England’s record caps holder Fara Williams announced she would retire at the end of the season on this day in 2021.
The midfielder, who had been with Reading since 2017, made 172 appearances for her country and played at three World Cups.
In a career spanning nearly two decades, Williams helped the Lionesses finish third at the 2015 World Cup and as runners-up at Euro 2009.
She also played for Great Britain during the London 2012 Olympics and her honours at club level included winning two Women’s Super League titles with Liverpool and the FA Cup with both Everton and Arsenal.
In a statement posted on social media, Williams, then 37, wrote: “After much consideration and despite offers to remain within the game, I have made the difficult decision to retire from professional football at the end of the season.
“It has been a pleasure and a privilege to have had a career of more than 20 years within the women’s game, with some incredible highs.
“Playing football is all I have ever known, but I am excited for the next chapter in my life. I look forward to remaining within the game, pursuing opportunities within the media and continuing my coaching badges.”
Weeks before announcing her retirement, Williams revealed she had been diagnosed with a kidney condition, nephrotic syndrome, in 2020 and admitted the illness had played a key role in her decision.
She told talkSPORT 2’s Women’s Football Weekly programme: “I didn’t want the illness to defeat me though, so I tried to fight on with the illness and try and play, and I didn’t feel ready to finish before I got the illness.
“I think it’s played a massive part in my decision in terms of considering my health, so I just think now is probably for me the right time to hang the boots up and see what’s out there for me next.”
Williams, who received an MBE in the 2016 New Year Honours for services to women’s football and charity, has worked in the media as a pundit since retiring from the game.
Why are you making commenting on The Herald only available to subscribers?
It should have been a safe space for informed debate, somewhere for readers to discuss issues around the biggest stories of the day, but all too often the below the line comments on most websites have become bogged down by off-topic discussions and abuse.
heraldscotland.com is tackling this problem by allowing only subscribers to comment.
We are doing this to improve the experience for our loyal readers and we believe it will reduce the ability of trolls and troublemakers, who occasionally find their way onto our site, to abuse our journalists and readers. We also hope it will help the comments section fulfil its promise as a part of Scotland's conversation with itself.
We are lucky at The Herald. We are read by an informed, educated readership who can add their knowledge and insights to our stories.
That is invaluable.
We are making the subscriber-only change to support our valued readers, who tell us they don't want the site cluttered up with irrelevant comments, untruths and abuse.
In the past, the journalist’s job was to collect and distribute information to the audience. Technology means that readers can shape a discussion. We look forward to hearing from you on heraldscotland.com
Comments & Moderation
Readers’ comments: You are personally liable for the content of any comments you upload to this website, so please act responsibly. We do not pre-moderate or monitor readers’ comments appearing on our websites, but we do post-moderate in response to complaints we receive or otherwise when a potential problem comes to our attention. You can make a complaint by using the ‘report this post’ link . We may then apply our discretion under the user terms to amend or delete comments.
Post moderation is undertaken full-time 9am-6pm on weekdays, and on a part-time basis outwith those hours.
Read the rules here