Romario Williams

Romario Garfield Williams (born 15 August 1994) is a Jamaican professional footballer who plays as a forward for USL Championship side Colorado Springs Switchbacks. He is named after the legendary Brazilian footballer, Romário.[2]

Romario Williams
Williams playing for Charleston Battery in 2016
Personal information
Full name Romario Garfield Williams[1]
Date of birth (1994-08-15) 15 August 1994
Place of birth Portmore, Jamaica
Height 6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Position(s) Forward
Team information
Current team
 Colorado Springs Switchbacks
Number 9
College career
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2012–2014 UCF Knights 51 (18)
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2014 Orlando City U-23 11 (7)
2015–2016 Montreal Impact 2 (0)
2015 → FC Montreal (loan) 7 (0)
2016 → Charleston Battery (loan) 27 (10)
2017–2019 Atlanta United 19 (2)
2017 → Charleston Battery (loan) 22 (15)
2018–2019 → Atlanta United 2 (loan) 12 (7)
2019 Columbus Crew SC 7 (1)
2020 Miami FC 16 (8)
2020–2021 Al-Ittihad 23 (5)
2021–2022 Qadsia SC 10 (3)
2022 New Mexico United 10 (1)
2023– Colorado Springs Switchbacks 29 (15)
International career‡
2010–2011 Jamaica U17 4 (1)
2015 Jamaica U23 3 (3)
2016– Jamaica 13 (2)
Medal record
Men's football
Representing  Jamaica
CONCACAF Gold Cup
Runner-up2017 United StatesTeam
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 21 October 2023
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 9 September 2018

Club career

Youth

Williams graduated from Kingston College in Jamaica and then attended university in Orlando.[3][4] He played college soccer at the University of Central Florida. With the UCF Knights men's soccer program, Williams recorded 18 goals and five assists in 51 games, 46 as starter. He was a unanimous selection to the American Athletic Conference all-conference first team in 2014. He was also the 2013 American Athletic Conference Player of the Year.[5]

Professional

Williams was selected by Montreal Impact third overall in the 2015 MLS SuperDraft on 15 January 2015. He made his professional debut on 28 March 2015 in a 2–2 draw against Orlando City SC.[6]

On 11 December 2016 Atlanta United FC acquired Williams from the Impact in exchange for a third-round selection in the 2018 MLS SuperDraft.[7] On 7 April 2018, he scored his first career MLS goal in a 5–0 rout of Los Angeles FC.

On 1 July 2019, Williams was traded to Columbus Crew SC in exchange for $100,000 of General Allocation Money.[8] After one season with the crew, Williams joined Miami FC of the USL Championship in January 2020.[9]

In December 2020 Williams moved abroad to Egypt and joined Al Ittihad of the Egyptian Premier League.[10] On 16 August 2021, Williams moved abroad to Kuwait and joined Qadsia SC of the Kuwait Premier League.[11]

In July, 2022 Williams signed a contract with USL Championship side New Mexico United[12]

Williams signed with the Colorado Springs Switchbacks on January 5, 2023.[13]

International career

Williams has represented the U-17 level of the Jamaica national U-17 team, playing in three games at the 2011 U17 FIFA World Cup. He had previously started four of five games at the CONCACAF qualifiers. Romario also played the Jamaica U-23 national team in March 2015.[14] Williams made his Jamaica senior national team debut in a 1–0 Caribbean Cup qualify win over Suriname on 13 November 2016.[15]

Personal

He was named after Romário, Brazilian football legend who won the 1994 FIFA World Cup a month before he was born.

In February 2018 Williams received a U.S. green card which qualifies him as a domestic player for MLS roster purposes.[16]

Career statistics

Club
As of 4 October 2020[17][18]
Club Season League Playoffs[lower-alpha 1] Cup[lower-alpha 2] Continental Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Orlando City U-23 2014[19] PDL 117–––117
Montreal Impact 2015 MLS 2000000020
2016 000000–00
Total 2000000020
FC Montreal (loan) 2015 USL 70–––70
Charleston Battery (loan) 2016 USL 27102010–3010
Atlanta United 2017 MLS 000000–00
2018 1710021–192
2019 2000111041
Total 191003210233
Charleston Battery (loan) 2017 USL 22151010–2415
Atlanta United 2 (loan) 2018 USL 74–––74
2019 USL Championship 5300––53
Total 127000000127
Columbus Crew SC 2019 MLS 71–00–71
Miami FC 2020 USL Championship 168–00–168
Career total 1234930521013251
  1. All appearances in the USL Cup Playoffs
  2. All appearances in the U.S. Open Cup

International
As of September 9, 2018[20]
Jamaica
YearAppsGoals
201610
2017102
201830
201900
202000
202110
Total152
Scores and results list Jamaica's goal tally first.[21]
International goals
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1.9 July 2017Qualcomm Stadium, San Diego, United States Curaçao1–02–02017 CONCACAF Gold Cup
2.20 July 2017University of Phoenix Stadium, Glendale, United States Canada2–02–12017 CONCACAF Gold Cup

Honors

Jamaica

Atlanta United

Individual

  • AAC Offensive Player of the Year: 2013

References
  1. "40-Player National Team Roster: 2019 Concacaf Gold Cup: Jamaica" (PDF). CONCACAF. p. 9. Retrieved 21 May 2019 – via Bernews.
  2. Tenorio, Paul. "UCF forward Romario Williams a top prospect in next week's MLS SuperDraft". Orlandosentinel.com.
  3. "CONCACAF Q&A: Romario Williams (Charleston Battery and Jamaica)". Concacaf.com. Retrieved 25 April 2019.
  4. "Jamaica Observer Limited". Jamaica Observer. Archived from the original on 15 April 2019. Retrieved 25 April 2019.
  5. "American Athletic Conference Announces Men's Regular Season Awards". TheAmerican.org. 14 November 2014. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
  6. "Recap: Montreal 2–2 Orlando". MLSSoccer.com. Retrieved 28 March 2015.
  7. "Atlanta United make roster moves during active MLS half-day trade window". Atlutd.com. 11 December 2016.
  8. Crew SC Communications (1 July 2019). "Columbus Crew SC acquires forward Romario Williams in trade with Atlanta United". ColumbusCrewSC.com. Columbus Crew SC. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
  9. Russo, Ken (2 January 2020). "Miami FC sign Romario Williams".
  10. "Reggae Boy Romario Williams off to Egypt". 8 December 2020.
  11. "الجامايكي روماريو خامس المحترفين في صفوف القادسية". 8 December 2020.
  12. "United Signs Goal-Scoring International Striker Romario Williams".
  13. Cutler, Tyler (5 January 2023). "Switchbacks FC Sign Forward Romario Williams". switchbacksfc.com. Retrieved 5 January 2023.
  14. Joey Strizzi (10 March 2015). "Romario Williams with National Team | Montreal Impact". Impactmontreal.com. Retrieved 8 April 2019.
  15. "Boyz clip Suriname 1-0, progress to CFU semis - Sport - JamaicaObserver.com". Archived from the original on 16 November 2016. Retrieved 25 November 2016.
  16. "Atlanta United secures green card for Williams". The Atlanta Journal-Constitution. 12 February 2018. Retrieved 17 February 2018.
  17. Romario Williams at Major League Soccer
  18. Romario Williams at Soccerway. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
  19. "Romario Williams – 2014 PDL statistics". USLLeagueTwo.com. Premier Development League. Retrieved 1 July 2019.
  20. Romario Williams at National-Football-Teams.com
  21. "Williams, Romario". National Football Teams. Retrieved 11 July 2017.
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