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Former England goalkeeper discusses why it was time to leave Paris, the lure of her new club and when she will know it is time to stopWhen Mary Earps signed for Wolfsburg eight years ago, shortly after they had played in the Women’s Champions League final, there was no club photographer available for her unveiling, meaning her agent popped out to buy a scarf from the club shop before taking a makeshift announcement image. So when the former England goalkeeper’s latest club, London City Lionesses, announced her Women’s Super League return with a glamorous photoshoot on a boat on the Thames in front of landmarks such as Tower Bridge, she was struck not only by how much the women’s game and her life have been transformed, but by the bold scale of her new team’s ambitions.“The energy and effort put into the shoot, I would never have imagined this even five years ago,” says Earps, whose move to London City from Paris Saint-Germain was confirmed on Friday. “All I keep saying is: ‘I’m so excited,’ but that shoot just poured petrol on the excitement fire. Wow, if that’s what they do just to say: ‘Hey, by the way Mary’s arrived,’ then imagine hopefully what we can do [in the future].”The 33-year-old has signed a two-year contract with the side that recently finished sixth in their debut WSL season, having chosen to return to the league where she has spent most of her career, including five years at Manchester United.“I had an amazing time in Paris for two years, in a really special city, but last year I was sort of swaying more and more coming home,” the 2023 BBC Sports Personality of the Year says. “Every contract now, with where I’m at in my career, it’s just about maxing out with whatever I’ve got left in the tank, and I wanted to do that at home.“It felt like being back home in the WSL, scrapping it out every week, playing in front of the fans, being in those incredible English stadiums, being a part of English football culture again.”When it came to choosing London City, a video call with the club’s owner, the American businesswoman Michele Kang, helped Earps feel valued: “She showed a real energy for me to join. I found it really impressive that she even made the time for me in [among] the crazy amount of business ventures that she’s got going on and how successful she is. She never made me feel like she had to leave. She was really, really open. She really believes in women’s football. I really respect her.”The independently run club, who play home games in Bromley and train in Kent, will be hoping Earps’s fame can help them build a fanbase off the pitch as well as succeed on it. Work to build their new “world-class training centre” at Cobdown Park in Ditton was also a pull for Earps. “I had the pleasure of playing at world-class facilities last year at [PSG],” he says. “In women’s football, I’ll be brutally honest, when you’ve experienced everything, you don’t expect perfection. But [London City’s] intention and the plan of: ‘This is when it’s going to happen, by this date,’ it feels tangible and more real. Whereas I think there’s a lot of broken promises that can be made in women’s sports sometimes because just of where it’s at in its timeline. It’s not always sunshine and rainbows. But their vision and the way they’re actively working towards it, it’s not just words, it feels very much like action.“The main thing was really feeling like our values really aligned in terms of what the club wants to achieve, their ambition, my ambition. The fact that it’s a woman-owned football club, independent, can really go about its business in its own way was really exciting for me.”Earps says she has no regrets about moving to PSG, saying: “The facilities are the best facilities I’ve ever trained at in my whole entire life. You could eat dinner off the pitches. And, it sounds stupid, but even having your own [women’s team] places to park when you come in. These things, I’d not experienced prior to that. The league was maybe not as competitive as I would have liked and that’s just the nature of football sometimes.“When I joined they were Champions League semi-finalists so I probably had hoped we’d be a little bit more competitive on the pitch than we turned out to be, but that’s football. I think a lot of people don’t take those jumps [in life] and I’m just one of those people I’d rather give it a go and look back with no regrets. I loved it, the city especially was incredible.”Can the fans expect to see a slightly different goalkeeper, on a technical skills level, to the one who left United after lifting the 2024 Women’s FA Cup at Wembley? “I’ll let the people decide, because I feel like for two years I know people think like I’ve vanished off the face of the earth,” Earps says. “People ask me if I’m still playing, which is sometimes a bit hard to hear because I’m like: ‘Guys, still here, I’m still around, I’m still alive and kicking.’ But I understand that’s how football is and obviously here it’s very WSL-focused.”London City will be the sixth WSL side Earps has played for and she appears to have no desire to slow down or contemplate retiring. “It will be a challenge for myself to come back and to come to a new team [but] there’s still some fight in the old dog,” she says. “There’s still a lot to come, and still many years to come, hopefully. I think when you retire internationally, you accept that you’re not going to be in those conversations about being the ‘top goalkeeper’ any more, because that’s just how it goes when you’re not playing for your country.“You do sort of like fall down the pecking order. So maybe people don’t expect that much of me any more, but hopefully I can show a good level and really contribute to the team. I felt really good for the last two years in PSG.“I’m one of those people that always believe that better days are coming. I still want to be the best version of myself every day. I still think I can learn. If I didn’t think I could better myself, I would have hung my boots and gloves up already. Hopefully I can continue to grow as a player and peak. I don’t know if I’ll reach the 40s, but maybe a few more years.“The 40s seems so far away. It does get a little bit harder as every season that you play, there’s a few more cracks in the back and the neck and the knees as you wake up in the morning. But I love this game and I will play it for as long as I love it … I want to play until the wheels fall off a little bit. I want to avoid going into the real world for as long as possible because football is a pretty good job.”

Football News

Midfielder is hopeful for trophy-laden spell after bidding farewell to Madrid and challenges Scotland to qualify for the 2027 Women’s World Cup in BrazilJune 2026 is a month Caroline Weir is unlikely to forget. She scored seven goals in two Scotland games as the team clinched top spot in their World Cup qualifying group, watched on with joy at 2am as Scotland’s men secured their first World Cup win for 36 years, and then her move to OL Lyonnes was announced by the eight-time European champions.The Scotland captain says the lure of playing for Europe’s most decorated women’s club made the transfer an easy decision after four happy years playing for Real Madrid.“At this stage in my career, I want to push on,” the 30-year-old says of joining this season’s beaten Champions League finalists. “I want to be competing to win things, I want to be playing with the best players. I would love to be up there competing for the Champions League. The way the competition now is so competitive, there are so many more eyes on it and I want to be in the final stages.“That’s never a given – it’s really tough to get to semi-finals and finals and then obviously to win it is so tough – but I want to be in the conversation or at least at a club [where] that’s what they prepare to be at, at the end of the season. They’re a massive club with a massive history as well, a successful history and lots of trophies. I want to challenge myself to play with those players and also the manager.”Weir says conversations with the Lyonnes head coach, Jonatan Giráldez, helped her know this move was the right choice. The Spanish former Barcelona coach outlined how he envisaged her thriving in his tactical plans. “It was interesting speaking to him,” says Weir, who signed a three-year contract. “We spoke about things he thought I was good at. We also spoke about things he thought I could improve, which I think was good for me to hear, and my style of play, [being] a No 10, being left-footed and just how he sees me playing alongside other players in that position, so we did speak quite in-depth about tactics. That gave me a good idea of what to expect.“He’s worked with the best players and won everything so there were a number of factors involved but it was an easy decision in the end.”Before pre-season training begins in July, Weir has three big things on her to-do list for settling into a new city: finding a good nail salon, finding somewhere to get her eyelashes done and acquainting herself with the best local parks to walk her dog – Parc de la Tête d’Or, near the Rhône, should be ideal. Weir, who had never been to Lyon before discussing her transfer, likens the city’s beauty to that of Scotland’s capital and says: “I know it’s like the food capital of France; I’ve been hearing the food is amazing. When I went there, it actually reminded me a little bit of Edinburgh, like a French version of Edinburgh.”Weir says, though, that she and her husband are “going to miss” the Madrid lifestyle. She leaves as Real’s all-time record scorer with 63 goals in her 125 appearances, won the club’s adoration and will look back fondly on her four years in Spain, where she finished as a league runner-up to Barcelona each season.“I reflect with very happy memories, on and off the pitch,” says Weir, who also holds the club assists record (40). “My only regret is we didn’t win that first title. But apart from that, how I impacted the team, I’m really proud of those statistics. Madrid, me and my husband, we were very happy there. It’s an amazing lifestyle, an amazing city. But I feel like that chapter came to a natural end and I was also ready to move on.”Bidding farewell to Weir, Real said the club wished to “express its gratitude and affection for everything she has contributed to our club, as well as for her professionalism, commitment, and dedication”, and she also received a personalised message on a signed shirt from Jude Bellingham. “Jude and I have spoken several times. We’ve always got on well and had nice conversations about the club and Madrid. For him to write that message – I would have been happy with the signed top – that message just shows how classy a person he is. He’s a great guy and that was a really nice touch.”The British duo could not meet to say goodbye because Bellingham was training with England before the World Cup, a tournament which is whetting Weir’s appetite for next summer’s Women’s World Cup in Brazil. After Weir scored a hat-trick against Israel on 5 June, then backed it up with four goals against the same opponent four days later, Scotland have topped their League B group in European qualifying to reach the playoffs, and will find out their playoff opponents on Thursday.After watching the men beat Haiti as a fan from back home in Scotland, Weir, named as the women’s team’s captain in February, says: “I’ve never seen so many Scotland tops. It is amazing. Scotland flags on cars, outside houses. It’s really special. It’s amazing to see that. It’s so inspiring.“Going to Brazil for a World Cup, it’s just what dreams are all about. It’s No 1 on my list of dreams. Obviously Champions League and club level, but I think to take Scotland to a World Cup is up there. We were speaking about it a lot recently and because the guys are there and just the experiences they’re having and how much the country is supporting them and we would love a bit of that. We’ve kind of completed the first step, getting to the playoffs, and then we’ll look forward to the playoffs at the end of the year. We’ll take it step by step.”

Football News

This week’s newsletter spends a day with the Italy midfielder as she continues to battle her way back to a peak physical condition“It was accepting that I couldn’t play football because it was my life. It was everything that I knew.” For Everton’s Aurora Galli, the past 20 months have been anything but straightforward. Her return from a serious knee injury has been difficult, one beset with obstacles before, ultimately, a long-awaited comeback.It was September 2024, 83 minutes and three seconds into the first game of the Women’s Super League season to be exact, when Galli went down in agony. Everton were losing 4-0 to Brighton and, in her eagerness to salvage something for her team, the midfielder attempted to challenge for the ball when her standing leg buckled. As expected, it was confirmed that she had ruptured an anterior cruciate ligament.Sitting at Finch Farm, Everton’s training ground, almost two years on, the rawness of that day clearly lingers. “The night before, I couldn’t sleep very well but I dreamt about my ACL,” she remembers. “I discovered that my sister also had a feeling that something would happen. During the game, I was not thinking about it. But the feeling of the knee that went down, it was like I broke my leg completely. I remember screaming and the doctor was like: ‘Do you want oxygen?’ I said: ‘No. I’m going to walk out of the pitch alone. I don’t want anything,’ because I’m very stubborn … I remember every single thing from that day. I don’t know why.”The reality soon hit. Galli is a vivacious character but even with her natural exuberance the severity of her injury was difficult to process. “The first day, I was not myself,” she says ruefully. “I’m not a crying person but I was crying so much when everyone couldn’t see me. Football was why I wake up in the morning. All the frustration that you have, I couldn’t just put it away because I didn’t have football. Then you feel your body and your head are not working. It’s really hard.”The 29-year-old continues: “It’s very mental. Every single step that you do on the pitch, it’s like: ‘Is there any problem?’ Or even if someone just goes down, I feel so worried. You don’t want to think about it but it’s just something that will never go away.”For Galli, the motivation to return was immediate, with far more than a lost domestic campaign at stake. Italy had cruised through qualifying to book their place at the 2025 European Championship and the idea of missing out was not one she could countenance.“I had a Euros to go to,” she states. “I was like: ‘In six months, I need to be back playing.’ I think it was actually like seven and a half. I pushed it. I had so many meetings with the physio and doctors to explain my point of view … if I have a goal, I will arrive there no matter what.”Under the guidance of medical staff, she pushed her recovery and, despite one small setback, made her return on the final day of the 2024-25 season. It was just a four-minute cameo against Tottenham but it was enough to bring her back into the national team conversation. Ultimately, she was not named in Andrea Soncin’s final squad but was there with the group as they reached a historic semi-final.“I was not in the team but I was part of it, so it was half of the goal,” she says. “I’m very proud of them because they did amazing things. It was nice to be back after such a long time, to see my friends and just enjoy football again.”In hindsight, however, she had “pushed [her recovery] maybe a little bit too much”. When she returned to Liverpool for pre-season, the cartilage in her knee swelled to the point where she was unable to complete sessions and she was forced to sit things out until January, eventually making a comeback against Manchester City.“It was a balance I couldn’t handle and the staff had to stop me,” she points to her knee with a smile. “That is what I learned for the second time [needing to take care of her body] because maybe the first was not enough. It gave me more awareness of my body; how I feel it and how it answers me.”Her return coincided with Everton’s upturn in form after an inauspicious start. After the dismissal of Brian Sørensen in February, the team secured an eighth-place finish under their interim manager, Scott Phelan, with Galli making five starts as she built up her minutes.For the Italian, Everton have become a family, a home away from home for the past five years. She joined the club at 24, becoming the first Italian to play in the WSL, and quickly became a mainstay of the group. A hard-working, technical and versatile central midfielder, her intense drive to succeed is partnered with her infectious nature, helping her to lead by example.“I know how to help people to just push them to be the best version of themselves,” she says. “If that means being a leader, yeah. If it’s not, I’m not. I’m just really focusing on what I’m doing because I love it. And if the people that are around me love it like I do, we can work together; otherwise, we can fight with each other and see who wins.”A timely summer break awaits, one that involves Swedish mid-summer, attending a friend’s wedding and a much-needed holiday with her partner, Chelsea’s Nathalie Björn. With a World Cup on the horizon, the goals are clear and it is a further opportunity to rediscover her best within the new parameters that her body will allow.“I would say that I still don’t feel myself and I don’t think that I will feel it again like before,” she admits. “I think that an injury, especially the ACL, changes your body. It changes the way you are thinking so it’s more [about] growing and accepting the change.”If you have any questions or comments about any of our newsletters please email moving.goalposts@theguardian.com.This is an extract from our free email about women’s football, Moving the Goalposts. To get the full edition, visit this page and follow the instructions. Moving the Goalposts will be sent out once a week, on Wednesdays, in the close season but will be back on Tuesdays and Thursdays from September.

Football News

Tara Warren of the Independent Football Regulator was an executive director at West Ham until DecemberA nonexecutive director of the Independent Football Regulator will not be involved in the inquiry into allegations of sexual misconduct against David Sullivan to avoid a conflict of interest over her links to West Ham.Tara Warren was an executive director of West Ham United and the club’s women’s team before joining the football regulator.Sullivan announced his resignation as a director and co-chair of West Ham last Saturday, before the publication of a joint investigation in which seven women accused him of abusing his power and preying on them for sex, in claims that date back to the 1980s and 1990s.However, the 77-year-old remains the club’s largest shareholder, with a 38.8% stake, and the regulator is seeking clarity around the situation before launching a potential investigation. English football’s regulatory body has called the allegations “extremely serious” and has been given statutory powers to force a club owner to divest their shares should they be deemed unsuitable.Sullivan has faced restrictions on his contact with West Ham’s women and youth teams since 2023 because of a safeguarding investigation by the Football Association. He has described the restriction as “meaningless and did not amount to a ban” and that he accepted it “for a quiet life”.West Ham issued a statement on Thursday saying that the safeguarding measures followed the club’s safeguarding policy, as agreed with the FA and the local authority. The club added that “only a very limited number of West Ham United employees were informed of these measures”. The Guardian reported this week that the women’s team were now aware of the restrictions imposed on Sullivan.Warren, who left the club last December, was appointed as a director of the women’s team in February 2023. She joined West Ham as a marketing director in 2009 and became an executive director in 2014. Warren was a close ally of Karren Brady, who stepped down as West Ham’s vice-chair in April.Lisa Nandy, the culture secretary, appointed Warren as one of five non-executive directors of the regulator in February. The Guardian asked the Independent Football Regulator and the Department for Culture, Media and Sport about a potential conflict of interest and if Warren’s previous links with West Ham would see her recused from any investigation into Sullivan.A spokesperson for the regulator said: “The IFR has robust policies and processes in place to ensure any interests that may conflict with the responsibilities of board members are known and managed accordingly. Where a board member does have a conflict or perceived conflict of interest, they will be recused from any decision making role relating to the matter.”Warren denies being aware of the allegations made against Sullivan before their publication this week. Through his lawyers, Sullivan has denied the allegations against him.Sullivan is believed to be open to selling his stake. Daniel Kretinsky, West Ham’s second largest shareholder, is interested in taking a majority stake. The Czech billionaire could do so by buying the Gold family’s 25% stake.