Iñaki Williams

Early life and youth career

Born in Bilbao, Biscay to Ghanaian parents, who had arrived in Spain by crossing the Sahara on foot and jumping the Melilla border fence, Williams spent most of his childhood living in Pamplona, specifically the Rochapea neighbourhood, and was playing youth football with local club CD Pamplona when he was spotted by Athletic Bilbao, who signed him to their youth setup at Lezama at the age of 18. He spent his first season with the Juvenil A side and made a big impression, scoring at the rate of almost a goal a game (eventually ending with 36); the team finished runners-up in the Copa del Rey Juvenil de Fútbol, and on 25 June 2013 he signed a new contract with the Basque club, running until 2017. Williams began 2013–14 playing with the farm team Basconia who competed in the Tercera División. After suffering a knee injury in August, he returned to activity in October, making his senior debut and marking it with a goal. He was immediately called up to the reserves in the Segunda División B and by the end of the same month had played his first match and scored his first goals at that level; he spent the campaign alternating between both squads. At the start of 2014–15, Williams scored a hat-trick for Bilbao Athletic in a 4–0 win against Amorebieta, and followed this on 7 September 2014 with another treble in a 5–1 win over Leioa. Despite only playing the first half of the season, his 13 goals from 18 appearances helped the team ascend to the…

Spain

On 20 March 2015, Williams received his first international call-up, being named in Albert Celades' Spain under-21 squad for friendlies with Norway and Belarus. He made his debut on the 26th against the former, replacing goalscorer Munir El Haddadi at half-time of a 2–0 friendly win in Cartagena. Williams was listed as one of 11 standby players for Vicente del Bosque's Spain squad at UEFA Euro 2016. He made his senior debut on 29 May, replacing fellow debutant Marco Asensio at the hour mark of a 3–1 friendly defeat of Bosnia and Herzegovina. On 12 October 2018, Williams debuted for the Basque representative side, playing the full 90 minutes of a 4–2 win over Venezuela at the Mendizorrotza Stadium.

Ghana

Around the time of his Spain debut in 2016, Williams was also coveted by the Ghana national team, being watched by their Spanish scout Gerard Nus. In 2021, having made no competitive appearances for Spain that would have tied him to his birth country permanently, he spoke of the possibility of playing for Ghana: "My parents are from Accra and I really enjoy going. But I wasn't born or raised there, my culture's here, and there are players for whom it would mean more. I don't think it would be right to take the place of someone who really deserves to go and who feels Ghana 100%." Local media interpreted this as a rejection of any approach from the Black Stars. Ultimately, on 5 July 2022, Williams announced that he was making himself available for the…

Club

As of match played 5 September 2026

International

As of match played 3 July 2026

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

Williams received his Basque first name in honour of a Caritas volunteer in Bilbao who helped his refugee parents after they arrived in Spain in the year he was born. They had been advised by an unidentified lawyer to claim to be from a war-torn country, namely Liberia where a civil war was occurring, when they first entered the country. His younger brother, Nico, is also a footballer and a forward; he too was brought up at Athletic Bilbao. Williams was one of the stars of the Amazon Prime television documentary series Six Dreams, recorded during the 2017–18 season. He can speak Spanish, Akan and Basque. In 2021, he said that he and his family had lost fluency in English, but still communicated with relatives in the Twi dialect of Akan. Williams married Patricia Morales at Begoña Basilica in Bilbao on 1 June 2024.