Jan-Michael Grantley Williams (born 26 October 1984) is a

Trinidadian Trinidadians and Tobagonians, colloquially known as Trinis or Trinbagonians, are the people who are identified with the country of Trinidad and Tobago. The country is home to people of many different national, ethnic and religious origins. As a ...

football coach and semi-retired professional footballer who serves as a player–goalkeeper coach for Canadian club HFX Wanderers. Over the course of his playing career, Williams made 80 appearances for the

Trinidad and Tobago national football team The Trinidad and Tobago national football team, nicknamed the " Soca Warriors", represents the twin-island Republic of Trinidad and Tobago in international football. It is controlled by the Trinidad and Tobago Football Association, which is a ...

and played professionally in Trinidad,

Belgium Belgium, ; french: Belgique ; german: Belgien officially the Kingdom of Belgium, is a country in Northwestern Europe. The country is bordered by the Netherlands to the north, Germany to the east, Luxembourg to the southeast, France to th ...

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

, Honduras, Guatemala and

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

Club career

W Connection

Williams was a goalkeeper for

W Connection W Connection Football Club is a football club from Trinidad and Tobago, which currently plays in the TT Pro League. The club plays its home games at the Manny Ramjohn Stadium in Marabella. The club's offices are based at the Point Lisas Industria ...

Trinidad and Tobago Trinidad and Tobago (, ), officially the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, is the southernmost island country in the Caribbean. Consisting of the main islands Trinidad and Tobago, and numerous much smaller islands, it is situated south of ...

who had trials with Rangers in 2003 alongside

Kenwyne Jones Kenwyne Joel Jones CM (born 5 October 1984) is a Trinidadian football manager and retired professional player who played as a forward. He currently manages the Trinidad and Tobago women's national team. He began his football career with Joe ...

. He was the Pro League Player of the Year in 2006 as well as the T & T Pro League Goalkeeper of the year in 2006. On March 27, 2007 he was the first goalkeeper to score in a Pro Bowl game when he scored a header against United Petrotrin in injury time to send the tie into extra-time and penalties. He saved 2 penalties to send his team into the final of the 2007 Pro Bowl competition. The final, against Superstar Rangers also went to a penalty shoot-out when Williams saved another 2 penalties to help his team win the T&T Pro League Trophy. With

Williams has a T&T PFL Championship winners medal, earned in 2005 and a CFU Club Champions Cup winners medal, earned in 2006.

White Star Woluwe

Williams again left his country in June 2007 for trials with Hungarian club

Újpest FC Újpest Football Club () is a Hungarian professional football club, based in Újpest, Budapest, that competes in Nemzeti Bajnokság I. Formed in 1885, Újpest reached the first division of the Hungarian League in 1905 and has been relegat ...

who offered him a contract but he delayed his decision in order to trial with Sheffield United. In July 2007, while on trial with Sheffield United, Williams played in a pre-season friendly against

Alfreton Town Alfreton Town Football Club is a football club based in Alfreton, Derbyshire, England. The club are currently members of and play at North Street. History The club was formed in 1959 following the merger of Alfreton Miners Welfare and Alfr ...

. On July 25, 2007, Williams was offered a contract by Sheffield United. While waiting for his work permit, he signed a short-term contract with

Belgian Third Division The Belgian Third Division ( nl, Derde klasse, french: Division III) was the third highest level in Belgian football. It had two leagues of 18 teams each ( A and B) at the same level. This competition, originally known as the Belgian Promotion ...

side White Star Woluwe.

Ferencváros

After he had his work permit application rejected, he signed a 1+1 year contract with

Ferencváros Ferencváros () is the 9th district of Budapest ( hu, Budapest IX. kerülete), Hungary. Name The southern suburb of Pest was named after King Francis I on 4 December 1792 when he was crowned king of Hungary. History The development of Fe ...

on July 15, 2008. He played his first game for the green and white club against

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history of cutlery production. The team have played home games at ...

the previous day. Williams was in summer 2009 released rejoined

. Williams again left his country in August 2011 on trial with Belgian Third Division club ROCCM where he joined fellow T&T teammate Radanfah Abu Bakr.

Central FC

Williams signed with Trinidadian club

Central FC Central Football Club is a Trinidad and Tobago professional football club, based in California, that plays in the TT Pro League. Founded in 2012, the ''Sharks'' were the 21st team to join the Pro League and plays its home matches in Ato Boldon S ...

for 3 years, he also played in the CONCACAF Champions League.

Juticalpa

In 2017 was bought by Hondurian First Division team Juticalpa and played 9 games and spend another 21 in the bench.

Sacachispas

In the next couple of years

Sacachispas Club Social y Deportivo Sacachispas is a professional football club based in Chiquimula, Guatemala. The team plays in the ''Primera División de Ascenso'', the second-highest football division in Guatemala. Their home stadium is the Estadio L ...

a Second Division team in Guatemala was his team.

HFX Wanderers

Williams signed with HFX Wanderers on 10 January 2019. He was named the first ever captain of the squad, and made his debut against

Pacific FC Pacific Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Greater Victoria, British Columbia. The club competes in the Canadian Premier League, playing home matches at Starlight Stadium located in Langford. History On May 5, 2 ...

in the club's inaugural match on 28 April 2019. Williams suffered injury problems as the season went on, and partway through the season backup Christian Oxner took as the number one. He went on to make twelve league appearances that season and three in the Canadian Championship. Williams retired at the end of the season, but was hired on with the club as a goalkeeping coach. On August 11, 2020 after an injury to Oxner, HFX announced Williams would come out of retirement temporarily to serve as back-up to Jason Beaulieu during the 2020 Canadian Premier League season.

International career

Williams was selected as the second-choice goalkeeper for T&T at the 2001 FIFA Under 17 World Championship. He was also part of the 2003 Under-23 squad. Williams was selected as Trinidad's number 1 for the

2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the ninth edition of the Gold Cup, the soccer championship of North America, Central America and the Caribbean ( CONCACAF), and was won by the United States over Mexico. It was contested in the United States fr ...

where he played against El Salvador, Guatemala and

United States The United States of America (U.S.A. or USA), commonly known as the United States (U.S. or US) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It consists of 50 states, a federal district, five major unincorporated territori ...

Coaching career

On 10 December 2019, Williams retired and was appointed as the new goalkeeper coach for HFX Wanderers.

References

External links