Neco Shay Williams (born 13 April 2001) is a Welsh professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

who plays as a full-back for

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

club

Nottingham Forest Nottingham Forest Football Club is an association football club based in West Bridgford, Nottinghamshire, England. Nottingham Forest was founded in 1865 and have been playing their home games at the City Ground, on the banks of the River Tren ...

and the Wales national team.

Club career

Liverpool

Williams joined the academy of

Liverpool Liverpool is a city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the 10th largest English district by population and its metropolitan area is the fifth largest in the United Kingdom, with a populat ...

at the age of six and progressed through the youth ranks, representing the club at U18, U19 and U23 level, as well as in the

UEFA Youth League The UEFA Youth League is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) since 2013. In its current format, it is contested by the youth teams of the clubs competing in the UEFA Champions League ...

. He suffered a serious back injury which ruled him out for most of the 2017–18 season, but recovered his place to feature in the club's victorious FA Youth Cup campaign two years later. Williams' form at youth level was rewarded when, on 30 October 2019, he made his debut for the senior side, starting in a 5–5 (5–4)

penalty shoot-out The penalty shootout is a method of determining a winner in sports matches that would have otherwise been drawn or tied. The rules for penalty shootouts vary between sports and even different competitions; however, the usual form is similar to pe ...

win over Arsenal in the EFL Cup. He featured prominently in the match and recorded a last-minute

assist Assist or ASSIST may refer to: Sports Several sports have a statistic known as an "assist", generally relating to action by a player leading to a score by another player on their team: *Assist (basketball), a pass by a player that facilitates a ba ...

for

Divock Origi Divock Okoth Origi (born 18 April 1995) is a Belgian professional footballer who plays as a forward for club AC Milan and the Belgium national team. Origi began his career at Lille, and scored on his professional debut for them in 2013. A ...

's goal to send the match to penalties, where Liverpool emerged victorious. In December, he was included in Liverpool's squad which won the

2019 FIFA Club World Cup The 2019 FIFA Club World Cup (officially known as the FIFA Club World Cup Qatar 2019 presented by Alibaba Cloud for sponsorship reasons) was the 16th edition of the FIFA Club World Cup, a FIFA-organised international club football tournament bet ...

, although he was an unused substitute in both of the club's matches in the competition. Following the turn of the year, he starred in a team largely made up of teenagers and reserves that defeated

Merseyside Merseyside ( ) is a metropolitan and ceremonial county in North West England, with a population of 1.38 million. It encompasses both banks of the Mersey Estuary and comprises five metropolitan boroughs: Knowsley, St Helens, Sefton, Wi ...

rivals Everton in the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

3rd round, and

Shrewsbury Town Shrewsbury Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Shrewsbury, Shropshire, England. The team competes in League One, the third tier of English football. The club plays its home games at the New Meadow, having mo ...

in the 4th round replay, forcing an

own goal An own goal, also called a self goal, is where a player performs actions that result in them or their team scoring a goal on themselves, often resulting in a point for the opposing team, such as when a football player kicks a ball into their own ...

from Ro-Shaun Williams in the latter fixture to secure his side's progression in the competition. In the match against Shrewsbury, Williams was also part of a starting line-up that was the youngest in Liverpool's history, with an average age of 19 years and two days. His

debut followed on 24 June 2020, shortly after campaign resumed following a three-month long suspension caused by the COVID-19 outbreak, when he featured as a 74th-minute substitute in a 4–0 win over

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

. Williams would go on to make enough appearances to secure his league winners' medal, and a few weeks later on 17 August, he signed a new long-term deal with the Reds. On 31 January 2022, Williams joined

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

club Fulham on loan until the end of the 2021–22 season. He scored the first senior club goals of his career when he scored twice in a 5–1 win over Swansea City on 8 March 2022.

Nottingham Forest

Williams signed for newly promoted Premier League club

on 10 July 2022 on a four-year contract for a fee reported to be around £17 million.

International career

Williams was born in

Wrexham Wrexham ( ; cy, Wrecsam; ) is a city and the administrative centre of Wrexham County Borough in Wales. It is located between the Welsh mountains and the lower Dee Valley, near the border with Cheshire in England. Historically in the count ...

and has represented Wales at Under 19 level. In August 2020 he was called into the senior Wales squad for the first time. Williams made his

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

debut in a 1–0

UEFA Nations League The UEFA Nations League is a biennial international football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the member associations of UEFA, the sport's European governing body. The first tournament began in September 2018. The ...

win over

Finland Finland ( fi, Suomi ; sv, Finland ), officially the Republic of Finland (; ), is a Nordic country in Northern Europe. It shares land borders with Sweden to the northwest, Norway to the north, and Russia to the east, with the Gulf of B ...

on 3 September 2020. He scored his first goal for the senior team on 6 September 2020 against

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

in the UEFA Nations League, scoring the winning goal in a 1–0 victory for Wales. In May 2021 he was selected for the Wales squad for the delayed

UEFA Euro 2020 The 2020 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2020 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2020) or simply Euro 2020, was the 16th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe ...

tournament. Williams helped Wales qualify for the

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

in 2022 for the first time since 1958. In November 2022 he was named in the Wales squad for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it ...

Personal life

Williams has a younger brother, Keelan Williams, who plays for

Burnley Burnley () is a town and the administrative centre of the wider Borough of Burnley in Lancashire, England, with a 2001 population of 73,021. It is north of Manchester and east of Preston, Lancashire, Preston, at the confluence of the River C ...

's Under 18 side. Williams' grandfather, Kelvin Jones, died in November 2022, the day before Williams started in Wales' opening game of the World Cup; he revealed the loss after game, dedicating his performance to Jones.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Wales' score listed first, score column indicates score after each Williams goal''

Honours

Liverpool Youth * FA Youth Cup: 2018–19 Liverpool *

: 2019–20 * FIFA Club World Cup:

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

Fulham * EFL Championship: 2021–22

References

External links

Profile
at the Nottingham Forest F.C. website * {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Neco 2001 births Living people Footballers from Wrexham Welsh footballers Association football defenders Liverpool F.C. players Fulham F.C. players Nottingham Forest F.C. players Premier League players English Football League players Wales youth international footballers Wales international footballers UEFA Euro 2020 players 2022 FIFA World Cup players