Olympic Gold medallist Sam Quek tells FFT that she was offered a trial with Liverpool
Hockey gold medallist Sam Quek almost signed for Liverpool – after becoming a champion at the Olympics
Team GB Olympic gold medallist Sam Quek has revealed she was offered the opportunity to trial with Liverpool’s women’s team under their former head coach Vicky Jepson.
Quek was part of the successful hockey team which beat Netherlands in the gold medal match at the 2016 Olympics in Rio de Janeiro, but had also once been a keen footballer, representing Tranmere Rovers at youth level.
In a previous interview with The Guardian, Quek admitted at the age of 16 she had to choose between football and hockey, but now says she had the chance to go back into the game if she’d chosen to take up Jepson’s offer.
“Vicky Jepson was the manager at the time and I was just generally chit-chatting online and put out a tweet saying that I’d have chosen football if I was younger,” she reveals to FourFourTwo.
“She invited me to come down for a trial, but I honestly just didn’t have the time – I was busy off the back of I’m A Celebrity…Get Me Out Of Here and other jobs as a presenter.
“I would have made time if I was just that bit younger. But saying that, as arrogant as it sounds, I reckon I could still do a job!”
Quek retired from hockey and has gone on to launch a successful post-playing career in the media, appearing on shows such as Celebrity Masterchef, where she reached the final, and how been a team captain on long-running programme Question of Sport since 2021.
Get FourFourTwo Newsletter
The best features, fun and footballing quizzes, straight to your inbox every week.
More Liverpool stories
Liverpool transfer news is ramping up ahead of a huge overhaul at Anfield this summer.
Benjamin Pavard of Bayern Munich has been linked, while James Ward-Prowse is said to be on the shortlist. Celta Vigo's Gabri Veiga is a target and Khephren Thuram of Nice is said to be close to joining – but Manuel Ugarte is one star who won't be moving to Merseyside.
Meanwhile, Diogo Jota has told FFT that Liverpool can win the title in 2024.
Rich Laverty has been a women’s football writer for a decade now, covering the game across the FA WSL, several FA Cup finals and live from the 2017 European Championships and 2019 World Cup. He has written regularly for publications in the UK and USA, including The Times, Guardian, Independent, iSport, FourFourTwo, Bleacher Report, The Blizzard, These Football Times and Our Game Magazine.