Ceri Williams delight in FIFA WU17 World Cup selection

Assistant Referee Ceri Williams will represent Wales at the FIFA Women’s U17 World Cup when the tournament takes place in the Dominican Republic between the 16 October and 3 November in one of the most significant appointments of her successful career to date.

“I had a phone call from Phil Thomas [FAW Elite Match Officials Manager] on a Friday afternoon, and normally that isn’t a good sign!” explained Williams to FAW.cymru. “I was just about to leave the house because I actually had a game at Flint and he told me I had been selected. I didn’t really process it, I think he told me loads of information but I didn’t take much in as I was just pacing up and down in my living room! I phoned my Dad and he started searching flights.”

Sixteen teams from across all six FIFA confederations will take part in the tournament with Williams one of 38 worldwide match officials selected. The 29-year old from Swansea has been grouped with English Referee Abigail Byrne and Polish Assistant Referee Paulina Baranowska, and they will be supported by Olazt Rivera Olmedo of Spain.

“Everything else I’ve done has all been through UEFA,” Williams added. “But this is my first FIFA world tournament. I’ve had internationals that have been FIFA appointed, but nothing of this level.”

Although she is still in her 20’s, Williams has amassed a wealth of domestic and international experience in both the men’s and women’s game. Her performances have been regularly rewarded with a series of high-profile appointments including fixtures in the UEFA Women’s Champions League, the English Football League and the WSL. Last year she officiated at the UEFA WU19 Championship Final in Belgium, and earlier this year made history by becoming the first woman to officiate at the JD Welsh Cup Final.

“Sometimes you have moments when things like this happen and you just sort of ask yourself ‘how have I ended up here?’” she explained. “I was just a 14-year old girl from Swansea that liked football but wasn’t very good at playing it and her dad said ‘Why don’t you try refereeing?’ Now it’s bordering on a point where hopefully in the next couple of years it will be my full-time career. It does feel a little bit surreal because sometimes I think I still feel like that 14-year old girl who’s just refereed her first game.”

The implications of a successful tournament in Dominican Republic could be far-reaching for Williams, as Chairman of the FIFA Referees Committee, Italian Pierluigi Collina, explained in a statement. “We have selected a talented group of match officials, with the FIFA U17 Women’s World Cup set to play a key role in their development.” he explained.

“After the successful FIFA Women’s World Cup last year, we are already working on the FIFA Women’s World Cup Brazil 2027. Knowing that an important generational change in FIFA TEAM ONE will be necessary, this tournament will offer match officials who have the potential to be candidates for Brazil 2027 to work under the guidance of top FIFA refereeing instructors.”

The statement clearly emphasises how highly-regarded Williams is in the world game in the fact that she has been selected for a tournament that will play an important role in deciding which officials will make it to the biggest stage of all. “We’ve got the EURO next year and they’re doing the selections for that at the moment,” said Williams. “I wouldn’t say this tournament is make or break, but it’s definitely going be a pivotal point in whether or not I make the EURO and whether or not I make the next World Cup.”

One of the biggest challenges for Williams is not only juggling her refereeing career with her full-time job in the NHS, but also competing against full-time officials for those high-profile appointments. “I think sometimes the hardest thing is that the expectations on my fitness doesn’t change,” she explained. “If I’m going to the same tournament as someone whose full-time job is refereeing, I’ve still got to pass the same fitness test as them to get there. It’s those sacrifices that you have to make where my life is pretty much work, train and sleep.

“My boss at the NHS has been absolutely brilliant and they’ve been really accommodating. They’ve understood from the beginning that these are opportunities that I would never want to say no to. Phil [Thomas] has always been our biggest advocate with everything. With this tournament coming up we had a very honest discussion about my fixture loading and my travel in the weeks leading up to it. I’ve also had Ben Sutcliffe [FAW National Referee Fitness Coach] supporting me and doing my training plans. It’s nice to know that there are people that you can just pick up the phone and have those conversations with.”

Cheryl Foster worked closely with Williams before announcing her retirement earlier this year. A source of inspiration for all match officials in Wales, the former Cymru international striker was selected for both the UEFA Women’s EURO in 2022 and the 2023 FIFA Women’s World Cup in Australia and New Zealand. The ambition for Williams now is not only to emulate those achievements, but to also use that success to inspire the next generation of female match officials in Wales.

“She’s definitely shown what Welsh refereeing can do and what it can be,” said Williams. “Hopefully, if things go well on this tournament and I can get to a major tournament, we can really show to the new girls coming through that those pathways are possible and it wasn’t just one person who managed to do it. We can show that actually, we’re consistently getting FIFA match officials going to major tournaments and doing these big games because we’ve got the resources to develop those referees.”

Williams has a vested interest in their development and progression, having taken up the role of the FAW’s first Women’s Referee Development Officer last year.

“We’ve launched a new mental health scheme this season and we launched the Referees Academy last season and the uptake that we’ve seen has been really good,” she explained. “The engagement from the young girls with the mental health scheme has been great and it’s nice to just see that we’ve got some really promising young talent coming through the system.”

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