Danny Williams (soccer, born 1989)

For other people named Danny Williams, see Danny Williams (disambiguation).

Daniel Charles Williams (born March 8, 1989) is a former professional footballer who played as a midfielder.^[2]

Danny Williams

Personal information
Full name	Daniel Charles Williams[1]
Date of birth	(1989-03-08) 8 March 1989 (age 36)
Place of birth	Karlsruhe, West Germany
Height	1.88 m (6 ft 2 in)
Position(s)	Midfielder
Youth career
1998–2004	Karlsruher SC
2004–2008	SC Freiburg
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
2008–2011	SC Freiburg II	60	(4)
2010–2011	SC Freiburg	14	(0)
2011–2013	1899 Hoffenheim	45	(1)
2013–2017	Reading	135	(13)
2017–2019	Huddersfield Town	25	(0)
2019–2020	Pafos	11	(0)
Total		290	(18)
International career
2005	Germany U15	3	(1)
2011–2017	United States	23	(2)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Early life

Born in Karlsruhe, West Germany, Williams is the son of an African American father and German mother. His father is originally from North Carolina, and was stationed in Heidelberg while serving in the United States military.^[3] Williams is a citizen of both Germany and the United States.

Club career

SC Freiburg

Williams began his career in 1998 with the Karlsruher SC youth setup and played from July 2004 for the SC Freiburg youth and reserve sides.

He made his Bundesliga debut for the Freibrug first team on January 22, 2010, against Stuttgart.^[3][4][5] He would go on to make nine appearances for Freiburg in 2010, two of them being starts.

1899 Hoffenheim

Williams joined the Bundesliga club Hoffenheim on August 31, 2011. During his first appearance for the club on September 10, 2011, he made an assist in a 4–0 Hoffenheim victory over Mainz.

Reading

On June 25, 2013, it was confirmed that Williams joined Reading in the English Championship on a four-year contract.^[6] On August 3, Williams made his debut in the season opener against Ipswich Town. He came on as a sub in the second half as Reading won the game 2–1.^[7] He scored his first goal for the club on February 1, 2014, in a 3–0 win against Millwall.^[8]

Huddersfield Town

On July 4, 2017, Williams signed a two-year contract with newly promoted Premier League side Huddersfield Town after rejecting a new contract with Reading.^[9] He made his league debut against Crystal Palace in a 3–0 win. He scored his first goal for Huddersfield in an FA Cup tie against Bolton Wanderers on 6 January 2018.^[10] On May 17, 2019, Huddersfield announced that they were releasing Williams at the end of the season.^[11]

Pafos

On September 6, 2019, Williams signed for Pafos of the Cypriot First Division.^[12] On May 18, 2020, Pafos announced that Williams had left the club by mutual termination of his contract.^[13]

International career

Williams represented the Germany under-15 team.^[3] However, due to FIFA regulations concerning dual citizenship, he remained eligible to play at the senior level for either Germany or the United States.

On September 30, 2011, Williams obtained an American passport, making him eligible to play for the United States national team. He was called up by the United States team for two friendlies in October 2011, and made his first appearance for the U.S. on October 8, 2011, in a 1–0 victory against Honduras. Williams was the first player to earn his first national team cap under the Americans' new head coach Jürgen Klinsmann.^[14] On June 5, 2015, Williams scored his first international goal in Amsterdam in a friendly against the Netherlands. The goal was an equalizer for the United States who had been trailing 3–1 against the Dutch. The United States went on to win the game 4–3. On September 8, 2015, he scored a goal in a friendly against Brazil which ended in a 4–1 defeat.^[15]

Personal life

Outside of football, Williams established streetwear brand Beautiful Struggles in 2019.^[16]

Career statistics

Club

As of match played March 8, 2020

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			National cup		League cup		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
SC Freiburg II	2008–09	Regionalliga Süd	33	2	—		—		—		33	2
	2009–10		21	2	—		—		—		21	2
	2010–11		6	0	—		—		—		6	0
	Total		60	4	—		—		—		60	4
SC Freiburg	2009–10	Bundesliga	6	0	0	0	—		—		6	0
	2010–11		7	0	2	0	—		—		9	0
	2011–12		1	0	0	0	—		—		1	0
	Total		14	0	2	0	—		—		16	0
1899 Hoffenheim	2011–12	Bundesliga	24	0	3	0	—		—		27	0
	2012–13		21	1	0	0	—		—		21	1
	Total		45	1	3	0	—		—		48	1
Reading	2013–14	Championship	30	3	1	0	1	0	—		32	3
	2014–15		25	1	6	0	0	0	—		31	1
	2015–16		39	5	4	1	3	0	—		46	6
	2016–17		41	4	1	0	2	0	3[a]	0	47	4
	Total		135	13	12	1	6	0	3	0	156	14
Huddersfield Town	2017–18	Premier League	20	0	3	1	1	0	—		24	1
	2018–19		5	0	0	0	1	0	—		6	0
	Total		25	0	3	1	2	0	—		30	1
Pafos	2019–20	Cypriot First Division	11	0	0	0	—		—		11	0
Career total			291	18	20	2	8	0	3	0	322	20

1. Appearances in the Championship play-offs

International

As of match played November 14, 2017^[17]

Appearances and goals by national team and year

National team	Year	Apps	Goals
United States	2011	4	0
	2012	7	0
	2013	1	0
	2014	1	0
	2015	6	2
	2016	3	0
	2017	1	0
Total		23	2

Scores and results list United States' goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Williams goal.

List of international goals scored by Danny Williams

No.	Date	Venue	Opponent	Score	Result	Competition	Ref.
1	June 5, 2015	Amsterdam Arena, Amsterdam, Netherlands	Netherlands	3–3	4–3	Friendly
2	September 8, 2015	Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, United States	Brazil	1–4	1–4