Meet the former England hockey international up close with the Lionesses at Euro 2025

If you've been following ITV's coverage of England's Euro 2025 campaign, you'll probably be familiar with dedicated Lionesses reporter Katie Shanahan. What you might not know is that she is a former England international herself - albeit in a different sport.

Shanahan's five years playing hockey for her country have seen her impress her fellow pundits and forge working relationships with the Euros holders. When it comes to her interactions with England boss Sarina Wiegman, though, there's an even closer connection.

"With Sarina, I've been there since day one, and actually the first interview I did with Sarina Wiegman, we sat down and I said 'we went to the same university', the University of North Carolina," Shanahan tells Mirror Sport. "I was there on a hockey scholarship, after playing five years of England Hockey i then went out to America and did a sports scholarship out there and went to UNC, which funnily enough a number of the Lionesses have done.

"So I also have this similar conversation with Alessia Russo, and Lucy Bronze I believe also went out there, and a number of the other players who have gone out. But the one with Sarina Wiegman was really nice, because then we spoke about North Carolina for, I kid you not, about five minutes."

She stresses the importance of that relationship building when the time comes to speak to players about more emotive subjects - as an example, Beth Mead opened up to her about the passing of her mother. Part of that process relies a lot on fairness, too, and it's something Shanahan can also see from the other side after being in a similar position during her own days as an athlete.

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"If [the players] trust you in those situations, when they're vulnerable, coming off after a game when they've just lost and they're looking at someone like 'Do I trust you', then they are going to open up a lot more to you," she says. "So whenever I ask questions, I always think 'Is this fair?'.

"I always think the editorial around these questions, the tone can't be aggressive, you have to be really aware of how you come across. Because they've just come off the pitch, you're the first person they're speaking to, and I think because of the relationship I have with the players and Sarina, I do think that - because i know them very well - that hopefully they feel as though they can trust me."

While she might have made the move from athlete to broadcaster, Shanahan still has plenty of friends on the other side of that dynamic. A number of her fellow Loughborough University alumni also moved into elite sport, and her current interactions allow her to blend that personal experience with a continued recognition of what it's like to be at the sharp end of sport - whether that's football or something else.

"I can think 'what's it like in their shoes?' and you just understand things," she adds. "You can relate on some level - not to the level of the Lionesses and the pressure and scrutiny that they are under, but you understand to some extent what they're going through - even if it's like camp, food, fitness and everything else that comes within that scope, and what a day to day life will look like.

"So I suppose the main thing from that is to have my hockey hat on when i talk to them and try to get the best answers - I think if you do it in a fair and considered way and see it from their point of view, 'would it be fair if I got this question if I was an athlete?' - I try to get the best out of them, basically, and let them shine, because that's how I would have wanted to be treated as an athlete."

It's not just the current crop who she has to impress, too. She has interacted with top players - past and present - during her five major tournaments covering England men's and women's teams, and the hockey experience has come in handy there too.

"When you're speaking to high-profile footballers, I think it helps having a strong sporting background," she says. "Also for your confidence as well, because you know ... for example i remember doing an analysis during the World Cup quarter final in Qatar, England against France, talking about Kylian Mbappe and Luke Shaw moving in. all of this kind of stuff.

"Then i remember Gary Neville being really surprised with my level of analysis - we did it all on a tactics board for ITV and it was great. He was really surprised and then I was like 'don't forget I've looked at tactics boards also in hockey, it's still moving these markers, zonal marking, one v ones, all this kind of stuff. It's very similar in hockey tactic boards to football tactic boards.

So when it comes to analysis, I love it, because that's what i've grown up learning as well. There are a lot of similarities when it comes to hockey and football especially, when it comes to positions and tactics on the pitch.

"He was like 'oh yeah you played hockey'. It was quite funny, it was good fun, because if they don't know you played hockey and then you come out with all this analysis i think [they'd] be surprised. but I am a bit of an analysis geek and love to get into all of that, and it's especially interesting right now with the Lionesses."

In addition to that insight direct from the players, Shanahan receives the kind of pitchside access many will never see close up. That means picking up things others wouldn't be aware of - be that individual moments on the pitch or, in the Euros opener against France on Saturday, something as small as the unusual conditions in the tunnel and changing room.

"Oh my word, the tunnel was so hot!" she notes. "It was like a furnace in there. It felt like 40 degrees celsius, no air con, unbelievably humid.

"I did the dressing room link before for ITV and the dressing room was tiny, probably the smallest dressing room i've ever been in in my career and i've been in [this work] for over a decade now. It wasn't much bigger than a hotel bedroom."

She continues: "I suppose a lot of people don't realise in the tunnel how chaotic it can be. With the amount of people they have there, all the broadcasters... and everyone crossing around.

"But also I was speaking to Beth Mead [after the game] and i could hear the French team dancing, singing, going absolutely crackers in the dressing room. And we've got this quite emotive interview and poor Beth has to listen to the French players celebrating in the background in very hot dressing rooms.

"What you see on TV might seem calm but it's so busy, it's chaotic, you've got people running everywhere and then you've got 90 seconds to get an answer and you've got a lot of different things going on, and i don't think it helped Beth, who gave a very good interview actually and said we have to look in the mirror and really rectify that for the next game. She also had to do that with the French team celebrating in the background."

So, with that extra insight into the Lionesses' Euros start, what might be in store on Wednesday? Shanahan describes the 2023 World Cup final as the proudest moment of her broadcasting career, even if the result didn't go England's way, and sees some parallels this year with the way the team needed to recover from some setbacks Down Under two years ago.

"Yes, it didn't go to plan for England (in 2023), but to reach a World Cup final after they had that scare with Keira Walsh going out there, the bit of noise before the tournament as well, a couple of big injuries, Leah Williamson wasn't there," she recalls. "So even with this euros they had a similar situation where there's quite a bit of noise and missing players, and they did manage to find a way. And the main thing I've found with england is on their day England can beat anyone."

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