Change The Record is a GLAMOUR series dedicated to profiling and celebrating British sports stars. These women are flipping the narrative on what it means to be an elite female athlete, from competing on their periods to balancing training with fighting for queer rights and joy, pregnancy and motherhood, navigating body image pressures, and yes, chasing world records.
Here, we chat with Angharad James-Turner, who is about to captain Cymru – the Welsh national women's football team – into their first-ever major women’s football tournament at the 2025 Euros.
The Women's Euros 2025 is upon us, and Angharad James-Turner is still processing the huge feat that she and the rest of the Welsh women's football team pulled off in qualifying, and what it means to her.
“Time goes so fast, but it's a moment that I've always dreamt of," she tells Glamour. "Growing up in Wales, representing Wales was always a dream for me, but to finally reach a major tournament is definitely special.”
Chatting via Zoom from Seattle – where she currently plays as a midfielder for the National Women's Soccer League club Seattle Reign – Angharad recalls the actual moment that Wales qualified, after defeating Ireland 2-1 in Dublin. She says that she “collapsed to the ground when the final whistle went, from exhaustion too. But I was on top of the world.”
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It's been a hard graft to get here. Coming up as a young female footballer, Angharad had to work two or three jobs alongside playing professional football, just to get by. “I couldn't concentrate solely on football until I was about 24, 25 years old… I'm 30 now,” she explains, adding that – unlike her male counterparts – she couldn't survive on the wages she was paid from her teen years onwards.
And while equality between women's and men's football has not fully been reached, for many reasons, she remains proud of the work she's done fighting for better conditions for younger generations. “I've really enjoyed the journey, creating change, really trying to fight for better pitches, better facilities, better backing, all that stuff,” she says, adding that she does envy players coming up now, who will play on a slightly more even playing field, pardon the pun. “We've created environments now that young girls can come into, and it should be easier for them.”
When Glamour asks what she'd like to see change in the world of women's football, Angharad responds with the mammoth task of tackling a seriously sexist sports curriculum in schools. “One thing I have seen is the lack of opportunities that women and girls get in schools,” she says, stating her belief that all young girls should be encouraged to play, not just those whose parents can afford to take them to private clubs.
We caught up with the 21-year-old rugby player ahead of her senior debut for England at the Six Nations Championships.
"I would love there to be more opportunities made where you have to have a girls football team at every age. We should have the same opportunity as the boys do, but we don't. I think that will create a clearer pathway for girls to make football accessible for them… It's something that I think over the next few years I'm really going to try and fight for because I do truly believe that everyone should have equal opportunity, especially in schools.”
Recent research backs up how much this would benefit young girls and women as well. A study by EE and psychologist Dr Sheila Redfern found that 93% of girls aged between 13-18 who play or watch football say the sport gives them more confidence and a feeling of belonging (69%) and positivity (57%).
As well as being an activist for equality and opportunity in the women's football space, Angharad is something of a queer icon in the community too. Herself and fellow player Amy got married in June 2023 after playing together for Tottenham Hotspur. They are the first married couple in the Women's Super League.
She describes the women's football space as “on a pedestal” when it comes to its safe and inclusive environment, which “sets us apart from anything else”. It's an equaliser, a community you can enter and feel like you belong, whoever you are. “It's a safe space for anyone. Queer women, Black women, everyone is equal within football.”
“Men's football, men's sport in general, it's not the same,” Angharad says. “And it's because of the people that have created that for us in past generations.”
So it was a shock to the women's football community when the Supreme Court ruled to define a "woman" based on biological sex rather than gender identity, leading to trans women being banned from playing women's football in England. For Angharad, this is a huge step back for women's football and queer people.
“I'm overly disappointed with the decision that was made,” Angharad says. “It angered me, it upset me. Football for me, for all I've known has always been a safe space and a space where equality is visible and everyone is just equal. And this really has put us back a step.”
“I hope things change in the near future and me and other players will happily fight for that and and for change again. But it's constantly a battle,” She adds that the news has “affected the whole community, not just trans people”. “It's affected everyone in sport because we care… We're a really caring environment and safe environment.”
She's no stranger to feeling injustices within the football space, after all. “A lot of people still think women and girls can't play football – it's probably the biggest ick for me,” she says. “I just want to sit them down and show them footage, take them to a game and educate them and say that women's football got banned for so many years and we are catching up as it is.”
Angharad adds that it's a constant battle to acquire the same playing standards and facilities as their male counterparts, too. “Men don't play on the kind of pitches [we have],” she says. “I'd love to take [those critics] and say this is what we've done with what we've got. And it's pretty incredible."
That said, some of the footballer's passions do lie outside of the game. She and her wife Amy have recently set up mobile coffee van business Two Sides Grind, with a dream of opening a coffee shop someday.
“I guess for us it was preparing for the future too because women's football doesn't last forever,” Angharad explains. After all, the average retirement age for women's footballers is 32 to 34, and players such as Lucy Bronze telling the BBC last year that – unlike the majority of male professional football players – 99.9% of female players couldn't retire on their salaries.
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She adds that it also gives them both much-needed space from the world of football ("it overtakes your life a little bit") and affords them the freedom they crave. “After I finish playing, I want a little bit more freedom for a little while,” Angharad says. “We want to go to festivals, park up, serve coffee, have great conversations, meet new people outside of our bubble.”
Until then, she's very happy to take on any critics or sceptics who don't see the full magic and empowerment that women's football can offer. “I would love to just say, come with me, I'll take you to a game and let me just show you what women can do.”
