Jess Carter exclusive: Lionesses star on Euro 2025 glory, adjusting to life in the NWSL with Gotham and how women's football in the U.S. 'deserves to be on a higher pedestal' like in England

It's one of many new things the 27-year-old has had to adapt to since making the switch from Chelsea to Gotham in the summer of 2024. Be it the emphasis in American sports of winning in the play-offs rather than coming out on top in the regular season, the incredible top-to-bottom parity the NWSL has in comparison to England’s Women’s Super League or the misalignment of the U.S. and European seasons, and how that impacts her on some of the Lionesses’ camps, there are a lot of differences between what Carter is experiencing now and what she had been exclusively exposed to before.

But as she talks through each of those factors with a huge smile on her face, it’s clear that the England defender has taken it all in her stride. “I think it’s the happiest I’ve been in football in a long time,” she admits, even if, having been part of the Lionesses’ two European Championship triumphs and their run to the Women’s World Cup final in between, she misses how big a deal the women’s game is back home, compared to in the U.S.

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