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Danny Williams (soccer, born 1989)

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Danny Williams
Personal information
Full name Daniel Charles Williams[1]
Date of birth (1989-03-08) 8 March 1989 (age 35)
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

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

Early life

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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

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SC Freiburg

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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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

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

Career statistics

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Club

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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

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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 [1]
2 September 8, 2015 Gillette Stadium, Foxborough, United States  Brazil 1–4 1–4

References

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  1. ^ "Updated squads for 2017/18 Premier League confirmed". Premier League. February 2, 2018. Retrieved February 11, 2018.
  2. ^ "Player Profile". achtzehn99.de. TSG 1899 Hoffenheim Fußball-Spielbetriebs GmbH. Archived from the original on September 22, 2012. Retrieved April 1, 2012.
  3. ^ a b c Sciaretta, Brian (February 10, 2010). "Williams Emerging at SC Freiburg". Yanks-Abroad.com. Archived from the original on February 16, 2010. Retrieved February 11, 2010.{{cite news}}: CS1 maint: unfit URL (link)
  4. ^ "VfB siegt 1:0 gegen den SC Freiburg". vfb1.de (in German). January 23, 2010. Archived from the original on July 19, 2011. Retrieved February 11, 2010.
  5. ^ "Der VfB Stuttgart siegt beim SC Freiburg mit 1:0". Badische Zeitung. January 22, 2010. Retrieved February 11, 2010.
  6. ^ "Reading sign USA midfielder Danny Williams from Hoffenheim" BBC Sport. June 25, 2013. Retrieved June 25, 2013.
  7. ^ "Opening day win". Reading F.C. Retrieved August 5, 2013.
  8. ^ "Millwall 0–3 Reading" BBC Sport. February 1, 2014. Retrieved February 6, 2014.
  9. ^ "SIGNING: DANNY WILLIAMS JOINS TOWN". htafc.com. Huddersfield Town A.F.C. July 4, 2017. Retrieved July 4, 2017.
  10. ^ "Bolton 1-2 Huddersfield". BBC. January 6, 2018. Retrieved January 7, 2018.
  11. ^ David Threlfall-Sykes (May 17, 2019). "RETAINED LIST CONFIRMED". htafc.com. Retrieved August 17, 2019.
  12. ^ "Welcome Daniel Williams". pafosfc.com. September 6, 2019. Retrieved September 7, 2019.
  13. ^ "Pafos FC have agreed contract termination by mutual consent with defensive midfielder Daniel Williams". instagram.com/. Pafos FC Instagram. May 18, 2020. Archived from the original on December 24, 2021. Retrieved May 18, 2020.
  14. ^ "U.S. MNT Wins 1–0 against Honduras in Miami". USSoccer.com. U.S. Soccer. October 8, 2011. Archived from the original on April 25, 2012. Retrieved April 1, 2012.
  15. ^ "United States vs. Brazil – 9 September 2015 – Soccerway". Retrieved July 13, 2016.
  16. ^ "Story - Beautiful Struggles". Beautiful Struggles. Retrieved March 1, 2024.
  17. ^ "Danny Williams". National Football Teams. Benjamin Strack-Zimmermann. Retrieved May 10, 2016.
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