Ex-Wales boss Page becomes Liverpool U21s head coach
Former Wales manager Rob Page has been appointed as Liverpool's new Under-21s head coach.The 50-year-old led his country to a first World Cup in 64 years in 2022 after guiding them to the second round of Euro 2020, but was sacked in June 2024 by the Football Association of Wales (FAW) after Wales' failure to qualify for Euro 2024.Page, a former Wales captain who won 41 caps, took over the senior Wales men's team after impressing as Wales' U21s coach, while he has also coached at Port Vale and Northampton Town.He now succeeds the long-serving Barry Lewtas at Anfield.
LFC academy director Alex Inglethorpe told the club website: "Rob brings a wealth of playing and coaching experience to a key role as young players look to bridge that gap from academy prospect to first-team footballers."His recent achievements in guiding Wales to the last 16 at Euro 2020 before qualifying for the 2022 World Cup speak for themselves."But perhaps less heralded is the work that took place during his time in charge of the national team, which saw numerous pathway players make it into the senior squad."This is something we have seen first-hand at Liverpool with several of our academy players making significant progress on the international stage under Rob's guidance."
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Daily Mail
an hour ago
- Daily Mail
Lauren Hemp is the Lionesses' quiet star who could have been a cricketer, writes TARA ANSON-WALSH - but she's ready to take centre stage at the Euros
Lauren Hemp wanders into a padel club in Manchester on a sunny Saturday afternoon to very little fanfare. She's greeted at the door by the owner, but beyond that, people are too preoccupied with the sweaty battles going on inside their glass cages to pay much attention to what's going on outside – or to the Manchester City and England footballer who has just walked into their midst. And this is just the way Hemp likes it – without too much fuss. 'I do get nervous speaking,' Hemp says as she sits down to talk with Mail Sport, which is perfectly understandable. The women's game has grown at a breakneck pace, and many players are still growing accustomed to the intense media scrutiny that comes with being an England player. 'I feel like on the pitch is where I feel most comfortable,' she says. 'When I get on the pitch all my nerves go away, and I feel so confident – that's the way I express myself. 'Off it, I feel like I'm quieter, more reserved. I get on with everyone I meet, but I don't take centre stage. I'm not one to put myself out there. I'm pretty chilled and laid-back. But then when I'm on the pitch, it feels like something just changes. A spark ignites in me.' The problem is, Hemp deserves far more recognition. At just 24, she's already a European champion and World Cup finalist. She's the youngest player to reach 50 goals in the Women's Super League (WSL), has won a record four consecutive PFA Young Player of the Year awards – more than anyone in the competition's history, male or female – and was nominated for the Ballon d'Or last year. Add an FA Cup and League Cup to that list for good measure. Those who follow the women's game closely understand just how vital Hemp is to the Lionesses' hopes of defending their Euros title this summer. After playing every game of the Euro 2022 success in her first major tournament, including whipping in the corner for Chloe Kelly's final winner, her star has been on an infinite, upward trajectory. Yet her quiet nature off the pitch has often left her overshadowed in the wider public eye, as louder personalities have dominated the spotlight. That said, a fully fit and fired-up Hemp is really all England need. At just 5ft 5in, she's one of the quickest players in the game. When Mail Sport asked the Lionesses which teammate they'd back for pace, the response was unanimous: 'Hempo'. Her directness is refreshing at Manchester City, where the team's possession-heavy style can sometimes test the patience of fans. A naturally left-footed winger with extraordinary ball-carrying ability, Hemp never shies away from taking on defenders – and whenever she gets on the ball, seats inevitably start to bang. Hemp topped the WSL assist leaderboard for the second consecutive time this season – an incredible feat given she spent half of it on the bench, playing just 10 of the 22 league games. And when she's not setting up her England or City teammates, Hemp is scoring the goals herself – her opener in the 2023 World Cup semi-final against Australia was one of the tournament's defining moments. Asked what she attributes her meteoric rise to, Hemp replies: 'I don't know. I feel like whenever I get accolades like PFA Young Player of the Year, one thing I haven't done – which I wish I maybe did do – was celebrate it. I've always thought, 'You won that, nice one, right on to the next.' I've always thought about the thing after. 'I've made the Ballon d'Or list, and now I want to get one step closer. Things like that – just taking every game as it comes, and every accolade that I get along the way is great, and I want to win as many trophies as I can. Equally, I don't put too much pressure on myself. I remind myself that I love playing football, and that's how I perform at my best.' Hemp's sporting prowess When we meet at The Padel Club near the Trafford Centre, Hemp unexpectedly arrives dressed in jeans. Having only recently returned from injury, she wisely decides to sit out – unwilling to risk the summer ahead. Still, padel has become a part of her life, and just talking about it stirs her natural competitiveness. 'There's a padel court near where I live and me and my girlfriend (former Liverpool player Ashley Hodson) tried it one day. Turns out I was actually quite good. I let her be on my team and we took two other players on,' she says, grinning. 'I used to like tennis as well. I think I'm one of those annoying kids that was good at every sport. But it's nice to get together and do something other than football. I play a lot with my City teammates.' The Norfolk native is under-selling herself. She was more than just 'good' at other sports – she might have gone on to play cricket professionally. As for football, it was only because her dad used to take her to Norwich to watch her older sister Amy – a promising youth footballer whose career was cut short by double ACL injuries – that she ended up giving it a try. 'I wasn't really interested in playing football, to be honest. I'd be on the sidelines, not even watching the game. But when I was around seven, my dad took me to a trial, and I just joined in with my sister for a bit. Turned out I was actually pretty decent,' she laughs. 'As a kid it was always cricket in the summer, football in the winter. But as I got older, football became more of a full-time thing and I couldn't commit to both. 'It got to the point where I had to make a choice. When I was 15, Norwich City's Girls' Centre of Excellence – where I was training – shut down, and I had to think seriously about my future and how to get the best out of myself. 'There weren't any teams around me where I was going to be able to keep playing football, so I took the decision to join Bristol City, but I was really sad to stop playing cricket. I'd even started going to England camps – little weekend things – for cricket as well.' After two standout seasons at Bristol – where she was named PFA Young Player of the Year in her debut WSL campaign – Hemp moved to Manchester City in 2018, and the focus has remained firmly on football ever since. Return in time for Switzerland Now we turn to this summer's Euros and the difficult, drawn-out rehab that nearly cost her a place. 'I tore my meniscus last November. I had a scan on it, and I was told I was going to be out for two to three months with a repair. I got it repaired and I was coming back, I was back on the pitch and I was feeling good, feeling confident,' she says. 'And then it was getting a bit irritable when I was out on the pitch and I thought, 'This is a bit weird'. I was coming up to being ready to play. I had a scan and I was told I had to get a re-surgery. 'The recovery was a lot less than the time I had originally – it was around four to six weeks – but I ended up being out for a lot longer than I thought it would be. It was about six months in total. 'The bit that was probably the hardest was thinking that I'm so close to being back and then that being taken away – and then feeling like I was back to square one, even though it wasn't. That was probably the hardest part. Because if I'd been told at the start it was going to be six months, I'd have been able to mentally prepare myself for that. But when you're on the way back and you're thinking that you're nearly there – that was tough.' Still, she kept her sights on the summer, as England prepare for a difficult group stage against France, Netherlands and Wales. Hemp kept her sights on the summer, as England prepare for a difficult group stage against France, Netherlands and Wales 'Of course, my priority was always with City, but long term I was thinking about this summer – and that was a real driver for me. And then to finally get the call from Sarina to say that I was going to the Euros, it was a massive relief. I was so happy and I was quick to call my parents and tell them, because it means so much to me to play for England.' As the conversation winds down – after detours into her worst padel opponent ('Grace Clinton!') and childhood heroes ('Kelly Smith, Karen Carney, Jill Scott') – we come to one final question: how does she want to be remembered? 'The thing that I pride myself in is doing anything for the team, and I want people to think that no matter what, I'd run through a brick wall for my team,' she says, before adding: 'I'd love to go down as one of the best wingers in the world.' At just 24, and with the trajectory she's on, that goal feels well within reach. But first it's off to Switzerland where Hemp can get back to doing what she does best, letting her football do the talking.
Daily Mail
2 hours ago
- Daily Mail
The inspirational football club helping everyone enjoy the beautiful game - as England captain Leah Williamson pays it a visit
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The Guardian
2 hours ago
- The Guardian
Women's Euro 2025 team guides: Portugal
This article is part of the Guardian's Euro 2025 Experts' Network, a cooperation between some of the best media organisations from the 16 countries who qualified. is running previews from two teams each day in the run-up to the tournament kicking off on 2 July. Portugal want more. After featuring at the 2017 and 2022 European Championships, as well as the 2023 World Cup, the 'Navigators' think that the time has come to do more than just taking part. This time they want to do something unprecedented for the women's team: to get out of the group and Switzerland, a country with a large Portuguese community, is an ideal place to make history. The qualifying campaign fuelled this sense of expectation. Portugal did not lose any of the 10 games they played – six in the first phase and then four more in two playoff rounds against Azerbaijan and the Czech Republic. The recent Nations League campaign was a wake-up call though and old doubts have resurfaced: are Portugal really ready to fight against the strongest teams on the continent? After a promising start, with a draw at home against England and a win in Belgium, Francisco Neto's team endured four consecutive defeats – conceding 20 goals and scoring only three – and ended up relegated to League B. The results also reflected the absence of some of the team's key figures: Kika Nazareth (Barcelona) sustained a serious injury in March; Lúcia Alves (Benfica) missed more than half the season and Jéssica Silva (Gotham) had an eye problem. They are all in the squad but there are question marks over how match-ready they will be. 'We are not in the cycle we want to be, where we deserve to be, and where we have worked to be,' Neto said recently. 'There is no other way to turn things around than through hard work and focus. It's worth remembering that not everything is fine just because we win and not everything is wrong when we lose. These are difficult times for us as the team have got us used to success.' Now it is up to Neto to get the squad back on track but the first assignment couldn't be tougher: Spain in Berne on 3 July. Francisco Neto is only 43 years old, but has been in his position for over a decade. Having started in 2014, when Portugal were 43rd in the Fifa rankings, he has overseen a rise to 22nd and historic appearances at the World Cup and two European Championships. He has played a big part in this improvement, partly through his work as national coach but also ensuring that the sport has grown as a whole, in close collaboration with the clubs. He has had a core of players on his journey but has never been afraid to bring in younger squad members, leading to a constant evolution of the group. He will always have his legacy but the latest results indicate that we may be nearing the end of a cycle. The European Championship will tell whether Neto is still the right coach to take Portugal to new heights or whether it is time for a shake-up. 'The development of Portuguese women's football is much more than the Nations League,' he said before the tournament. Kika Nazareth is the reference point in a new era of Portuguese women's football. This is the new, more professional, more competitive and more capable era. More captivating too. Now there are children in Portugal who are named after her – that is the impact she is having. She is not the first Portuguese female player to join a top European club – others have played for Barcelona, in fact – but now the context is different, even in financial terms. Benfica received €500,000 for Nazareth, who immediately conquered Catalonia with her footballing quality but also her joy and smile. A serious injury in March threatened her place at the Euros but she made the squad and even the presence of a half-fit Nazareth will give the other players a boost. 'But wait for me: because no matter how long the road, I will return,' she wrote on social media after the injury, quoting a poem by Sophia de Mello Breyner Andresen. Sign up to Moving the Goalposts No topic is too small or too big for us to cover as we deliver a twice-weekly roundup of the wonderful world of women's football after newsletter promotion Telma Encarnação. Born in Madeira, like Cristiano Ronaldo, she is also obsessed with goals. Scored Portugal's first goal at a World Cup, against Vietnam, in 2023. It took her a while to pluck up the courage to leave her native island, but last summer she moved to Sporting and scored 12 times. She's only 23 and is still establishing herself as the main focal point for the Portuguese attack. It looks as if she will be around for some time. The results of the national team reflect the evolution of the domestic competitions, helped along the way by a development strategy launched by the former FPF board, and supported by clubs. The number of licensed players has tripled in the last decade, and is now close to 15,000. As a result the number of teams and competitions/games has grown, and young players have conditions that their older colleagues could only have dreamed of. About 50% of the players in the top flight are professionals but it is a very different picture between the haves and the have-nots in the league. In March 2023 a new record for women's domestic football was set with 27,000 watching the Benfica v Sporting game. That was beaten last season as Porto, who had only formed their women's team at the start of the campaign, attracted 31,000 fans to their first game. Also at Dragão, the national team had the support of 40,000 supporters against Czech Republic in the qualifying playoff for the Euros. To get past the group stage for the first time at a major tournament. The Portugal team guide was written by Nuno Travassos for A Bola.
