Hayes 'not surprised one little bit' by Hampton's success

Emma Hayes is not surprised by Hannah Hampton's heroics for England at Euro 2025 and saw her qualities long before she brought her to Chelsea.

Hampton was one of England's standout performers as they retained their European Championship crown in Switzerland in July, and she clinched the women’s Yashin Trophy at this year's Ballon d'Or ceremony.

The Chelsea goalkeeper conceded just 27% of the penalties she faced at Euro 2025 (3/11), the lowest rate on record (since 2011) in a single edition of either the Women's World Cup or the Women's Euros (minimum eight penalties faced).

She was also a key figure in Chelsea's domestic treble-winning season, helping the club to win a sixth consecutive Women’s Super League title as well as the FA Cup and League Cup in Sonia Bompastor's first season at the club.

Hampton played every minute of the 2024-25 WSL season, conceding just 13 goals and keeping 13 clean sheets, sharing the Golden Glove with Manchester United's Phallon Tullis-Joyce.

The 24-year-old faced 62 shots on target and prevented 2.1 goals according to Opta's expected goals on target (xGoT) model.

Hampton was signed by Hayes at the start of what turned out to be her final season at Chelsea, and the United States head coach knew she had a special player on her hands.

"To be honest with you, I saw them qualities when she played for Birmingham [City]," Hayes told Stats Perform.

"I remember a game we won quite comfortably at Kingsmeadow, and it was her I couldn't stop looking at. I kept thinking, 'Oh my goodness, she's got all the qualities to be the very best'.

"When she went to [Aston] Villa, I kept tracking that career and knew that even though we had top-class quality goalkeepers at Chelsea, you just couldn't pass up on Hannah Hampton.

"I knew that she was the future for Chelsea and, in this case, England, and I'm not surprised one little bit."