The unbreakable bond between Inaki and Bilbao

One hundred and eighty-four Athletic Club matches involved their striker Inaki Williams. This incredible feat makes the 26-year-old’s life and career even more intriguing. Son of African parents, Inaki became a player of the club that’s renowned for fielding only local players, men of Basque nationality. For an African kid to make the team is extraordinary enough, never mind being ever-present for nearly six years straight.

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For more than a century, only those born or raised in the Basque Country, made up of four provinces in north-east Spain and three in south-west France, are eligible to play for Athletic. It is the only side in top-level European football to restrict itself to local players. The rule, which has been tweaked over time to have less focus on Basque bloodlines, is designed to maintain the team’s identity, not racial make-up. In 2014 Williams became the first black player to represent Athletic.

"We are the ones chosen to represent Athletic. We are from the Basque Country. It’s a small region but we are competing against the best and I think that is something to be proud of."

Williams’s route to the adoration of these supporters was unconventional. It began at a refugee camp near Accra, Ghana, where his father Felix met his mother María, who fled her native Liberia due to the civil war. The couple emigrated to Spain and, in 1994, Inaki was born in Bilbao, where he inherited a rare birthright. His first name comes from the social worker who helped his parents settle in Spain.

Playing football as a boy in the town of Pamplona, Williams was spotted by Bilbao scouts and was inducted in the club’s youth team where he showed considerable potential and flashes of ability.

Despite the restrictions the Bilbao club has imposed on itself, there are many talented players for them to choose from. They are doing an exceptional job in recruiting local talent as well as developing it. This ensures that the quality of the team doesn’t suffer and that the players aren’t in the team simply because of their nationality – they indeed deserve to be playing La Liga football.

In his years of consistent performances for the red and whites, Inaki has established himself as a tireless labourer who creates space and chances for his team-mates to exploit. Although not reaching dizzying numbers in terms of goals scored, Williams has been praised for his intelligent movement and understanding of the game so much so that he’s been drawing interest from Liverpool, Real Madrid and Manchester United. But he’s staying put after signing a nine-year contract in 2019. Such long-term deals are highly uncommon in professional football but it’s a testament to his’ dedication to the cause as well as the club’s belief in the player.

"It’s an honour to be linked to those big clubs that are doing well in Europe. It means I must be doing something right, but I am where I want to be."

It’s wonderful to see a player being exactly where he wants to be and where there is a true bond between the man and the club. Inaki Williams is not just some African who happens to be on the playing staff of a football club – he is playing for the club that he loves, for the fans who love him because he’s really one of their own.