England manager Sarina Wiegman speaks on Mary Earps-Hannah Hampton situation after bombshell book release - 'I make decision to win'
By Tom Masters
Updated 18/11/2025 at 20:27 GMT
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England manager Sarina Wiegman has spoken about the Mary Earps situation following the goalkeeper's bombshell autobiography, and insists she would have done the same thing again. Earps suddenly announced her retirement before Euro 2025, and has since released all in her book, which contains scathing criticism of both Wiegman and goalkeeping successor and penalty shoot-out hero Hannah Hampton.
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Sarina Wiegman says she would not have done anything differently regarding her goalkeeper selection between Mary Earps and Hannah Hampton.
Wiegman elected for Hampton to become England’s No.1 goalkeeper ahead of Euro 2025, overtaking Earps as The Lionesses’ primary goalkeeper for the tournament in Switzerland.
That prompted Earps to retire from international football just five weeks before England’s title defence.
The Paris Saint-Germain goalkeeper has since said she felt Wiegman was rewarding bad behaviour, referencing the time when Hampton was dropped from the squad for being "disruptive and unreliable."
England went on to defend their Euros title, winning in a penalty shoot-out against Spain, with Hampton making decisive saves against Mariona Caldentey and Ballon d’Or winner Aitana Bonmati.
Wiegman was stoic in her response to the question about whether she would have changed anything, insisting Hampton deserved her shot.
"We had a very good goalkeeper unit and the two were competing for the No. 1 spot. I think I would have done exactly the same thing," Wiegman said.
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"We kept communicating every time, as always, we try to support in the best possible way and I can't control how that comes across.
"There are always learnings but I don't think, in the bigger picture, I would have done things differently."
There has been significant fallout since Earps’ autobiography was released, with scathing criticism of both Wiegman and Hampton.
Hampton’s club manager at Chelsea, Sonia Bompastor, rushed to the defence of both Wiegman and her goalkeeper earlier this month in response.
Former England international Fara Williams said she felt "sorry" for Hampton and described Earps’ comments towards a former team-mate as "baffling" in her column for TNT Sports.
Naturally, talk of the Earps situation was the elephant in the room when it came to England selection for the internationals against China and Ghana on November 29 and December 2.
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Wiegman has made her feelings clear on the situation, and any further difficulties that come up in future: she will do what she thinks is best for the team.
"Of course, you hope that things are always positive, but that's not how things work in football when you're so visible," the manager added.
"It's just the situation and you're trying to deal with it in the best positive way, solve whatever needs to be solved, and move forward.
"I make decisions on what I think is the best for the team to compete in the next camp or the next tournament - and I make decisions to win.
"I don't think I can change that. What I just try to be is as honest as possible and have a very good working relationship, which is what I think we (her and Earps) had.
"I can't control other things. I just stick with what I want to do, how I want to do it and try to be as clear and honest as possible to make decisions to win."
Hampton’s omission from this squad has nothing to do with the situation or her behaviour but a hamstring injury.
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Hannah Hampton and Mary Earps were once teammates and friends.
Image credit: Getty Images
She is one of the main talking points from the squad selection, along with the welcome return from injury of a pair from WSL leaders Manchester City, Lauren Hemp and Grace Clinton.
Wiegman confirmed she has spoken to Hampton since the book was released but kept her conversation private.
"I always keep conversations private. I share things here [in the media] but when I have individual conversations I keep that private as that builds trust," she said.
"If I do that then players will come to me and have conversations with me. That's my approach. We create an environment where we want people to be themselves.
"I spoke to Hannah. I speak to players in between camps anyway. Unfortunately, she is injured now. But I did speak to her, yes. What the content of that conversation was, as always, I'll keep private."
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