Sian Williams (born 2 February 1968) is an English former footballer and ex–manager of Watford Ladies. As a player she represented both

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

and

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the Wales–England border, east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the ...

, and later managed

Club career

Williams played at club level for Millwall Lionesses and spent two years in Italy with Juve Siderno. She signed for

Arsenal Ladies Arsenal Women Football Club, commonly referred to as Arsenal, is an English professional women's football club based in Islington, London, England. The club plays in the Women's Super League, the top tier of English women's football. Arse ...

in 1990, from where she joined Charlton Athletic Ladies in September 2004. In her 14 years at Arsenal Williams amassed numerous trophies. She captained The Gunners to their domestic treble in 2001.

International career

In 1985, she earned a senior cap for Wales, before switching to represent England. Williams played for both England and Wales at international level. She was a non-playing member of England's

1995 FIFA Women's World Cup The 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup, the second edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, was held in Sweden and won by Norway women's national football team, Norway, who became the first European nation to win the Women's World Cup. The tournament fea ...

squad.

Coaching career

Williams joined the coaching staff at Arsenal's Centre of Excellence, later taking on a similar role at Watford, before becoming the manager of the Welsh national team in 2000. In May 2003 Williams was highly critical of the

Football Association of Wales The Football Association of Wales (FAW; cy, Cymdeithas Bêl-droed Cymru) is the Governing bodies of sports in Wales, governing body of association football and futsal in Wales, and controls the Wales national football team, Welsh national foo ...

(FAW) for pulling the women's team out of the

2005 UEFA Women's Championship qualification The qualification for the UEFA Women's Euro 2005 was held between March 26, 2003 & November 27, 2004. The first-placed of the group stage qualified directly. The second-placed and the two best third-placed teams played in two playoff matches for th ...

tournament. Williams became manager of Watford Ladies in the 2006 close season and led the side to promotion to the

FA Women's Premier League The FA Women's National League, formerly WFA National League and FA Women's Premier League (WPL), is a group of six football divisions run by the English Football Association. Founded in 1991 by the Women's Football Association, the League includ ...

at the end of the campaign. She stood down from the post in November 2009.

Personal life

Williams' father was Alan Williams, the

British Labour Party The Labour Party is a List of political parties in the United Kingdom, political party in the United Kingdom that has been described as an alliance of Social democracy, social democrats, Democratic socialism, democratic socialists and trade u ...

politician. She worked as a maths teacher during her career as a football player and coach.

References

1968 births Living people English women's footballers England women's international footballers English people of Welsh descent Welsh women's footballers Wales women's international footballers Dual internationalists (women's football) Millwall Lionesses L.F.C. players Arsenal W.F.C. players Charlton Athletic W.F.C. players Watford F.C. Women players FA Women's National League players Expatriate footballers in Italy English expatriate women's footballers Serie A (women's football) players English women's football managers 1995 FIFA Women's World Cup players Women's association football midfielders {{Wales-footy-midfielder-stub