Euro 2024: Spain – Georgia – Nico Williams’ remarkable path to the top

How Nico and Inaki were born and grew up in Spain deserves another telling, because it is a story of human trafficking, hope, emigration and love for strangers.

As a child, Inaki Williams could never understand why his father Felix had problems with his feet.

It was only when he was 18 and already playing for Athletic Club’s first team that his mother Maria told him how much her life had been damaged by the burning sands of the Sahara, when the pregnant Maria and her husband left Ghana in search of a better life.

They had to walk most of the way to the United Kingdom because they were abandoned halfway there by the gang that had taken their savings.

They were arrested in the Spanish enclave of Melilla in northern Africa. To obtain political asylum, a lawyer advised them to say they came from war-torn Liberia and not Ghana.

He put them in touch with the Catholic priest Inaki Mardones. He found them a social apartment in Bilbao and took them to a hospital where Inaki was born and named after the young priest, who also agreed to be Inaki’s godfather.

The first gift he gave his godson? His first red and white striped Athletic jersey.

Nico later said: “Thank God we are all here together now and living a really good life. My parents can watch their sons succeed, that’s why they came here. Everything we do, we do for our parents.”

“They risked their lives so that we, my brother and I, could have a better future. And they did it. I will be forever grateful for what my father and mother did for us – they are fighters, they taught us respect and hard work, every day, that nobody gives you anything for free.”

“The truth is, I’m so proud to have them as parents and I try to do everything I can to make them proud to have me as their son.”

Despite their new-found security, life was anything but easy for the Williams family. They moved 150 kilometers southeast to Pamplona.

Nicholas Williams Arthuer was born there on July 12, 2002. However, unable to find enough work to support his family, Felix moved to London and did everything he could to send money home.

He cleared tables in a market hall at a shopping centre in Chelsea and worked as a security guard, even at the turnstiles at Chelsea FC.

He was away for ten years – now he is back in Bilbao – and during that time, Inaki became like a father to Nico, while his mother worked up to three jobs at once in her efforts to support the family.

When they go to their mom’s for lunch, she reminds them to clear the table, wash the dishes, and scolds them when they step out of line. Their parenting is constant.

Inaki, who had chosen to play for the team as a tribute to Ghana, would keep an eye on Nico the whole time.

Starting with picking him up from school and giving him a “bocadillo” (sandwich) after class, to later teaching him the behavior he would need to demonstrate if he wanted to make it as a top athlete.

“For me he is a reference, he means everything to me,” said Nico. “He helped my parents and me so we could eat, so I could go to class, so I could get dressed.”

“He corrects me, he gives me advice, he’s always done that, but we get along very well. He’s my brother, but he also acts a bit like a father.”

On 28 April 2021, the brothers came on as second-half substitutes in Athletic’s 2–2 draw with Real Valladolid, becoming the first siblings to play together for the club since 1986.

After the final, they immediately visited their mother, who was unable to watch the game because fans were banned from entering the stadium due to the Covid pandemic.

Pictures of the two teenagers dancing around and presumably preparing to celebrate a goal went viral on the internet.

There are certainly elements of the way Nico used to treat his older brother.

After Spain’s victory against Italy, Nico joked: “I already told him (Yamal) that he has to learn from ‘his father’, that is, me!”

Nico also added that he had spoken to him and stressed the importance of enjoying these extraordinary and optimistic times.

Their friendship dates back to when they met in March at the Spanish Football Federation’s Las Rozas in Madrid, ahead of Spain’s friendlies against Colombia and Brazil, when Nico was asked to keep a watchful eye on young Yamal.

Although he had planned a day trip to the capital on his day off, he was instead asked to go out with the teenager, who was undecided about what to do with his free time.

Nico accepted. It was a smart move by the association, who fully understood that there could be no better mentor for Yamal than Nico.

“He is a good role model for him,” says a spokesman for the association. “Lamine copies everything Nico does.”

“Nico gets up, gets ready and goes to look for Lamine. He knocks on the door of the Barca players’ room and insists: ‘Come on, we don’t have to be late.'”

Nico and Yamal came on as substitutes in a European Championship qualifier against Georgia last September. Spain coach Luis de la Fuente has never looked back.

Nico is a fast, explosive and seemingly inexhaustible right-footer who can play on either wing or even start from a more central position.

“It was incredible to watch him play,” says former Athletic head coach Gaizka Garitano. “He was very fast, incredibly fast. Even more skilful than his older brother.”

A disappointing performance in the opening match of the 2024 European Championship against Croatia left him fearing he might be eliminated, so he was doubly determined to show what he can do against Italy.

“I didn’t play with joy,” he told the coaching staff. “I’ll give it my all in the next game.” De la Fuente’s staff noticed his hunger.

While Yamal excelled against Croatia, Nico took charge against Italy. He has had six successful dribbles so far at the European Championships, only Yamal surpasses him with seven.

He has already played 16 games for Spain and it seems to be only a matter of time before the biggest clubs in the world come calling.

In December, Nico signed a contract extension with Athletic Club that could keep him until June 30, 2027.

The transfer comes with a release clause of around £49 million, which was enough to deter Chelsea, who had been tracking him for some time, while an offer from Barcelona was also rejected.

The player himself recently stressed that he was “happy at Athletic”, while club president Jon Uriarte insisted that “we are not worried” despite increasing speculation about his future.

For now, however, he still has a score to settle with Spain, the country whose jersey he wears with dignity and pride.