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

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly c ...

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 and played professionally in Trinidad, Belgium, Hungary,

Honduras Honduras, officially the Republic of Honduras, is a country in Central America. The republic of Honduras is bordered to the west by Guatemala, to the southwest by El Salvador, to the southeast by Nicaragua, to the south by the Pacific Oce ...

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...

and Canada.

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 Indust ...

in Trinidad and Tobago who had trials with

Rangers A Ranger is typically someone in a military/paramilitary or law enforcement role specializing in patrolling a given territory, called “ranging”. The term most often refers to: * Park ranger or forest ranger, a person charged with protecting and ...

in 2003 alongside Kenwyne Jones. 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 United Petrotrin Football Club was a football club from Trinidad and Tobago and a former member of the TT Pro League of Trinidad. It was dissolved in 2009. History Formed in 1980, ''Trintoc'' entered the Point Fortin Football League that same ...

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 La Horquetta Rangers F.C. (formerly known as St. Ann's Rangers) is a Trinidad and Tobago football team and a member of the TT Pro League. The team was based in St. Ann's and they played their home games at the Hasely Crawford Stadium in Mucurap ...

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 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. 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 side White Star Woluwe.

Ferencváros

After he had his work permit application rejected, he signed a 1+1 year contract with Ferencváros on July 15, 2008. He played his first game for the green and white club against Sheffield United 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 Radanfah Abu Bakr (born 12 February 1987 in Port of Spain) is a Trinidadian professional footballer who plays as a defender. Career Club Abu Bakr went to Queen's Royal College in Trinidad and began his career in Trinidad and Tobago side ...

Central FC

Williams signed with Trinidadian club Central FC for 3 years, he also played in the CONCACAF Champions League.

Juticalpa

In 2017 was bought by Hondurian First Division team

Juticalpa Juticalpa () is the capital of Olancho Department in Honduras, with a population of 69,850 (2020 calculation), and the municipal seat of Juticalpa Municipality. Situated in a broad river valley alongside the Rio Juticalpa, the town is a commerci ...

and played 9 games and spend another 21 in the bench.

Sacachispas

In the next couple of years Sacachispas 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 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 Christian Oxner (born July 29, 1996) is a Canadian soccer player. Club career Early career Oxner was born in Halifax and grew up in the suburb of Clayton Park. Oxner began playing soccer with the U6 programme of local club Halifax Dunbrack. W ...

took as the number one. He went on to make twelve league appearances that season and three in the

Canadian Championship The Canadian Championship (french: Championnat canadien) is an annual soccer tournament contested by premier Canadian professional teams. The winner is awarded the Voyageurs Cup and Canada's berth in the CONCACAF Champions League. It is contest ...

. 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 Alfred Mycolayovych Oxner ( uk, Альфред Миколайович Окснер; russian: Альфре́д Никола́евич О́кснер) (15 February 1898 – 20 November 1973) was a Ukrainian botanist and lichenologist. His researc ...

, HFX announced Williams would come out of retirement temporarily to serve as back-up to

Jason Beaulieu Jason Beaulieu (born 12 February 1994) is a Canadian former professional soccer player who played as a goalkeeper. Early life Beaulieu was born in Montreal, Quebec, and grew up in the off-island suburb of Boisbriand. He played youth soccer for F ...

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 from ...

where he played against

El Salvador El Salvador (; , meaning " The Saviour"), officially the Republic of El Salvador ( es, República de El Salvador), is a country in Central America. It is bordered on the northeast by Honduras, on the northwest by Guatemala, and on the south b ...

and United States.

Coaching career

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

References

External links