The Lionesses have been on a high since their spectacular Euro 2022 win against Germany – but the squad have revealed a more shocking side to the sport.
Team members Lucy Bronze, Ellen White and Keira Walsh discussed life after their epic win in a tell-all interview with OK! magazine.
They’ve received a Royal seal of approval and won the support of 87,000 fans at Wembley Stadium in July, but The Lionesses are not finished yet.
Lucy, who recently signed a two-year deal with Barcelona, all time England women’s top goal scorer Ellen, and midfielder Keira tell OK! how they plan to inspire a nation.
“The night we won was a total blur on the pitch,” said Lucy. “I think the reality is way bigger than the dream was.
“There were so many obstacles we had to overcome previously, and in the tournament there were so many records broken we didn’t even think we were capable of doing.”
Lucy says the whole tournament was a “fairy-tale from start to finish”.
Speaking of life after their win, Ellen said: “It’s been ridiculous. It’s what you dream would happen.”
Following the team's success at the Euro finals, the squad won the support of the Duke of Cambridge who caught up with them at the medal presentation.
Lucy says she was more excited to see the reaction from her peers when Prince William started speaking to the squad.
According to Jill Scott, William ran and jumped into her arms – hugging her so tight.
Celebrations ran into the night after the ceremony and Kiera says they didn’t stop until the early hours of the morning.
She says the team celebrated with their families and team staff during the “really special night” and Lucy said there were a lot of sore heads, tired eyes and sunglasses come Monday morning.
Keira has admitted life has definitely changed for her after being spotted and asked for a selfie while buying her dinner in Tesco the other day.
She hopes their new-found fame will hope inspire a new generation of women’s footballers.
Ellen says their new platform is an important and exciting place that can be used for change and something “bigger than us”.
It’s a lasting legacy that Lucy hopes will remain following their historic success.
She is calling for access to football for all girls in schools after the team revealed most players were forced to play on boys’ teams in their younger years.
Keira, Ellen and Lucy all say they had to play on boys’ teams and really hope that can change moving forward – giving more girls access to the sport.
Lucy reckons their win has moved the support “a long way” but there is still work to be done maintaining the recognition for women in football.
Keira spoke of experiencing sexism during the Euros, but proudly says that no one can take their win away from them.
She says a nice moment for her was realising most people weren’t just looking at the team as female footballers, but their technical ability and skill.
Despite many positives of their big win, Lucy and Keira still said they received some horrific trolling online.
Lucy says she wouldn’t even repeat what they were saying to her mum and deals with the issue simply by blocking the vile trolls from her social media.
Keira said she wouldn’t want to “give a voice to all the sexist comments".
Another tricky task for some of the players was balancing a full-time job alongside their football career.
Ellen said at one point she was at Arsenal and working full-time too. She detailed going to the gym at 6am, working nine to five and then going to training.
Lucy says they don’t make enough money to “put our feet up on the beach and retire” and that, as a result of finances, some players have given up over the years.
“It’s a lot of stress trying to manage being a footballer with a regular job,” she told OK! magazine.
Lucy says the Euro win has however given the squad a massive boost in their confidence and that their success puts them in “a very good place for next year”.
When asked to discuss their last week in three words, all three players told OK! that it’s been a “dream come true”.
