Ryan Dale Williams (born 28 October 1993) is an Australian 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 le ...

who plays for

Perth Glory Perth Glory Football Club is an Australian professional soccer club based in Perth, Western Australia. It competes in the country's premier men's competition, A-League Men, under licence from Australian Professional Leagues. Founded in 19 ...

as a winger.

Early life

Born in

Perth Perth is the capital and largest city of the Australian state of Western Australia. It is the fourth most populous city in Australia and Oceania, with a population of 2.1 million (80% of the state) living in Greater Perth in 2020. Perth is ...

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a Sovereign state, sovereign country comprising the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania, and numerous List of islands of Australia, sma ...

, Williams is the son of a mother who originates from

Mumbai Mumbai (, ; also known as Bombay — the official name until 1995) is the capital city of the Indian state of Maharashtra and the ''de facto'' financial centre of India. According to the United Nations, as of 2018, Mumbai is the second- ...

, India and a father who was born in

Kent Kent is a county in South East England and one of the home counties. It borders Greater London to the north-west, Surrey to the west and East Sussex to the south-west, and Essex to the north across the estuary of the River Thames; it faces ...

, England, Williams was brought up in a footballing family. Both older brother

Rhys Rhys or Rhŷs is a popular Welsh given name (usually male) that is famous in Welsh history and is also used as a surname. It originates from Deheubarth, an old region of South West Wales, with famous kings such as Rhys ap Tewdwr. It is pronounced ...

and twin brother Aryn are professional footballers. The brothers all started their careers at

ECU Joondalup Perth RedStar Football Club is an Australian soccer club from Joondalup, Western Australia currently playing in the National Premier Leagues Western Australia and National Premier Leagues WA Women. Their home ground is the RedStar Arena at the ...

before moving to England.

Club career

Portsmouth

Williams joined

Portsmouth Portsmouth ( ) is a port and city in the ceremonial county of Hampshire in southern England. The city of Portsmouth has been a unitary authority since 1 April 1997 and is administered by Portsmouth City Council. Portsmouth is the most dens ...

in July 2010, signing a scholarship with the clubs' academy side. There were initial issues concerning international clearance, with the FFA (Football Federation Australia) failing to release vital paperwork to allow Williams to play, but this was eventually resolved on 12 November. He played his first match for Portsmouth on 6 August 2010, in a friendly against

Farnborough Farnborough may refer to: Australia * Farnborough, Queensland, a locality in the Shire of Livingstone United Kingdom * Farnborough, Hampshire, a town in the Rushmoor district of Hampshire, England ** Farnborough (Main) railway station, a railw ...

. His first competitive academy match for Portsmouth was a 4–1 loss to

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

. Williams was promoted to training with

Steve Cotterill Stephen John Cotterill (born 20 July 1964) is an English former footballer who played as a striker. He is currently the manager of side Shrewsbury Town. Cotterill had a nine-year career as a footballer playing for Burton Albion, Wimbledon, ...

's first-team upon returning for the 2011–12 season. This cumulated with Williams' making his first appearance with the first-team in a 4–0 win over

Havant & Waterlooville Havant & Waterlooville Football Club is a professional football club based in Havant, Hampshire, England. The club participates in the National League South, the sixth tier of English football, after relegation from the National League in the 20 ...

, in which he produced a lively display, contributing an assist. He went on to feature against

and travelled to the US with the first-team. Cotterill indicated that he was ready to promote Williams to the Portsmouth first-team squad, and Williams was selected to be on the bench for the

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 ...

match against

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

with the 17 jersey. He made his professional debut in the opening-day match against Middlesbrough, on 6 August 2011, after he came off the bench to replace

Hermann Hreiðarsson Hermann Hreiðarsson (born 11 July 1974) is an Icelandic former professional football player and coach. He played as a defender and spent 15 seasons in England, gaining a total of 315 appearances in the Premier League. Hermann was relegated fr ...

in the 63rd minute, playing against his older brother

, who scored in the match.

Fulham

On 31 January 2012, Fulham announced the transfer deadline day signing of Williams from

for an undisclosed fee, having impressed during a reserve game against

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club's ...

the previous night. On 13 May 2014, following the relegation of Fulham and his conclusion to his loan spell, Williams signed a new two-year contract with the club. Williams signed for Gillingham in

League Two The English Football League Two (often referred to as League Two for short or Sky Bet League Two for sponsorship purposes, and known as the Football League Two from 2004 until 2016) is the third and lowest division of the English Football Lea ...

on a one-month loan deal on 14 February 2013 but failed to make an appearance for the Kent club before being recalled by Fulham. On 3 August 2013, Williams joined

Oxford United Oxford United Football Club is a professional football club in the city of Oxford, England. The team plays in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The chairman is Grant Ferguson, the manager is Karl Robinson and th ...

on loan until 1 January 2014, and made his debut against

Fratton Park Fratton Park is a football ground in Portsmouth, England, which is the home of Portsmouth F.C. Fratton Park remains as the only home football ground in Portsmouth FC's entire history. The early Fratton Park was designed by local architect A ...

. He scored his first senior goal on 28 September 2013 in a

win over

Hartlepool United Hartlepool United Football Club is a professional association football club based in Hartlepool, County Durham, England. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system. They were founded in 1908 as Hartle ...

. On 19 December 2013, Fulham agreed to extend his loan deal until the end of the season. After making 35 appearances and scoring six times, Williams made his final appearance for the club against relegation battlers

Northampton Town Northampton Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in the town of Northampton, England. The team plays in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1897, the club competed in the Midland ...

. Williams scored his seventh goal of the season to give his team the lead. However, towards the end of the first half he was sent off for kicking

Ricky Ravenhill Richard John Ravenhill (born 16 January 1981) is an English former professional footballer who is the assistant manager of Mickleover. As a player, he was a midfielder, who began his professional career with Barnsley in 2000 after a short spell ...

. Northampton Town subsequently took the lead and went on to win 3–1, which led to Northampton Town surviving relegation and Oxford United missing out of the play-offs. After being included in two matches for Fulham at the start of the 2014–15 season, Williams joined Barnsley on an initial one-month loan on 2 October 2014. Williams made his Barnsley debut ten days later on 12 October 2014, in a 3–1 win over

Bradford City Bradford City Association Football Club is an English professional football club in Bradford, West Yorkshire. The team competes in League Two, the fourth tier of the English football league system and are currently managed by Mark Hughes. Th ...

. Having made seven appearances, Williams' loan spell was extended until 1 January 2015. However, Williams' first team appearances were soon reduced due to his international commitments and he suffered a groin injury before returned to his parent club.

Barnsley

On 26 July 2015, Williams re-joined

Barnsley Barnsley () is a market town in South Yorkshire, England. As the main settlement of the Metropolitan Borough of Barnsley and the fourth largest settlement in South Yorkshire. In Barnsley, the population was 96,888 while the wider Borough has ...

, but this time on a permanent basis for an undisclosed fee. His first and what turned out to be only goal for Barnsley was a late winner in a 4–3 win at

Cardiff City Cardiff City Football Club ( cy, Clwb Pêl-droed Dinas Caerdydd) is a professional association football club based in Cardiff, Wales. It competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1899 as R ...

Rotherham United

On 20 June 2017, Williams moved across South Yorkshire to join

Rotherham United Rotherham United Football Club, nicknamed The Millers, is a professional football club based in Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England, which compete in the . The club's colours were initially yellow and black, but changed to red and white around 1 ...

on a two-year deal. On 30 May 2019 it was announced that he would leave at the end of the season, upon expiry of his contract.

Return to Portsmouth

On 26 June 2019, Williams re-signed for his first club,

Return to Oxford

On 9 June 2021, Williams rejoined former club

when his contract expired at Portsmouth. He signed a two-year deal.

Perth Glory

In June 2022, Williams left Oxford United to return to Australia, joining

for an undisclosed fee, signing a three-year contract. He was welcomed back to

scoring an absolute stunner out of the box goal against

Western United Western United Football Club is an Australian professional football club. The club is based in the western Melbourne suburb of Truganina, the club aims to represent western Victoria, incorporating the western suburbs of Melbourne; the region ...

International career

Having previously played for the under-20 and under-23 sides, Williams was called up to the

senior squad in May 2019 for the friendly game against

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

on 7 June. He made his international debut as a second-half substitute in the game.

Club statistics

Honours

Rotherham United *

EFL League One play-offs The EFL League One play-offs are a series of play-off matches contested by the association football teams finishing from third to sixth in the EFL League One table and are part of the English Football League play-offs. , the play-offs comprise tw ...

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the United ...

Portsmouth *

EFL Trophy The English Football League Trophy, known for sponsorship purposes as the Papa Johns Trophy after restaurant chain Papa John's Pizza, is an annual English association football knockout competition open to all clubs in EFL League One and EFL Le ...

runner-up: 2019–20

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Ryan 1993 births Living people Soccer players from Perth, Western Australia Australian sportspeople of Indian descent Australian people of English descent Australian people of Anglo-Indian descent Men's association football forwards Men's association football wingers Australian soccer players Australia men's international soccer players Australian expatriate soccer players Australian expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate footballers in England Perth RedStar FC players Fulham F.C. players Portsmouth F.C. players Gillingham F.C. players Oxford United F.C. players Barnsley F.C. players Rotherham United F.C. players Perth Glory FC players English Football League players