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

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

coach and former player who works as goalkeeper coach for

HFX Wanderers Halifax Wanderers FC, also written as HFX Wanderers FC, is a Canadian professional soccer club in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The club competes in the Canadian Premier League (CPL) at the top of the Canadian soccer league system, and play their home ...

. A former

goalkeeper In many team sports that involve scoring goal (sport), goals, the goalkeeper (sometimes termed goaltender, netminder, GK, goalie, or keeper) is a designated player charged with directly preventing the opposing team from scoring by blocking or i ...

, he made 80 appearances for the

Trinidad and Tobago national team Trinidad is the larger, more populous island of the Republic of Trinidad and Tobago, the country. The island lies off the northeastern coast of Venezuela and sits on the continental shelf of South America. It is the southernmost island in th ...

and played professionally in Trinidad, Belgium, Hungary, Honduras, Guatemala and Canada.

Club career

W Connection

Williams played for

W Connection W. Connection Football Club is a professional football (soccer), 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 ba ...

in Trinidad and Tobago and had trials with

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

in 2003 alongside

Kenwyne Jones Kenwyne Joel Jones CM (born 5 October 1984) is a Trinidadian football manager and retired professional player who played as a forward. He managed the Trinidad and Tobago women's national team. He began his football career with Joe Public F. ...

. 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 27 March 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 ye ...

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 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 W Connection 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 Újpest Football Club () is a Hungary, Hungarian professional association football, football club based in Újpest, Budapest, that competes in Nemzeti Bajnokság I. Formed in 1885, Újpest reached the first division of the Hungarian League in ...

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 Alfreton Town Football Club is a football club based in Alfreton, Derbyshire, England. The club are currently members of and play at North Street. History The club was formed in 1959 following the merger of Alfreton Miners Welfare and Alf ...

. On 25 July 2007, he was offered a contract by Sheffield United. While waiting for his work permit, he signed a short-term contract with

Belgian Third Division The Belgian Third Division (, ) was the third highest level in Football in Belgium, Belgian football. It had two leagues of 18 teams each (Belgian Third Division A, A and Belgian Third Division B, B) at the same level. This competition, originall ...

side White Star Woluwe.

Ferencváros

After he had his work permit application rejected, he signed a 1+1 year contract with

Ferencváros Ferencváros (, ) is the 9th district of Budapest (), Hungary. Name The southern suburb of Pest was named after King Francis II, Holy Roman Emperor, Francis I on 4 December 1792 when he was crowned king of Hungary. History The developmen ...

on 15 July 2008. He played his first game for the green and white club against

Sheffield United Sheffield United Football Club is a professional football club based in Sheffield, South Yorkshire, England. The club competes in the Championship, the second tier of English football. They are nicknamed "the Blades" due to Sheffield's history ...

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) is a Trinidadian professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for TT Premier Football League club AC Port of Spain. Career Club Abu Bakr went to Queen's Royal College in Trinidad and began his ...

Central FC

Williams signed with Trinidadian club

Central FC Central Football Club is a Trinidad and Tobago professional Association football, football club, based in California, Trinidad and Tobago, California, that plays in the TT Pro League. Founded in 2012, the ''Sharks'' were the 21st team to join th ...

for three years. He also played in the

CONCACAF Champions League The CONCACAF Champions Cup, formerly known as CONCACAF Champions League (2008–2023), is an international association football competition organized by CONCACAF as its top continental tournament for clubs from North America, Central America, ...

Juticalpa

In 2017 Williams moved to Hondurian First Division team

Juticalpa Juticalpa () is the capital of Olancho Department in Honduras, with a population of 75,790 (2023 calculation), and the municipal seat of Juticalpa Municipality. Situated in a broad river valley alongside the Rio Juticalpa, the town is a commer ...

where he played 9 games and spent another 21 in the bench.

Sacachispas

In the next couple of years

Sacachispas Club Social y Deportivo Sacachispas is a professional football club based in Chiquimula, Guatemala. The team plays in the Primera División, the second tier of Guatemalan football. Their home stadium is the ''Estadio Las Victorias''. The club ...

, a Second Division team in Guatemala, was his team.

HFX Wanderers

Williams signed with

on 10 January 2019. He was named the first ever captain of the squad, and made his debut against

Pacific FC Pacific Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer club based in Greater Victoria, British Columbia. The club competes in the Canadian Premier League, playing home matches at Starlight Stadium located in Langford. History On May 5, 20 ...

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

Canadian Championship The Canadian Championship () is an annual soccer tournament contested by Canadian professional teams. The winner is awarded the Voyageurs Cup and a berth in the CONCACAF Champions Cup. It is contested by Major League Soccer sides Toronto FC, Va ...

. Williams retired at the end of the season, but was hired on with the club as a goalkeeping coach. On 11 August 2020, after an injury to Oxner, 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 ...

during the

2020 Canadian Premier League season The 2020 Canadian Premier League season was the second season of the Canadian Premier League (CPL), the top level of Canadian soccer. In response to the COVID-19 pandemic, the CPL announced a 14-day hold on all pre-season training on March 1 ...

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 the Trinidad and Tobago senior national team'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 J ...

where he played against

El Salvador El Salvador, officially the Republic of 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 by the Pacific Ocean. El Salvador's capital and largest city is S ...

Guatemala Guatemala, officially the Republic of Guatemala, is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico, to the northeast by Belize, to the east by Honduras, and to the southeast by El Salvador. It is hydrologically b ...

and

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

Coaching career

On 10 December 2019, Williams retired from playing and was appointed as the new goalkeeper coach for

References

External links