‘I know the Lionesses didn’t have it easy all the time at Euro 2025, but they earned it. A lot of the team are my good friends and I’m super proud’ Ellie Roebuck on watching her England team-mates’ latest success

The England squad that won Euro 2025 was a very different one to the the selection that had won the Lionesses first-ever major trophy three years earlier at Euro 2022.

No less than 11 players from Sarina Wiegman’s 2022 squad did not travel to Switzerland three summers later, including players such as Mary Earps, Mille Bright, Fran Kirby and Rachel Daly, who had all been key in the Wembley victory.

Goalkeeper Ellie Roebuck also missed out, but while other absentees had either retired or missed out through injury, Roebuck had suffered a stroke, six months after she had been part of the England squad that had reached the World Cup final in 2023.

Ellie Roebuck on watching England’s Euro 2025 victory

While Roebuck had completed her recovery, signing for Barcelona in 2024 and playing twice for the Spanish side before joining Aston Villa this summer, she was not part of Wiegman’s squad, so was on a watching brief with the rest of the nation this time out.

"I loved it,” the 26-year-old tells FourFourTwo. “A lot of the team are my good friends, so it’s nice to support them and I’m super proud.

“I know they didn’t have it easy all the time, but they earned it – I’m sure they enjoyed celebrating!”

With Mary Earps announcing her international retirement shortly before the tournament, the goalkeeping position was under the spotlight at the Euros, While Hannah Hampton stepped up for the Lionesses, Germany stopper Ann-Katrin Berger also performed excellently during the tournament.

“Ann-Katrin Berger is someone that I’ve always idolised,” Roebuck continues. “Growing up and playing against her, she’s always been such an incredible goalkeeper who’s never really had that spotlight.

“I don’t necessarily think the goalkeeping was any better than usual. The standard has been pretty good, but it’s nice for people to get the recognition they deserve.

“It’s being showcased on the big stage and people are really starting to believe in it.”

The success of the Lionesses is inspiring a new generation of young players, with the likes of Roebuck, Hampton and Earps in particular helping to usher in the next generation of goalkeepers, something the Villa goalkeeper appreciates.

“It’s really cool. Everybody’s got to start somewhere and it’s nice we can provide that platform for young girls and boys to know they can be whatever they want.

“It’s also amazing to know goalkeeper is becoming an attractive position!”