World Cup 2022: Basqueborn Inaki Williams driven to deliver for Ghana
NOT many black players have represented Athletic Bilbao nor have many Basques played for an African national team, but former Spain international Inaki Williams is bucking the trend as he stands on the verge of a World Cup debut with Ghana.
The forward won his sole senior cap for the country of his birth in 2016 but with none since, a trip to the West African country earlier this year prompted a family-inspired change of allegiance.
“It wasn't an easy decision to make," Williams, 28, told BBC Sport Africa.
“I had to consult with my family and loved ones, because the decision would impact me during the next years of my career - not only in sporting terms but also on a personal level, because it is much more than football.”
He had turned a previous Black Stars approach down, believing it would not be right to oust “someone who really deserves to go and who feels Ghana 100%.”
Yet he changed his mind when visiting Ghana, after several years away, at the end of last season, with a family member cementing his decision.
“The federation had been in contact," Williams explained.
“I told my grandfather, who told me it would be a dream for him to see me in the national team jersey. He is 90. He said he doesn't have long to live, but that he would like to see me play in a World Cup with the national team.
“When he told me those words, I didn't have to think any more.
Basque boys
Williams holds the La Liga record for consecutive league outings, having featured in 247 consecutive games stretching back to April 2016
The options open to Williams because of his heritage are underlined by younger brother and club team-mate Nico, 20, being named in Spain's squad for the World Cup.
“I didn't have that opportunity, my opportunity came to me when I was 28.”
The two could potentially come up on opposing sides in the quarter-finals, drawing parallels with the 2010 World Cup when another Ghanaian, KevinPrince Boateng, faced off against halfbrother Jerome, a Germany international.
Having grown up in Pamplona, 150 kilometres south-east of Bilbao, after his parents migrated from Ghana to Spain, Williams joined Athletic's youth academy aged 18.
The club has a unique philosophy, only fielding players who were born in the Basque Country, came through its academy or that of other clubs in the region. Williams became only the second black footballer to play for the club (after Jonas Ramalho) and the first to score for them, before Nico followed in his footsteps.
Despite feeling Basque, both Williams speak Twi — an Akan language widely spoken in southern and central Ghana.
“I feel both (Ghanaian and Spanish) equally. I grew up in Spain, but my parents are from Ghana and they have instilled the culture of Ghana in me,” he said.
“Although I was not born in Ghana, my blood and family are from there.” Bringing seniority and advice Williams is a former Spain international who also played, as pictured here, for the European nation's Under-21 side.