She made keeping cool and fought off-field battles – so why is Earps retiring now?

Few international retirements have shook women’s football as much as Mary Earps did.

No one expected Earps to step down from the game five weeks before Euro 2025, two years after winning back-to-back Fifa Best goalkeeper awards and nine months after making a well-known move to Paris St-Germain.

Sarina Wiegman, England manager, acknowledged that she was disappointed and hoped Earps would play an “important role” this summer.

With the arrival of Chelsea’s Hannah Hampton last year, Earps’ position at the top of the goalkeeping pecking order was in jeopardy.

After opening her third game in a row, including a crucial 1-0 victory over reigning Women’s Nations League champion Spain at Wembley, Wiegman claimed Hampton was “a little ahead of Earps.”

The England manager’s previous statement about the goalkeeping conflict was a fitting end to the summer, but he had previously been wary of making such comments.

Before she was scheduled to join the squad at St George’s Park this week, Wiegman and Earps reportedly discussed her position for the Euros.

She later apologized to her team-mates for their actions on Monday and did not practice, before returning home and resuming her international matches against Portugal and Spain.

Earps will have known that her chances of capturing the top spot were slipping, and she acknowledged in her statement that it was “a new era for England.”

She will not have been keen to go back to the international stage after having previously had setbacks with England, most notably when she was dropped by Phil Neville after being beaten 2-1 by Germany at Wembley in 2019. She will not have been interested in doing so once more.

Earps’ influence has been significant in both the growth of women’s soccer and the success of England.

She also played a significant role in England’s victory at Euro 2022, and she also assisted them in reaching the 2023 World Cup final, saving a penalty from Spain.

Following that, she gained a significant summertime job at Paris St.Germain after joining Manchester United in a glittering role in the inaugural Women’s Finalissima.

She also received numerous individual accolades, including the Golden Glove for the best keeper at the 2023 World Cup and the Fifa Best Goalkeeper Award twice.

Her off-pitch impact was equally significant.

At the Fifa Best event in 2023, she presented her award for her personal mental health struggles while speaking out about her experiences.

But perhaps her most notable instance occurred when she criticized Nike for a lack of sales of England women’s goalkeeper shirts prior to the World Cup, which resulted in a petition requesting a U-turn from the sportswear giant.

Fans would yell her name during England games, and a mural was painted outside Old Trafford following Euro 2022.

In her hometown of Nottingham, where she also has a tram named after her, an honorific plaque was installed.

Additionally, she won a popular vote to become the first female football player to receive a waxwork at Madame Tussauds.

When she won BBC’s Sports Personality of the Year in 2023, demonstrating that her profile had transcended football, her status as a steadfast fan favorite was reinforced.

There is no disputing that Earps herself wanted to make goalkeeping “cool,” as she herself stated in February 2023.

Given that the goalkeeping department has little experience, Wiegman’s disappointment over Earps’ decision to withdraw from Euro 2025 is understandable.

Hampton has advanced to the top of the rankings this season, playing in a Women’s Champions League semifinal alongside Chelsea’s first-choice goalkeeper, and becoming a strong number one.

In the last 15 months, Hampton has made six appearances for England out of 13 total. The 24-year-old is ready, without a doubt.

However, neither of the other two goalkeepers in England’s current squad, subbed 20 years ago, nor 30 years old, has won a senior cap.

Keating and Moorhouse are still fighting for the top spot in the United States, but Moorhouse is still relatively unknown given that her first England squad call-up was in July 2024.

Ellie Roebuck, 25, who previously represented England at the postponed 2021 Olympic Games, started all four of their matches for Team GB.

She hasn’t been in the squad since recovering from a stroke last year because she has found herself under Wiegman’s periphery.