In the King’s New Year Honours list for 2024, three members of the England women’s senior squad have been recognised for their outstanding contributions to England football.
The Lionesses dominated the New Year’s Honours list for a second year running with three more players recognised for their services and achievements for English football. Their recognition follows Leah Williamson, Lucy Bronze, Ellen White and Beth Mead’s honours on last year’s list after their triumph at the European Championship.
Mary Earps, who has an impressive list of awards and successes in 2023, has been made an MBE, alongside Lauren Hemp, with Millie Bright receiving an OBE.
Mary Earps
Goalkeeper Earps had an incredible year in 2023 with a long list of triumphs to her name, including coming 5th place in the Ballon d’Or – the highest ever place for a female goalkeeper. Mary has amassed a huge fan-base over the past few years, and her dominant 2023 saw over 170,000 fans petition Nike to make her replica jersey available for sale after only the on-field players’ kits were originally commissioned by the brand. When Nike eventually released Mary’s shirts for sale, they sold out in one day!
Mary ‘Queen of Stops’ fantastic achievements last year:
- Finalissima winner
- Women’s Super League Golden Glove Award
- Women’s FA Cup finalist
- Women’s World Cup finalist
- Women’s World Cup Golden Glove Award
- Women’s Super League Team of the Year
- Lionesses Player of the Year
- BBC Women’s Footballer of the Year
- BBC Sports Personality of the Year.
Lauren Hemp
Dynamic attacker, Lauren Hemp, who finished the year as England’s joint top goal scorer will receive her MBE for her exceptional achievements in women’s football. Hemp has won four PFA Women’s Young Player of the Year awards, three during her time at Manchester City as well as winning two WSL Team of the Year in successive years. Since making her senior debut at the age of 19, Hemp has gone on to win 51 caps for England, already scoring 16 goals for her country, and 59 for Manchester City!
On receiving the honour, 23 year old Hemp says:
“I’d like to dedicate my MBE to everyone that has supported me in my career so far, and everyone behind the scenes for continuing to push boundaries to get women’s football to where it is today.”
Millie Bright
Millie Bright, the Lionesses defender who captained the team during their historic journey to the FIFA Women’s World Cup Final, has been awarded an OBE. She expressed her deep gratitude and dedicated the honour to her family, coaches, and teammates:
“Since I first found out, I think I’ve been trying to put it into words but it changes every time. It’s something you never ever imagine, never even crosses your mind.” Millie couldn’t believe it when she received the letter. “Is it fake, is it real!? It’s obviously a massive, massive honour. Not only for yourself, but for your family as well. It’s something to be proud of, everyone in my family has sacrificed so much for me to be where I am, so whenever I win anything or get an award or something, it really is for more than just me. I always like to honour things back to my teammates and the coaching staff, that’s why I love playing in a team sport, because without everyone else you wouldn’t be the person or the player that you are.”
Play 5-a-Side send our congratulations to the three lionesses for their incredible achievements!
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