England hero Hannah Hampton fears more corrective eye surgery could make her 'sight worse' as she is refusing surgery to help the Lionesses win the next World Cup
20:38, 11 Aug 2025
Hannah Hampton
Hannah Hampton shone for England at the Euros(Image: Getty Images)
Lioness goalkeeper Hannah Hampton says she is willing to stay ‘cross-eyed’ to help England win the World Cup - as corrective surgery could make her ‘sight worse’.
She was born with strabismus - a condition that left her ‘cross-eyed’ with a ‘squint’ - and underwent multiple operations to realign her eyes up to the age of three.
Doctors told her she could never play sport.
She is up for a Ballon d'Or and world goalie of the year award after helping England win Euro 25 - and now plotting how to lift the World Cup in Brazil in 2027.
Despite her eye problems - which include not being able to judge depth - she has put off undergoing more ops to correct her vision in case it gets worse and wrecks her goalie future.
Hannah Hampton
Hannah Hampton was England's Euro hero(Image: Getty Images)
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Hannah, 24, whose penalty shootout saves helped the Lionesses retain the European Championship trophy, said: “I have got a visual impairment.
“I was born with a squint and being cross-eyed I had to have multiple operations before I was three-years-old to try and straighten them.
“They are not quite straight now.
“I can go back for more operations but there is always that risk that it's going to make your eyesight worse.
“Alongside that I have then found out that I have got no depth perception.
“So I cannot judge distances which as a goalkeeper is quite needed.”
The Chelsea star told talkSPORT in her younger playing days she suffered a catalogue of injuries due to misjudging the flight of the ball.
Hannah Hampton
Hannah Hampton says she will not get surgery until after the World Cup at least(Image: Getty Images)
“I would misjudge things,” she said. “I would get more bloody noses and broken fingers from not being able to judge the ball.
“But you just adapt as a kid. I just don't know any different.
“I guess I just had to deal with it.”
Hannah said she and her fellow Lionesses ‘just want to inspire people’.
Her personal target was to ‘inspire all the people who have been told that they can't do it from doctors and shouldn't be doing it’.
“I just want people to do what makes them happy,” she added.
Around one in 20 children have strabismus.
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Many historical painters suffered including Pablo Picasso, Edgar Degas and Rembrandt.