If you find yourself wanting to rip your top off, lasso it over your head and knee slide across a pub garden, it can only mean one thing: it’s a football summer. The Euros kicked off last week in Germany and – unlike the Lionesses, who brought it home in 2022 – the England, Northern Ireland, Scotland and Wales men’s teams have never won. Luckily for them, that doesn’t seem to bother us. Pubs are rammed with English and Scottish fans (the two home nations who’ve qualified), we all have too many pints, and we all become obsessed with a new generation of WAGs. Hunks, huns and matches – football summers have something for everyone.
And what would the beautiful game be without WAGs? You don’t need us to tell you that football is the biggest sport in the world. It’s watched by almost half the global population and there are an estimated 250million players active in more than 200 countries and territories. But, if the Beckham documentary taught us anything, it’s that the WAG era of the early noughties changed the game forever in this country. Without your Victorias, Cheryls, Abbeys and Coleens paving the way in Baden-Baden in 2006, the beautiful game would be a little less, well, beautiful. These are women who take each other to court over their Instagram stories; who have the power to turbocharge the cultural importance of huge sunglasses; and who, in our eyes, are just important as the goal-scorers.
So, with the Euros bound to take over the summer, it’s time we met this year’s cohort.
Kate Kane
England Captain Harry Kane, 30, has been with his wife Kate, also 30, since high school and they got married in 2019. The couple have four children – Ivy, seven, Vivienne, five, Louis, three, and baby Henry, born last August. Now that Harry plays for Bayern Munich, he and the family live in Germany, so let’s hope his familiarity with their grounds gives us a little advantage.
Annie Kilner (and Lauryn Goodman)
What’s WAG culture without a bit of drama? And Annie’s had her fair share. As mum to four of England defender Kyle Walker’s kids, she’s had to deal with her wayward partner fathering two love children with influencer Lauryn. But you knew that.
Cam Reading
Scotland’s Scott McTominay, 27, has been with his girlfriend Cam, 26, since last year. She made the headlines in January when a golf ball hit her in the face during a tournament in Dubai. Hopefully, she’ll be able to avoid any more ball-based mishaps.
Megan Pickford
England goalkeeper Jordan Pickford, 30, is married to Megan, 28 – another childhood sweetheart-turned-WAG. The couple have been together since secondary school and tied the knot in the Maldives in June 2022. They have two kids together – a son born in 2019 and a daughter born in September last year.
Tolami Benson
Rumour has it England’s golden boy Bukayo Saka, 22, has been with his girlfriend Tomali, 23, since 2020, but they kept it under wraps until recently. As a relatively new “official” WAG, we can expect to see Tomali on the sidelines supporting her man in some official merch.
Rebecca Cooke
England’s Phil Foden, 24, is engaged to his childhood sweetheart Rebecca, 23, and they have two children together with a third on the way. We can expect to see Rebecca and the kids supporting Ben. Let’s just hope she doesn’t give birth the night before the final.
Dani Dyer
Sometimes people are stars first, WAGs second. That’s the case with Jarrod Bowen’s girlfriend Dani, 27. A former Love Island winner and daughter of Danny Dyer, she shares twin girls Star and Summer, one, with the England player, 27, and her dad is chuffed about it, telling heat he’ll definitely be getting on a plane to watch him.
Sara Stokes
Scotland’s John McGinn, 29, has been with his girlfriend Sara since 2014. She’s been described as one of Scotland’s most low-key WAGS, and it always helps to have a few of them in the mix. Hopefully, we catch a glimpse of her supporting the lads this summer.
Laura Celia Valk
England’s new golden boy Jude Bellingham, 20, has been dating Dutch model Laura Celia, 25, since the start of the year. Let’s hope she shows up to support her man at the Euros and brings a bit of old-school noughties-style WAG vibes to the viewing box.
Lauren Fryer
Declan Rice’s girlfriend of eight years, Lauren, 25, has had a tough time as a WAG. After being incessantly trolled online about her appearance, she has deleted all of her Instagram pictures (wtf is wrong with people?). The couple also had to deal with rumours about nasty questions at a press conference, which turned out to be fake.
The GOATs - Meet the ladies of heat’s WAG hall of fame
Victoria Beckham
Perhaps the definitive WAG, VB’s influence knows no bounds. Aside from being David Beckham’s wife for 26 years, we’re also now dubbing Posh, 50, a WAM (wife and mother), because the couple’s second son Romeo plays for Brentford B team.
Abbey Clancy
Abbey, 38, and her former England star Peter Crouch’s fab overshare-y podcast The Therapy Crouch has ensured she has turned her WAG-dom into a WAG-pire. Too much? Fun fact: if they stood on top of each other, they’d be 12ft 5in.
Coleen Rooney
Never mind having to deal with husband Wayne’s shenanigans, she’s also raising the next generation of stars (eldest Kai is at Man Utd’s youth academy).And, the fact that she gave us the delicious drama that is Wagatha Christie puts her at goddess level.
Alex Gerrard
Alex, 41, is the wife of former England captain Steven and was part of the mid-noughties WAG pack. In 2007, she launched her own fragrance simply called Alex. If that doesn’t scream WAG-fluencer, we don’t know what does.
Cheryl
She might not technically be a WAG any more, having divorced love-rat husband Ashley Cole in 2010. But, during their six years together, Chezza, 40, gave us many WAG memories (just Google her wedding photos). Forever in our hearts…
Elen Rivas
Back in Frank Lampard’s heyday, he was dating Spanish model Elen, 49, which means she sits firmly in the WAG hall of fame. The couple – who share two daughters – were together for seven years and were engaged, but never married.
