The England WAGs of 2024 are very different to 2006 – and having the last laugh

From right to left: Tomali Benson, Dani Dyer, and Megan Davison

Brits abroad. Enormous sunglasses and Chanel handbags. Mahogany spray tans and miniskirts. Who could forget the first generation of WAGs letting loose in Baden-Baden, Germany, for the 2006 World Cup?

That generation – which included the likes of Victoria Beckham, Alex Curran, Cheryl Tweedy, and Coleen Rooney – were branded “hooligans with visas” by a Spanish newspaper, picked over by the British tabloid press, and generated more headlines than the games themselves. In Rio Ferdinand’s words, the tournament was “like a circus”. Football became a “secondary element” to feverish reports in the red-tops of pink champagne, £25,000 bar tabs racked up at Garibaldi’s and £57,000 designer shopping sprees.

The infamous picture: Cheryl Cole and Victoria Beckham at the England vs Trinidad & Tobago match, 2006 - AP

“The hunger from the public was insatiable,” says former showbiz journalist and PR veteran Dean Piper. “Our editors wanted every single detail. When I was at Closer [the celebrity gossip magazine], having them on the cover would sell hundreds of thousands of copies.”

As the England team embark on the Euros, the wives and girlfriends are in the spotlight once more. But the class of 2024 are a different breed entirely – no less glamorous, but savvier, more sensible, and in control of their own image.

“The huge difference back then was the power the tabloids held,” says Piper. “They could make or break a celebrity and once they realised the WAG phenomenon was selling papers they went to town. These days the entire media ecosystem is completely different.”

Coleen Rooney (then McLoughlin), pictured at the England vs Ecuador match 2006 - AFP

The advent of social media changed the game. Instead of every tidbit filtering through the tabloid press, today’s WAGs can speak directly to their fans and followers. Jude Bellingham’s 25-year-old girlfriend Laura Celia Valk, for one, doesn’t shy away from the limelight – but unlike her noughties counterparts, she can build a personal brand online and, crucially, monetise it.

As a model and influencer, Valk’s social media career started long before she started dating the star midfielder earlier this year. It may not quite match the dizzying £220,000 a week Bellingham makes from his contract with Real Madrid, but Valk has secured lucrative brand deals with brands such as Burberry and Dior Beauty and reportedly pulls in thousands of pounds for a single Instagram post.

Then there’s Dani Dyer, girlfriend of West Ham’s Jarrod Bowen. Dyer, who shares her name with her famous father, did a stint on the reality TV show Love Island. She boasts four million followers, far outnumbering Bowen’s, and makes six figures from her Instagram, podcast, and various brand partnerships. Trent Alexander-Arnold is reportedly dating Iris Law, the model daughter of actors Jude Law and Sadie Frost.

Others cultivate a more conservative image. Several players have married their childhood sweethearts, including Jordan Pickford, Joe Gomez and Harry Kane. There are few – if any – opportunities to catch these WAGs stumbling out of nightclubs because they shun the party circuit entirely.

Kate, Kane’s wife, sticks to sharing photos of the couple’s four children or promoting charity initiatives through the Harry Kane Foundation to her 300,000 followers. She has just designed a range of jewellery with the company Loquet London, and a percentage of the proceeds will go to initiatives supporting youth mental health.

Rebecca Cooke, the long-term partner of Manchester City’s Phil Foden, has managed to keep almost entirely out of the spotlight and has no public social media.

Several of today’s so-called WAGs also have “normal” day jobs: Tolami Benson, girlfriend of Bukayo Saka, is a planning executive who purposefully keeps her relationship offline; Olivia Naylor, who dates Manchester City’s John Stones, runs her own beauty salon; Georgina Irwin, wife of goalkeeper Aaron Ramsdale, is a BA stewardess and runs a gymwear brand.

Sadly, some things haven’t changed. Today’s WAGs are still criticised and subjected to vicious misogyny – Declan Rice’s girlfriend Lauren Fryer recently deleted all her posts on social media after being bullied online. But with the dwindling power of the tabloid press in the face of their own substantial online followings, today’s WAGs have more autonomy, endless opportunities to make their own money and, ultimately, the last laugh.

Who’s who?

Dani Dyer

Jarrod Bowen and Dani Dyer, pictured with their twin daughters

27-year-old Dyer is the squad’s most famous so-called WAG, with 4 million Instagram followers and a flourishing social media career. She’s now said to be worth over £4 million thanks to her numerous partnership deals. The daughter of Eastenders star Danny Dyer (yes – they share a name) started dating West Ham forward Jarrod Bowen in 2021 – they reportedly connected on Instagram. The couple live in Essex with their twin daughters, born last year, and Dani’s son from a previous relationship.

Iris Law 

Iris Law is the daughter of celebrities Jude Law and Sadie Frost - FilmMagic

Dani Dyer is not the only one of this year’s WAG cohort to come from a starry background: Trent Alexander-Arnold has been dating Iris Law, the 23-year-old daughter of Jude Law, since earlier this year. Law works as an actress and model.

Kate Kane

Harry and Kate Kane met at primary school, and later started dating at 16 - Heathcliff O'Malley

Kate, a 31-year-old fitness instructor, and Harry Kane met when they were both pupils at Larkswood Primary school in east London. They started dating aged 16, got engaged in 2017 on holiday in the Bahamas, and married in 2019. The couple have four children, and Kate helps run their charitable foundation; reports say she can also earn £2,400 per post. “If I was single now and meeting people, you’d never know if they were with you for the right reasons,” Kane has said. “Is it the money? You’d never really know. So I’m lucky that I’ve got a childhood sweetheart.”

Lauren Fryer 

Lauren Fryer and Declan Rice share a son together - Lauren Fryer Instagram

Declan Rice keeps the details of his relationship with childhood sweetheart Lauren Fryer, thought to be 24 or 25, private, only occasionally referring to his “missus”. The couple started dating eight years ago, aged 17, and live in London with their son, Jude, who was born in 2022 and dog, Raffa.

Megan Davison

Megan Davison and Jordan Pickford also met at school - Eddie Mulholland

Another school romance: Davison, 28, and Everton’s Jordan Pickford got together aged 14 and 16. They married in the Maldives in 2022 and have two children: a son, Arlo, born in 2019, and a daughter, Ostara, born in 2023. Davison is a graduate from the University of Sunderland and has a nascent Instagram career, with 113,000 followers. She can reportedly earn £1,200 per post.

Laura Celia Valk

The Dutch model reportedly began dating Jude Bellingham earlier this year - Justin Goff

Valk, a 25-year-old model and influencer, studied creative business at the University of Applied Sciences in Amsterdam and runs her own social media consultancy. She reportedly started dating Jude Bellingham in April this year, and can net £3,600 per post based on her 500,000 followers, according to a recent study.

Rebecca Cooke 

Rebecca Cooke, pictured at the 2022 World Cup match between England and the USA - Getty

Phil Foden’s long-term girlfriend, Cooke, keeps details of her personal life tightly under wraps. The couple are thought to have been together since they were teenagers and have two children.

Tomali Benson

Tomali Benson works as an executive at a PR agency - Eddie Mulholland

23-year-old Benson has reportedly been dating Bukayo Saka since 2020 and they keep a relatively low profile. Neither has actually confirmed their relationship, but Benson was spotted supporting Saka from the family section at the World Cup in 2022. She works in London in the PR industry as a senior planning executive.

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