Lionesses hero Hannah Hampton was told she couldn't play football due to medical condition

Hannah Hampton once believed she would never play football due to an eye condition that affects her depth perception. Now, the Chelseagoalkeeper has become England'snewest hero between the sticks, saving three penalties to help the Lionesses to back-to-back European Championship titles.

The 24-year-old has been one of the standout stars of the tournament, keeping England in the charge for silverware with inspired performances against Italy and Sweden - including another penalty shootout win - to lead the Lionesses to the final. Despite the tournament favourites Spain striking first through Mariona Caldentey, the Chelsea'keeper produced some fine stops to keep England in the race for the trophy through yet another 120 minutes of football.

However, if Hamptonhad listened to medical professionals as a youngster, then she may have missed out on the chance to step up and become one of the countries newest champions. The footballer was diagnosed with an eye condition as a baby, called strabismus, which greatly affects her depth perception.

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Due to her passion to become a goalkeeper, Hampton's career could have been over before it even started. Prior to England's penalty shootout win over Sweden, the Chelsea star told the BBC: "I was told from a young age that I couldn’t play football, that it wouldn’t be a profession I could pursue. But here I am."

Hampton opened up to ex-England goalkeeper Ben Foster on his Fozcast podcast in 2021, adding that her teammates do get frustrated with the condition that still affects her to this day. She said: "When pouring a glass of water, I’ll miss the glass if I’m not holding it.

"The girls do it to me all the time at training, ‘Can you make me a cup of tea?’ And hold the cup, saying, ‘Can I have some milk, please?’ I’ll just spill it on their shoes and then they moan at me. ‘Well, it’s your own fault, isn’t it?'"

Despite this potential career-ending issue, Hampton has overcome the longest of odds to achieve so much success early on. With two WSL titles, multiple domestic cups and now the Euros trophy in her possession, the goalkeeper's story is one of overcoming adversary to become a hero in her own right.

Lionesses boss Sarina Wiegman hails Hampton's story as a "fairytale", and admitted she had full faith in the shot-stopper to show up when it was required for her country.

Speaking post-match, the winning manager said: "Every player has their one story and journey and hers has been incredible.

"Starting the tournament and losing the first game, there was so much riding on every game, we had five finals. She had to step up and I think she has been amazing. It's a little bit like a fairytale to stop those two penalties in the final."

Wiegman added that the "fight" of her England team was what propelled them to victory over Spain, as she said: "I must admit that I always think this is the most chaotic and ridiculous one that we have played.

"We have players that have talent and the togetherness of this team is really, really incredible. But we also have the belief that we can come back and the players say we can win by any means. We just never, ever give up.

"Today of course we had moments that we really had to fight to keep the ball out of our own net but I thought we also had some very good moments in the game. We have this togetherness - every player is also ready to come on the pitch and show up straight away. I'm just really grateful to be part of this team."

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