Rachel Louise Williams (born 10 January 1988) is an English professional footballer who plays as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for

Manchester United Manchester () is a city in Greater Manchester, England. It had a population of 552,000 in 2021. It is bordered by the Cheshire Plain to the south, the Pennines to the north and east, and the neighbouring city of City of Salford, Salford to ...

of the English

Women's Super League The Women's Super League (WSL), currently known as the Barclays Women's Super League (BWSL) for sponsorship reasons, is the highest league of women's football in England. Established in 2010, it is run by the Football Association and features t ...

. Before rejoining Birmingham City in May 2017, Williams spent 2 years at

Notts County Ladies Notts County Ladies Football Club was a women's football club based in Nottingham, England. Like the club's male affiliate Notts County FC, they played their home games at Meadow Lane. Notts County Ladies were created in 2014 when Lincoln L ...

, one year at

Chelsea Ladies Chelsea Football Club Women, formerly known as Chelsea Ladies Football Club, are an English women's football club based in Norbiton that competes in the Women's Super League, the top flight of women's football in England. Since 2004, the clu ...

and three years at her first spell at Birmingham City, where she was converted from an attacking

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

to a striker. Williams made her senior

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 ...

debut in July 2009 but had to wait two years for her next appearance, missing out on selection for Women's Euro 2009 and the 2011 Women's World Cup. She was selected in the

Great Britain Great Britain is an island in the North Atlantic Ocean off the northwest coast of continental Europe. With an area of , it is the largest of the British Isles, the largest European island and the ninth-largest island in the world. It is ...

squad for the

2012 London Olympics The 2012 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXX Olympiad and also known as London 2012) was an international multi-sport event held from 27 July to 12 August 2012 in London, England, United Kingdom. The first event, the ...

Club career

Williams joined Leicester City Women as a twelve–year–old, progressing through their centre of excellence to play in their senior side. She was vice–

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

as the side won the County League in 2005. and the following season was a member of the side that again won the County League, but also the County Cup. In the 2006–07 season, Williams was a member of the Leicester side that won the treble of the East Midlands Women's Premier League title, the County Cup and the League Cup and promotion to the Midlands Combination League. The following season she was part of the Leicester team that won promotion to the

FA Women's Premier League Northern Division The FA Women's National League Northern Premier Division is a league at the third-level in the women's football league pyramid in England, along with the Southern division. These two divisions are part of the FA Women's National League and bel ...

Katie Holtham Rachel Williams Aine O'Gorman

She left Leicester at the end of the 2007–08 season to join

Doncaster Rovers Belles Doncaster Rovers Belles Ladies Football Club, previously Doncaster Belles, is an English women's football club that currently plays in the , the fourth tier of women's football in England. The club's administration is based at the Eco Power St ...

. She was the FA Premier League player of the month for October 2008, and was a member of the Doncaster side that lost to

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 the 2009

FA Women's Premier League Cup The Women's National League Cup is an annual English football cup competition, founded in 1991 by the Women's Football Association (WFA). It was renamed the FA Women's Premier League Cup from 1994 to 2018. The first edition of the Cup includ ...

final. She ended her first season with Doncaster as the club's Player of the Year and the Players' Player of the Year. Williams netted on the opening day of the 2009–10 season as Doncaster drew 1–1 at home to Blackburn Rovers Ladies. In October 2009 she scored against former club Leicester City Women as Doncaster progressed in the Premier League Cup. With Doncaster not playing until the

FA WSL The Women's Super League (WSL), currently known as the Barclays Women's Super League (BWSL) for sponsorship reasons, is the highest league of women's football in England. Established in 2010, it is run by the Football Association and features t ...

in March 2011, Williams re–signed for Leicester City in summer 2010. In December 2010, Williams was revealed to have signed for Birmingham City's

squad. After converting to a striker, Williams made an impressive start to the new season with Birmingham, scoring five goals in her first two WSL appearances and winning a recall to the England squad. Williams hit 14 goals in 14 games as Birmingham missed out on the WSL title on the final day. She was also voted 2011 Players' Player of the Year at

The FA Women's Football Awards The FA Women's Football Awards is an award ceremony hosted by The Football Association in England. The inaugural edition took place in 1999. Top Goalscorer Below is a list of all the recipients of this award: Players' Player of the Year Below ...

. She scored an

injury time Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

equaliser against

in the

2012 FA Women's Cup Final The 2012 FA Women's Cup Final was the 42nd final of the FA Women's Cup. 276 clubs competed for the years trophy. The winners did not qualify for the UEFA Women's Champions League. Birmingham City Ladies, beat Chelsea Ladies 3–2 in a penal ...

, which Birmingham eventually won after a

penalty shootout 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 pen ...

. In October 2013 Birmingham announced that Williams had departed the club "by mutual consent". A transfer to Chelsea was made public on 6 November 2013. She scored seven goals in 13 games across all competitions for Chelsea, who finished second in the

2014 FA WSL The 2014 FA WSL was the fourth season of the FA WSL, the top-level women's football league of England. The season began on 30 March and ended on 12 October. Liverpool L.F.C. are the defending champions from the 2013 FA WSL. The top two teams q ...

. In January 2015 she transferred to

in her native

Midlands The Midlands (also referred to as Central England) are a part of England that broadly correspond to the Kingdom of Mercia of the Early Middle Ages, bordered by Wales, Northern England and Southern England. The Midlands were important in the Ind ...

. Following the closure of Notts County Ladies before the 2017 Spring Series, Williams re-signed to Birmingham City in May 2017. In July 2022, Williams signed a two-year contract with

, reuniting with her former Birmingham manager

Marc Skinner Marc Skinner (born 23 March 1983) is an English professional football coach who is the head coach of Manchester United Women in the FA Women's Super League. Having been involved with their youth set-up, Skinner went on to manage the Birmingha ...

International career

England

Williams scored on her

Under–19 debut, whilst still an Under–17 player, against

Switzerland ). Swiss law does not designate a ''capital'' as such, but the federal parliament and government are installed in Bern, while other federal institutions, such as the federal courts, are in other cities (Bellinzona, Lausanne, Luzern, Neuchâtel ...

in 2005. Later that year she was selected as part of the England squad for the UEFA Women's Under–19 Championship. In May 2009, Williams was one of the first 17 female players to be given central contracts by

the Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the ...

. At the time she was the only uncapped player to be awarded a contract. Her debut for the England senior side came in July 2009 when she came on as a substitute for Alex Scott in the 2–0 defeat at home to

Iceland Iceland ( is, Ísland; ) is a Nordic island country in the North Atlantic Ocean and in the Arctic Ocean. Iceland is the most sparsely populated country in Europe. Iceland's capital and largest city is Reykjavík, which (along with its s ...

. She missed out on a place in the Women's Euro 2009 Squad, but was picked by head coach

Hope Powell Hope Patricia Powell, CBE (born 8 December 1966) is an English former international footballer and former women's first-team manager of Brighton & Hove Albion. She was the coach of the England women's national football team and the Great Britain ...

for England's squad to face

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

in the first qualifying game for the 2011 Women's World Cup. Despite excellent form at club level, Williams was overlooked for the 2011 World Cup squad. Williams collected her second cap, more than two years after her first, when she replaced

Natasha Dowie Natasha Khalila Dowie (born 30 June 1988) is an English footballer who plays as a striker for Women's Super League club Reading. She represented the England women's national football team at the youth level before making her senior internation ...

during half–time of a 2–2 Euro 2013 qualifying draw in

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian language, Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeast Europe, Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Bas ...

. She scored her first international goal in the next qualifier against

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, an ...

, a 4–0 win at

Swindon Swindon () is a town and unitary authority with Borough status in the United Kingdom, borough status in Wiltshire, England. As of the 2021 Census, the population of Swindon was 201,669, making it the largest town in the county. The Swindon un ...

's County Ground in September 2011. In June 2013 Williams was left out of Powell's squad for

UEFA Women's Euro 2013 The 2013 UEFA Women's Championship, commonly referred to as Women's Euro 2013, was the 11th European Championship for List of women's national association football teams#UEFA, women's national football teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament ...

International goals

:''Scores and results list England's goal tally first.''

Great Britain Olympic

In June 2012 Williams was named in the 18–player

squad for the

Personal life

Williams also works as a

plasterer A plasterer is a tradesman or tradesperson who works with plaster, such as forming a layer of plaster on an interior wall or plaster decorative moldings on ceilings or walls. The process of creating plasterwork, called plastering, has been u ...

References

External links

Rachel Williams
at

The Football Association The Football Association (also known as The FA) is the Sports governing body, governing body of association football in England and the Crown Dependencies of Jersey, Bailiwick of Guernsey, Guernsey and the Isle of Man. Formed in 1863, it is the ...

website {{DEFAULTSORT:Williams, Rachel 1988 births Living people English women's footballers Footballers from Leicester Doncaster Rovers Belles L.F.C. players Birmingham City W.F.C. players Chelsea F.C. Women players England women's international footballers FA Women's National League players Women's Super League players Footballers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic women's footballers of Great Britain England women's under-23 international footballers Notts County L.F.C. players Leicester City W.F.C. players Women's association football midfielders Women's association football forwards Tottenham Hotspur F.C. Women players