Aggie Beever-Jones embraces unlikely England role while waiting for Euros chance

Daily Mirror

12-07-2025

England striker Aggie Beever-Jones has her work cut out displacing Alessia Russo from the England XI but her Euro 2025 experience isn't just about what happens on the pitch
Aggie Beever-Jones has been embracing her role as the Lionesses ' unofficial photographer at Euro 2025 but hopes others will soon be taking pictures of her scoring vital goals for Sarina Wiegman's team. The 21-year-old has had her work cut out with fellow striker Alessia Russo in such fine form, but has been taking it all in at her first major tournament - while making sure she's ready when her opportunity arrives.
"Funny you say that. Literally in my bag here, they gave us a journal," Beever-Jones said when asked how she's making sure the tournament. experience isn't passing her by.
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"People are using it however they wish, but I'm quite big on writing stuff down. I've got a little memory book, I've got quite into photography, so I take pictures and whatnot. I've got my own little wall chart of each game, jotting it down. I've got a book full of all the memories and little details that sometimes you might forget."
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The off-field role isn't one she expected to have, but it's already catching on. "I think Tooney [Ella Toone] and her family were looking for a picture the other day and Tooney was like, 'oh, I better go to you because you're the photographer'," she added. "I have a film camera which I love and our photographer here, Harriet, she works at Chelsea as well, so I've got a good relationship with her and I'll ask for a few tips and tricks.
"But there's a few of us, I know Alex [Greenwood] bought a camera recently and I think it's just nice to kind of find some hobbies outside of football sometimes. The prints are in my journal. Got a few Polaroids stuck in there, so maybe I'll show you guys sometime. It's just nice to kind of look elsewhere and look at the… it's cliche but it's the beauty in the little things and just being able to explore a beautiful city and enjoy it."
England's players have largely kept within their bubble but there have been opportunities to get out and explore Zurich. Both of the Lionesses ' first two group games have taken place in the City, with players staying at the luxurious Dolder Grand hotel.
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The majesty of the team base hasn't been lost on Beever-Jones as she speaks to the press outside England's media centre, and she - like several others who didn't get the tournament experience at the 2023 World Cup or before - has been drinking it all in. Balance remains key, though, and as great as the bubble has been, time away from that football environment has also been valuable.
"We have our bubble, we know what stays in the bubble, and I think that's what brings the rawness to it and the honesty," Beever-Jones reflects. "We can have really hard conversations and keep it within the bubble, and equally after a game and when we've done well you can go see your family.
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"I think for us it's refreshing to come out of that bubble sometimes and take a step back to spend time with your family and not talk about football." She has had conversations about work with her sister - specifically, her sister's work as a midwife rather than hers as an international footballer - and the ability to find the balance between those two worlds has been valuable.
"I know for me, my sister's not a football-head at all so I just talk to her about everything but football and sometimes that's a bit refreshing," she adds. "But it's great, I think it's a great balance of you come here, you switch on, we have the bubble, and you can equally go out and have a coffee and enjoy [time] with your family and switch off from football and I think that has a great balance.
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Beever-Jones got her first major tournament minutes against the Netherlands on Wednesday, replacing Russo in the closing stages. By that point, though, the match was won thanks to a trio of assists from the Arsenal star.
If you go back three years, though, Russo was the one required to wait for opportunities from the bench while Ellen White started up top. Things can change very quickly in football, and that's something Beever-Jones clearly recognises.
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'Yeah, firstly, tournament football, it's never 11 players, and we have that philosophy here at England," she says. "Everyone's so aware that you have starters, you have finishers. Equally, you might have people who might not set foot on the pitch but everyone is equally as important as one another, and I think that's what brings this team so together. Even the other night [against the Netherlands], you saw when Tooney scored she comes over to the bench, it's such a one-family nature, and I think that's what gives us that little bit of an edge if I'm honest.
"But yes, everyone knows the impact Tooney and Less [Russo] has in the last Euros. Obviously there's a lot of noise going on around about 'who is going to be the next two to do that?' but I think, for us, we're just happy that we have such a world-class squad, the 11 players who start and equally people who come on and can create that impact.
"Regardless of who it is, I think we're just super happy that we have such great players ready to come on from the bench and make an impact, and yes, hopefully I can do what I can to help the team. But I just feel extremely lucky that I'm surrounded by so many great players.'
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England's final group game is against Wales on Sunday, and they won't look at it as a foregone conclusion. Wales might have lost their first two games, but they were in contention for large stretches against the Netherlands and France and can cause England a headache or two as well.
Beever-Jones is keen to provide a different kind of headache for Sarina Wiegman, though. A recent hat-trick against Portugal in the UEFA Nations League served as a reminder of what she can do, and she's just determined to be ready whenever her opportunity arrives.
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"Whenever you play for England you put the shirt on and you have immense pride and I never take it for granted," she says. "Scoring the hat-trick at Wembley is a day I'll never forget. Even that feels surreal to me, it was like I was in some dream.
"There's obviously expectation whenever you play for England, that's what makes us one of the best teams in the world, that expectation that we have to do well. That's why when the first game didn't go to plan you have to bounce back from it.
"It shows the humility of the team, the togetherness, and the fact we will always bounce back, it's credit to the team because we executed the game plan perfectly. But again the job's not done, we've got Sunday to play for, it's going to be a really intense game, obviously a massive rivalry. But the expectation's always going to be there and it's just dealing with the pressure for myself just being ready to impact where I can."