she saved a penalty in the shootout to help the Lionesses to victory. While it was little surprise that she was named in the squad for the forthcoming World Cup it came as a shock when Nike failed to produce a replica shirt for any of Earps’ fans. The kit manufacturers were a little slow out of the blocks to respond but were given little choice to reverse their decision when her performances helped the Lionesses to the final. Although Spain got the better of England Earps kept them in the game with a penalty save from Jennifer Hermoso and an equally forthright celebration. After only conceding four goals in seven games, including a worldy from Australia’s Sam Kerr, she was awarded the tournament’s Golden Glove. By the end of the year she had also won England’s Player of the Year award, had a Nottingham tram named after her and been voted as the BBC Sports Personality of the Year before being awarded an MBE in the 2024 New Year’s Honours List.

The speed with which football moves means that the shock that met Mary Earps’ retirement, and the subsequent criticism from some sections of the media, was almost instantly forgotten as the 2025 Women’s Euros got underway. Hannah Hampton’s excellent performances also meant that the conversations were more about the Lionesses’ bright future than their glorious past. Nevertheless Hampton was among the first to hail her predecessor’s achievements going as far to say that Earps “put women’s goalkeeping on the map for the younger generation. It was never really a thing, and Mary’s changed that.” While Joey Barton, football punditry’s answer to a question no one asked, chirped that he would score a hundred penalties against Earps without missing one he, unsurprisingly, backed up nonsense with action and far better footballers would struggle to get anything past the excellent Mary, Queen of Stops.