Six years and counting: Inaki Williams breaks LaLiga record for most consecutive appearances
Since joining Spanish outfit Athletic Bilbao in 2014, 27-year-old Inaki Williams hasn’t missed a LaLiga fixture. It has been 6 years and Williams has gone on to play for Bilbao 333 times and has scored 74 goals and given 44 asss.
Before Williams laid claim to this record, Juanan Larranaga of Real Sociedad had played the highest number of uninterrupted fixtures at 202 matches, between 1986 and 1992.
Williams who is only the second black footballer to play for Athletic, after Jonas Ramalho, has his contract extended till 2028 and if everything falls in place, he could set a record which will be quite difficult to beat.
Inaki Williams has now played in every LaLiga game for the past SIX YEARS! 🤯
224 games in a row. Never injured. Never suspended. Never left out.
He needs to be studied 💪 pic.twitter.com/angKqgLCL7
— ESPN FC (@ESPNFC) April 17, 2022
Williams has made one appearance for Spain at senior level, which came in 2016 against Bosnia and Herzegovina. Explaining the reason behind rejecting Ghana, his ancestral home, Williams, in an exclusive interview with The Guardian, said, “I’m grateful to where I grew and became who I am.”
“Ghana tried to convince me, but I was born in Spain, in Bilbao. I won’t ever forget my family roots, but I feel Basque and can’t con anyone. I would be comfortable with Ghana, I’m sure, but I shouldn’t be there. And my mum knows how people live football there: it’s quite something, and she’d be worried about me.
“When my mum’s angry, she swears at us in Ghanian but we speak Spanish. When my parents came, it was English but we lost that. I could have a conversation in English but it’s not fluent now. When my grandparents call, I speak to them in Twi. I admire and love Ghana, the culture, food, tradition. 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 feels Ghana 100%.”
