Wiegman finally breaks silence on Earps saga

Mary Earps, goalkeeper formerly of the England Women’s National team, shook the world of women’s football with her recently released autobiography ‘All-In’, which hit out at fellow goalkeeper Hannah Hampton and England coach Sarina Wiegman, detailing the fall out that resulted in her abrupt international retirement pre-Euros. Several weeks after its publication, Wiegman has at last commented on the feud between her former and current 1st choice goalkeepers.

Wiegman made it clear that she wanted to keep talk about the subject to a minimum

Earps published her tell all autobiography on November 6th, covering all sorts of material, including her struggles with mental health, sexuality and becoming a trailblazer for women’s goalkeeping, with previews being released in the lead up to its publication. However, some of the content in these extracts sparked controversy, with Earps going into behind the scenes detail of her career with England, and what drove her decision to retire internationally, in a shock announcement just 5 weeks before the Euros began this summer.

Post Euro 2022 victory, fellow goalkeeper Hannah Hampton was dropped from the England squad, with what was widely, although vaguely, cited as ‘behaviour problems’. In her book, Earps expands on this, and writes that when Hampton was bought back into the squad by Wiegman some months later, she disagreed with the decision- claiming that it made her uncomfortable. Hampton remained behind Earps in selection order for a while, but when she was made aware that her deputy was going to start a Euros qualifier vs Ireland in April 2024, Earps told her coach that she was ‘rewarding bad behaviour’, and that her team-mate didn’t deserve to start for England, despite Hampton having clearly worked on whatever problems she had. The handling of the situation over time ultimately pushed her to retire from England in May 2025 with immediate effect. Earps has insisted that there is no bad blood between herself and Hampton, but the way she talks of the Chelsea goalkeeper, including referring to her as ‘my competitor’ instead of by name in her book, paints a different picture.

The reaction to Earps’ book is most likely not what she was expecting

Last week, Wiegman took part in her first press conference since the release of the autobiography and was asked about the controversy with her former goalkeeper. Wiegman made it clear that she wanted to keep talk about the subject to a minimum- asking ‘Can we talk about football?’ when prompted on the topic- but made sure to explain her point of view. She elaborated that when making hard decisions, i.e to drop Earps as number one, she is only thinking about one thing- winning, and that the individuals involved will always react differently to a situation than how she is. She also claimed that even after what Earps has said about her, she ‘would have done exactly the same thing’, firmly sticking behind Hampton as her number 1.

The reaction to Earps’ book is most likely not what she was expecting- one of vitriol and extreme backlash, which has most certainly put a stain on what was such a fulfilling and iconic England career. However, to slate a former team-mate and a coach who put faith in her for so many years this publicly has come across in poor fashion, regardless of what happened behind closed doors, and seems bitter from Earps, given the instrumental role said team-mate played in the Lionesses Euro 2025 victory. Hampton has firmly won over the nation as the new number 1, her standout performances having helped the Lionesses to secure their second Euros trophy.