Football has always been on stories larger than the game itself. Stories where a perceived weakness becomes a force. Hannah Hampton writes such a story.
It is the number one of the English objective and is in the final of the European championship today. And that despite having a handicap which should in fact be a direct elimination criterion for its position.
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Because: it cannot assess the distances. The 24 -year -old was born with a visual impairment, underwent three eye surgeries and still suffers today.
For a goalkeeper, this is about asking an attacker to score a goal with his eyes closed.
Hampton defies doctors!
The prognosis of doctors was clear at the start: professional sports were impossible to him. But Hampton didn’t want to accept this. Instead of withdrawing, she developed her own style of single goalkeeper – based on feelings, timing and unbridled will. “I essentially have no perception of depth,” she said one day in the podcast of ex-Gardien Ben Foster. “That’s why I can’t assess the distances.”
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What looks like a drawback has made her an exceptional player. Hampton had to reprogram her body: she took countless blows to the face, broke her fingers, had a bloody nose – and learned from them. “I had to adjust my position so that my hands are where the ball is,” she said.
Even in daily life, she still feels the effects today. Pouring a simple glass of water becomes a challenge – “If I don’t hang on, I’m going to miss it”.
The best goalkeeper of this European championship?
But with the goal of the English champion FC Chelsea and the national team, she now looks like a wall. In 22 league games, Hampton played 13 times without conceding a goal. Anyone who looks at her would never think that someone with a congenital visual disability is between messages.
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“It’s a really remarkable story,” said former professional goalkeeper Matt Pyzdrowski. “At this level, everything is so fast. And it only follows.”
In the current European championship in Switzerland, Hampton is the regular goalkeeper for the first time during a major tournament. With an impressive calm, strong reflexes and an aura that gives her team security, she led the lionesses directly to the final.
Birmingham’s wife has a real case to be the best goalkeeper of this European championship. Especially in the quarter -final against Sweden, she has become a heroine in the penalty shootout.
Sunday evening, Hampton can top his story of fairy tale. In the revenge match of the 2023 World Cup final, she wants to lead the very talented Spanish women to White Heat and help the homeland of football in her second consecutive European championship title after 2022.
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So, you don’t need to have a perfect vision to have a great career and be in the final of the European Women’s Championship today.
This article was translated into English by artificial intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.
📸 Miguel Medina – AFP or license conceders
