Hannah Hampton is one of the most exciting young talents in the women’s game. The 21-year-old goalkeeper became an England international this year and is a key part of Aston Villa’s defence. As well as her on-pitch prowess, however, she also has a very interesting story. Despite being very proud of her midlands heritage she also has quite an international background having began her football career in Spain.
Hannah moved to Villa-real when she was just five years old with her family, who were both teachers who wanted their children to embrace another culture and learn another language. Before long, a chance encounter after school one afternoon led to her taking her first steps in what would prove to be her career. “I was playing on the school playground after the school day finished,” she told Football Espana.
“My parents were teachers at the same school I went to in Spain so I had to wait for them to finish. All the Villarreal players sent their kids to the same school so they’d often be there to pick up their kids and Fabricio Fuentes [an Argentine who played for Villarreal] saw me playing. He came over and tried to speak Spanish to me and I didn’t have a clue what he was saying as I’d just moved there. I had to get one of the teachers to translate for me. But he was saying that he thought I should go on trial for Villarreal and that’s how it came about. I went to the trial in a full West Brom kit because I knew nothing about it and a couple of days later we got a phone call. We got another one of the Spanish teachers to translate the phone call for us and they told me that I’d been selected to play for the club.”
Immersion in Spanish life also meant immersion in the Spanish language, something that took Hannah time to get used to. “Not very quickly,” she said when asked how she adapted to a new language. “It took me a while. When I started school I didn’t have a clue what they were on about. Absolutely no clue at all. So for the first few months I had to have a teacher or translator to help me but, to be fair, I did pick it up quite quickly and I was taking extra Spanish lessons. But then, on the football pitch, I didn’t know any of the football phrases. So it was hard because I was quite shy, so even though I knew some Spanish phrases I was slow to use them. So it took me a while, maybe six months to a year, to actually start speaking Spanish to the players and to my friends at school.”
As for the adaptation to the Spanish style of playing, however, that came a lot easier for her. “I love having the ball at my feet and playing passes,” she said. “Obviously not when it goes wrong because they’re straight through on goal but I think distribution is probably one of the strongest elements to my game and that’s definitely due to the Spanish philosophy. Playing under pressure, having close links, all that kind of thing. Being able to retain that in my game and not letting it phase out since returning to England has been good.”
Hannah returned to England after five years in Spain when her family decided to move home. Villarreal wrote her a letter of recommendation to clubs in England and before long she was taken on by Stoke City. Five years on from that joined Birmingham City, with whom she broke through as a senior professional. She switched to cross-city rivals Villa in 2021 and managed to earn her first senior cap for the English national team in 2022. Speaking with her it’s clear she appreciates being able to do what she’s passionate about and credits the hard work done by the pioneers of the women’s game over the years.
“[Women’s football] is definitely improving, especially given the European Championship is in England this summer,” Hannah said. “It’s going to get more engagement and recognition from fans in England and all across Europe. I’m lucky I joined the women’s game while it was progressing, having had all the pioneers before me who changed the perception of women’s football. If it wasn’t for them I wouldn’t have this job so I feel very fortunate.”
Not that Hannah’s ride has been smooth. She’s had to deal with depth perception, an inability to judge the distance of objects. One can imagine that could be a problem for a goalkeeper but Hannah has managed to overcome it. “I just got used to it to be honest,” she said. “I’ve had to deal with it. Surgery is something that I could get but it won’t improve my eyesight. It’ll just help with the squint and not having a lazy eye, helping me keep it straight. But that’s something I’ve got to work out. I don’t really know myself yet; I always go yes at one point and no at another. I’m not sure what I’ll end up doing with that.”
And Hannah isn’t resting on her laurels. She has plenty of things she wants to go out and achieve in her career. “I’ve got a lot of goals that I want to reach whether that be soon or in the future,” she said. “But I’m completely focused on performances for my club because that’s how you’re going to get picked for the national team, by performing well each week and just enjoying your football because that’s when I perform at my best. But there’s definitely goals that I want to achieve with England and with Villa but I’m not in a rush with anything. I take everything in my stride and I try to enjoy every single moment.”
Could that include a spell in Spain? “I’d be open to anything,” she replied. “If it’s the right moment in my career then yeah, I’d be up for absolutely anything. Spain was honestly the best five years I could have ever had so it’s got a special place in my heart. So whatever opportunity comes I’d be excited for it. But yeah, I’m just focused on the day-to-day.”
And if she was to make that leap, there are worse places she could go than Catalonia given the remarkable brand of football European champions Barcelona Femeni are playing recently. When asked about what she thinks about the Catalan side her face lights up. “They’re incredible,” she said. “You’ve seen the progress they’ve made over the last few years and Barcelona deserve to be one of the best in the world in women’s football because of their style of play. It’s incredible; they play under tight pressure in the smallest of spaces and they manage to get themselves out and they have an unbelievable ability to switch play and catch the opposition out. They’re absolutely incredible and they’ve got world-class players in their team. They’re a force to be reckoned with.”
