The La Liga suggests he feels more Spanish than being a Ghanaian since he was born and raised in Basque
Spanish born midfielder with Ghanaian descent Inaki Williams has insisted that he is still waiting for his chance to play for the Spanish national team despite attempts by Ghana Football Association to change his mind.
The 27-year-old was born in Basque to Ghanaian parents [Maria and Felix] and has lived all his life in Spain.
Although, he has only featured for the Spanish national team once in 2016 against Bosnia and Herzegovina in a friendly game, he is still hopeful of becoming a regular after five years of neglect.
“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,” Inaki told Guardian.
“I would be comfortable with Ghana, I’m sure, but I shouldn’t be there …”
“And my mum knows how people love football there: it’s quite something, and she’d be worried about me.
“When my mum’s angry, she swears at us in Ghanaian 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 who feels Ghana 100%,” he added.
Iñaki Williams was named after a priest Iñaki Mardones who helped his father and mother to settle in Spain upon their arrival in Europe and he shed light on how his parents fled Ghana through the Sahara desert without food and water in search of greener pastures and better life for him and his siblings
“They did part in a truck, one of those with the open back, 40 people packed in, then walked days,” Williams said.
“People fell, left along the way, people they buried. It’s dangerous: there are thieves waiting, rapes, suffering. Some are tricked into it. Traffickers get paid and then halfway say:
“The journey ends here.’ Chuck you out, leave you with nothing: no water, no food. Kids, old people, women. People go not knowing what’s ahead, if they’ll make it. My mum said: ‘If I knew, I would have stayed.’ She was pregnant with Inaki but didn’t know.
“They reached Melilla [Spain’s north African enclave], climbed the fence and the civil guard detained them. They didn’t have papers and came as migrants, so you get sent back.
“When they were in jail a lawyer from [the Catholic aid organisation] Caritas who spoke, English said: ‘The only thing you can try is tell them you’re from a country at war.’ They tore up their Ghanaian papers and said they were from Liberia to apply for political asylum. Thanks to him, we arrived in Bilbao.”
Inaki became a La Liga legend last Friday after he broke the record for most consecutive games in La Liga history when Athletic Bilbao beat Deportivo Alaves 1-0.
That game means that Inaki has played 203 successive matches and has now surpassed the record held by former Real Sociedad defender Juan Larranaga from 1986-1992.
The last time Inaki failed to play. aLa Liga games was on April 17, 2016 which is more than five year ago.
“The doctors and physios say it’s incredible, that it’s impossible for there to be a case like this again, especially playing high-intensity games every three days,” he says.
“Thank my parents for the genes: I don’t know what it is but there’s something inside me.
“I’d be lying if I said I hadn’t played with knocks or pain; I’ve played on medication with injections, moments the manager and the team needs you. And I had two seasons going into the final weeks with four yellows. ‘Buah, if there’s a fifth, that’s a ban.’ But I don’t protest much or kick anyone,” he admits, laughing.
“[But] it wasn’t really until the last week that it was on my mind, when there were three games in seven days to break the record: home, away, home. You’re so close, there’s a risk, you think: ‘Woah, something could happen, I could lose this.’ Until then, you don’t think of it. Destiny is written.”
Inaki’s junior brother Nico Williams, is also currently a player of Athletic Bilbao and the 19-year-old born in Pamplona made his debut for Bilbao this year.
He is also reportedly in the books of Ghana Football Association and could play for the country of his parents unlike his senior brother.
Ghana will play Zimbabwe in the 2022 Fifa World Cup qualifiers on Saturday at the Cape Coast Sports Stadium and the return leg has been slated for Tuesday in Harare.
Should Ghana qualify to the World Cup, Iñaki may be tempted to rescind his decision and represent Ghana at the international level.