Meet the lawyers dating England and Scotland’s footballers

Ahead of tonight’s big game 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁥󠁮󠁧󠁿 vs 🏴󠁧󠁢󠁳󠁣󠁴󠁿

As the Euro 2020 tournament hots up and we eagerly await tonight’s England vs Scotland game, it’s been brought to Legal Cheek‘s attention that not one but two lawyers are dating players from each team.

Mia McClenaghan, 21, from Brentwood, Essex, is dating England and Chelsea F.C defender Reece James, also 21.

McClenaghan has just completed a law degree at Royal Holloway, University of London.

A scan of her LinkedIn profile shows she held a few legal posts during her time at university, including working as an interviewer for Citizens Advice and volunteering as a McKenzie friend. At present, her page shows she’s a senior interviewer for a legal advice centre advising prisoners on family matters.

The Royal Holloway alum has been dating the right-back for around two years and recently shared a loved-up snap of them together on her Instagram page, where she has a 20k-strong following. “Loml ❤️ [love of my life],” she captioned the post. “[Reece] is winning on and off the pitch,” a fan commented.

Sophie Hofford, from Edinburgh, Scotland, is the other half of Scotland and Southampton midfielder, Stuart Armstrong, 29.

Hofford is a trainee solicitor at Scottish law firm Dickson Minto, according to her LinkedIn profile. She graduated with a first class honours from the University of Aberdeen in 2018 — where she also nabbed a prize for her “excellent” dissertation — and went on to complete the prerequisite Scots Law Diploma in Professional Legal Practice at the University of Edinburgh the following year. It’s understood Hofford is nearing the completion of her training contract, which is split between London and Edinburgh.

It appears we have a double legal connection as boyfriend Armstrong reportedly enrolled on a law degree at the Open University some years ago, which he juggled part-time alongside his football commitments.

Hofford keeps a low profile on social media and her Instagram account is set to private. But proud boyfriend Armstrong offers fans a glimpse into their personal lives by sharing holiday and birthday snaps.

England vs Scotland kicks off tonight at 8pm.