Ronwen Hayden Williams (born 21 January 1992) is a South African professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Premier Soccer League club Mamelodi Sundowns and captains the South Africa national team. In 2024, he was nominated for the Yashin Trophy becoming the first South African footballer to be nominated for a Ballon d'Or award. He is widely regarded as one of the best goalkeepers in Africa.
| Personal information | |||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Ronwen Hayden Williams | ||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | 21 January 1992 | ||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | Port Elizabeth, South Africa | ||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.84 m (6 ft 0 in)[1] | ||||||||||||||||
| Position(s) | Goalkeeper | ||||||||||||||||
| Team information | |||||||||||||||||
Current team | Mamelodi Sundowns | ||||||||||||||||
| Number | 30 | ||||||||||||||||
| Youth career | |||||||||||||||||
| Shatterprufe Rovers | |||||||||||||||||
| Tottenham Hotspur | |||||||||||||||||
| SuperSport United | |||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | |||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | ||||||||||||||
| 2010–2022 | SuperSport United | 278 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2022– | Mamelodi Sundowns | 65 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| International career‡ | |||||||||||||||||
| 2011 | South Africa U20 | 2 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2021– | South Africa U23 | 3 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
| 2014– | South Africa | 48 | (0) | ||||||||||||||
Medal record
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*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 27 October 2024 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 27 October 2024 (UTC) | |||||||||||||||||
He was ranked the ninth best goalkeeper in the world at the 2024 Ballon d'Or.[2]
Club career
editEarly career
editWilliams spent part of his youth career with Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur.[3]
SuperSport United
editWilliams joined SuperSport United as a youth player in 2004. He made his debut in the CAF Champions League in January 2012 against Matlama FC, and in the PSL was four months later against Free State Stars. He kept clean sheets in both games.[4]
Mamelodi Sundowns
editOn 21 July 2022, Williams signed with Mamelodi Sundowns after a 12-year career at SuperSport United.[5] He made his debut in the 2022–23 opener against Cape Town City FC where he made a string of great saves and kept a clean sheet.[6] He won the African Football League with Mamelodi Sundowns in 2023 where he made two important penalties saves one against Al Ahly and the other one against CA Petróleos Luanda.
International career
editWilliams made his first appearance for South Africa on 5 March 2014, in a friendly against Brazil, due to a sprained ankle suffered by the first-choice keeper, Itumeleng Khune.[7][8]
In August 2021, the new South Africa coach Hugo Broos named Williams as the new Bafana Bafana captain, taking the armband from Thulani Hlatshwayo who failed to make the squad.[9]
On 3 February 2024, in South Africa's 2023 AFCON quarter-final match against Cape Verde, the game was drawn at 0–0 after extra time. Williams saved 4 penalties in the penalty shootout, taking Bafana Bafana through to an AFCON semi-final for the first time since 2000.[10] Although South Africa lost to Nigeria in the semi-finals in another penalty shootout, Williams went ahead to win the Best Goalkeeper of the tournament.[11]
Career statistics
editInternational
edit- As of matches played on 10 February 2024[12]
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
|---|---|---|---|
| South Africa | 2014 | 2 | 0 |
| 2016 | 1 | 0 | |
| 2017 | 2 | 0 | |
| 2018 | 1 | 0 | |
| 2019 | 7 | 0 | |
| 2020 | 3 | 0 | |
| 2021 | 9 | 0 | |
| 2022 | 5 | 0 | |
| 2023 | 6 | 0 | |
| 2024 | 7 | 0 | |
| Total | 43 | 0 | |
Honours
editSupersport United
- Nedbank Cup: 2011–12, 2015–16, 2016–17
- MTN 8: 2017, 2019
- Telkom Knockout: 2014
Mamelodi Sundowns
South Africa
- Africa Cup of Nations third place: 2023[13]
Individual
References
edit- ^ "TNT Sports". tntsports.co.uk. Retrieved 8 February 2024.
- ^ "Ronwen Williams places ninth for Yashin Trophy at Ballon d'Or awards | soccer". SABC. 29 October 2024. Retrieved 6 November 2024.
- ^ Modise, Jimmy (5 June 2017). "7 Things You Didn't Know About Ronwen Williams". Diski 365. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
- ^ "SuperSport". supersport.com. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
- ^ "Mamelodi Sundowns | Ronwen Williams Joins Masandawana!". Mamelodi Sundowns | Official Website. Retrieved 25 July 2022.
- ^ "Mamelodi Sundowns 2-0 Cape Town City (5 Aug, 2022) Final Score - ESPN (UK)". ESPN. Retrieved 8 February 2024.
- ^ "Williams set for dream Bafana debut". eNCA. Retrieved 5 March 2014.
- ^ "Williams makes international debut | The New Age Online". Thenewage.co.za. Archived from the original on 5 March 2014. Retrieved 5 March 2014.
- ^ "Broos names Williams as Bafana Bafana skipper, Tau deputy captain". Sowetanlive. Retrieved 12 October 2021.
- ^ "SA goalkeeper saves four penalties in shootout win". BBC Sport. Retrieved 8 February 2024.
- ^ a b "TotalEnergies CAF AFCON Cote d'Ivoire 2023 Awards". CAF Online. Confederation of African Football. 11 February 2024. Retrieved 12 February 2024.
- ^ Ronwen Williams at National-Football-Teams.com
- ^ "South Africa secure TotalEnergies CAF AFCON bronze after shootout". CAF Online. Confederation of African Football. 10 February 2024. Retrieved 11 February 2024.
- ^ "CAF TSG Group releases TotalEnergies CAF Africa Cup of Nation Cote d'Ivoire 2023 Best XI". CAF Online. Confederation of African Football. 14 February 2024. Archived from the original on 14 February 2024. Retrieved 14 February 2024.
- ^ "Lookman, Banda and Williams are big winners at 2024 CAF Awards in Marrakech, Morocco". CAF Online. Confederation of African Football. Retrieved 16 December 2024.
- ^ Cite error: The named reference
cafawards2024was invoked but never defined (see the help page).