Despite still being just 24 years of age, Hampton has already become one of the leaders in Sonia Bompastor’s Blues squad, and a vocal presence from the back.

In her second season since moving to Chelsea from Aston Villa, she established herself as first choice between the posts at Kingsmeadow and her impressive performances have helped her do the same with the England national team.

Having had a year to get settled at the club and gain confidence with her new surroundings and some intimidatingly successful team-mates, 2024/25 was when Hampton showed why Chelsea were so keen to bring her to west London.

‘I feel senior with my age! We have so many young players now, kids running rings around everyone,’ Hannah explained with a laugh.

‘I think just the position of the goalkeeper makes you have a bit more of a senior presence. It’s a position on the pitch that players rely heavily on in terms of communication and to have a bit of a leading role. So I probably feel senior in that aspect.

‘Last season I was probably a bit scared to be telling the likes of Millie [Bright] to watch over her shoulder, I didn’t think she would want a kid telling her where to go! This year it’s been quite good having a stronger bond with the experienced players in the squad and realising they want me to be leading from the back and telling them what to do in certain times of the game.

‘So between that and my age, I have felt a bit more senior this season.’

Helped by the influence of Hampton and several other leaders within this Chelsea squad, 2024/25 brought an incredible series of successes. Domestically, the Blues lifted the Women’s Super League, Women’s FA Cup and Women’s League Cup trophies, all without losing a single game.

It was a glorious start to head coach Bompastor’s reign in the Blues dugout, claiming a Treble in her debut campaign in English football.

According to Hampton, that instant success under new management was helped by the similar approaches of Bompastor and her predecessor Emma Hayes, as going from one perfectionist to another resulted in a seamless transition.

‘I think they’re quite similar in terms of demanding high standards and high levels,' Hampton explained. 'They pick me up on little things but that’s a good thing because they know I’ve got more in me. They don’t want me to get too complacent, and Sonia definitely hasn’t let me do that this season.

‘I think they’re both quite similar in how they manage people off the pitch as well. Sonia’s been very good for me off the pitch, supporting when I’ve needed it or helping me push through situations when I get stuck.

‘So it’s quite nice that it hasn’t been a big drastic change from one manager to another, it has flowed quite well.’

For Hampton, there was also individual recognition for her contribution to our all-conquering WSL campaign. Her 13 clean sheets in that competition in 2024/25 meant she was the joint winner of the Golden Glove award, alongside Manchester United’s Phallon Tullis-Joyce.

Although she insists it was only the team honours and not individual awards which took her focus, Hannah does believe the close race that resulted in two winners, combined with Daphne van Domselaar of Arsenal being close on their heels only three behind, demonstrates the growing standards of goalkeeping in the women’s game.

‘It probably wasn’t something that I was aiming for,’ admitted Hampton, before revealing her individual award came as a complete surprise.

‘I didn’t even know I’d won it until one of the goalkeeper coaches came up to me at the end of the season and said “we need to change the colour of your gloves so they’re golden”. I didn’t know what they were on about, I thought they were talking about celebrating the title win.

‘My aim for the season was just to win the league, I didn’t care how we did it. But then having a little extra on top of that was a nice bonus, and the fact we shared it shows the standard of women’s goalkeeping now.

‘There’s been so much scrutiny on our position in the past, but now this shows we are improving and are capable of what men are capable of. I think people have to champion the success of women’s goalkeepers instead of keep knocking it down.’