David Williams (Australian soccer)

Australian soccer player

David Joel Williams (born 26 February 1988) is an Australian professional footballer player who plays as a forward for Perth Glory. Williams is the first Indigenous Australian player to play for A League club Melbourne City. He also represented Australia's national team twice. Born in Brisbane, Williams played youth football at the Queensland Academy of Sport before making his professional debut for Queensland Roar. Williams has played for several A League clubs including Queensland Roar, North Queensland Fury, Sydney FC and Melbourne City and Wellington Phoenix. Williams has also played in Europe for Danish Superliga (Denmark) club Brøndby and Hungarian NB I club Haladás. Williams is a member of the Indigenous Football Australia Council, which oversees John Moriarty Football, an Indigenous grassroots football initiative.

Born in Brisbane, Australia, Williams started playing football for amateur clubs Westside and Pine Hills, before moving to play youth football for Mitchelton FC. He spent time training with Belgian club Club Brugge, he moved abroad in May 2006 to play for Danish team Brøndby IF on a three year contract.

At Brøndby, Williams was included in the reserve team, and after 12 goals in five reserve team matches, On 11 November, Williams scored his first Superliga goal for the Brøndby first team in the home game against Silkeborg IF. In the Royal League game against Swedish side Hammarby IF on 30 November, Williams added another two goals in Brøndby's win over the Swedes. Under new Brøndby manager Tom Køhlert, Williams was promoted to the Brøndby first team squad in December 2006, alongside Marc Olsen. Williams played a total 19 games and scored one goal for Brøndby in the 2006–07 Superliga season. He prolonged his Brøndby contract in September 2008, extending it until the summer 2011. He injured his knee in a training mishap in September 2008, and when Williams returned to fitness after the turn of the year, newly appointed Brøndby trainer Kent Nielsen left him out of the side. Williams' frustration at not playing led to him making a public outburst in June 2009, claiming he would leave the club in three weeks if they didn't play him. Brøndby responded by sending him out on trial to South African club Bidvest Wits.

He joined the North Queensland Fury FC on a one year loan deal for the 2009–10 A League season and signed a permanent contract with the Fury in January 2010.

On 16 February 2011, Sydney FC signed Williams on a short term deal from the Fury for the AFC Champions League 2011 campaign. He made a total of 4 appearances for the club, during the unsuccessful campaign, in which Sydney FC finished third in the group.

On 22 June 2011, he signed for A League club Melbourne Heart (Melbourne City FC) on a three year deal. He signed a two year contract extension with the Heart on 20 March 2014, tying him to the club until the end of the 2015–16 season. On Sunday 10 August 2014, Williams featured in the 2014 A League All Stars Game, coming on as a 63rd minute substitute for Alessandro Del Piero in what was the latter's last game in Australia. Williams was released from the club in January 2016.

On 25 January 2016, Williams signed with Hungarian club Haladás in hopes of rejuvenating his hopes of playing for Australia. In June 2018, Williams left Haladás.

On 23 July 2018, it was announced that Williams had signed a one year deal with Wellington Phoenix to return to the A league. On 10 June 2019 it was announced that Williams would be leaving the Wellington Phoenix.

On 28 June 2019, Indian Super League club ATK signed him from A league club Wellington Phoenix on a one year contract. Williams scored his first goal for the club in their 5–0 routing of Hyderabad FC. He ended the season with 7 goals and 5 assists and the Indian Super League title.

On 8 September 2020, Mohun Bagan confirmed the signing of David Williams on a one year contract. On 21 December 2020, he scored the first goal for the club in a 1 0 win over Bengaluru FC.

Williams returned to Australia to sign with A League Men side Perth Glory in August 2022.

He was most noted for being selected in both of Australia's squads for the 2005 FIFA World Youth Championship in the Netherlands and the 2005 FIFA U 17 World Championship in Peru; however, as the World Youth Championship (U 20) was held before the U 17 World Championship, Williams was ruled ineligible to play in Peru, leaving Australia with only 19 members in its U 17 World Championship squad. He was selected for Australia's World Cup qualifier with China on 22 June 2008, and came on as a substitute for James Holland.