Watchers of England’s glorious Euro 2025 victory may well still be wondering why Hannah Hampton had Spain’s penalty takers on her arm, well now we know.
The Chelsea shot-stopper was the Lionesses hero with two saves against the world champions but one sneaky tactic went viral beforehand, only for the reason to be even funnier than anyone had imagined.
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During preparations for the biggest moment of her career so far, Hampton was seen rolling up her sleeve on the touchline to check a piece of paper taped onto her arm.
It was clear what the paper was, but why she did it wasn’t so obvious, until she revealed all to talkSPORT.
“The Spanish keeper had it on her bottle,” she began.
“So I thought when she was going in goal I’ll just pick it up and throw it into the English fans so she can’t have it.”
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The incredible revelation left her opposite number, Cata Coll, shorthanded, and despite two magnificent saves against Beth Mead and Laura Williamson, the Spaniard couldn’t stop Chloe Kelly clinching the title.
For Hampton it was only logical though, and such foresight was why she had her takers on her arm.
She continued: “I never put it on a bottle because anyone can do that, so that’s why I put it on my arm.
“It wasn’t hard, when she’s in the goal it’s on its own isn’t it? You just pick it up?
“When she saw my bottle in there instead, mine’s blank but it has the same sponsors and stuff so I just put mine in there, chucked hers in with the fans and she had an empty bottle.
“She was walking back and I was walking the other way and she was so confused, I was trying so hard not to burst out laughing.”
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From the sidelines to England’s hero
Hampton ended up being named in the team of the tournament, months after winning the WSL and Golden Glove with Chelsea.
Her rise has been incredible after reserve roles in the 2023 World Cup and 2022 Euros, but as she proved in the shoot-out, she’s certainly a fast learner.
Just ten days earlier she needed the help of the woodwork and some missed chances to down Sweden from the spot in the quarter-finals, and she’s revealed she was far more relaxed against Spain after some preparation.
“I was probably more comfortable in the fact that I knew we’d practiced penalties since that first one so I knew we’d put a few more in the back of the net,” the 24-year-old said.
“That Sweden one was traumatic for everyone. It was horrendous.
“I just kept thinking every time we missed ‘I’m not going to save every single one’ we had a bit of luck with the post, with putting it over the bar.
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“But from then on Sarina [Wiegman, manager] was saying you’re taking penalties every day whether you like it or not’.
“We were before in the small-sided games, we’d have a penalty for each at the start of the games but afterwards it was about taking two or three then after training, Anna [Moorhouse] and Khiara [Keating] faced about 100 penalties a day.”
Despite the extra prep, it wasn’t like England weren’t ready in the first place though.
Hampton explained: “Before the games we as a keeper group have meetings and we analyse every penalty that each individual from the opposing team has had.
“I think Alexia [Putellas] had 46 penalties we had to sit there and watch, but all the players even if they’ve only taken one penalty back in 2019.
“You’ll watch it and pick out little things they do whether they go one side or the other or have little subtleties in their run up or even their arm position.
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“Then pressure penalties, where they tend to put them. You see all of that and then you see their run up and adapt in the moment to it.”
We’re assuming England’s analyst also picked up Cata Coll having her instructions on her bottle…
