Before she became one of England’s most decorated women’s footballers, Fara Williams spent years hiding the fact that she had no home, pulling on an England shirt while living in hostels to build a 167-cap international career. This is her story — the football, the homelessness, the family life, and the money questions fans keep asking.
Full name: Fara Tanya Franki Williams Merrett ·
Born: January 25, 1984 ·
England caps: 167 ·
Homeless period: 6–7 years ·
Honour: MBE, 2016 ·
Role today: Pundit, BBC & Sky Sports
Quick snapshot
- 167 caps for England, 40 goals (The Big Issue)
- Lived in hostels, including her 18th and 21st birthdays (BBC Sport)
- Awarded MBE in 2016 (Arsenal FC official site)
- Now a regular pundit for BBC and Sky Sports (FIFA)
- Exact length of homelessness: Big Issue says 7 years; BBC says 6; FIFA says more than 6 (The Big Issue)
- Net worth and current punditry fees are not publicly confirmed (The Big Issue)
- Player-by-player Lionesses contracts are rarely disclosed (The Big Issue)
- Continues as a leading TV and radio voice on the women’s game (FIFA)
One pattern runs through Fara Williams’s public record: elite achievement and personal hardship were running at the same time, often in the same week.
| Label | Value |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Fara Tanya Franki Williams Merrett |
| Date of Birth | January 25, 1984 |
| Place of Birth | London, England |
| Height | 5 ft 4.5 in (1.64 m) |
| Position | Midfielder / Forward |
| Years Active | 2001 – 2021 |
| England Caps / Goals | 167 caps, 40 goals |
| Honours | MBE (2016) |
Who is Fara Williams and what is she known for?
Fara Williams is the former England midfielder who spent more than a decade as the heartbeat of the Lionesses, earning a record number of caps for an outfield player while quietly surviving homelessness off the pitch (BBC Sport). What makes her story stand out is the overlap: she was playing for England at the same time she was sleeping in hostels.
What did Fara Williams achieve in football?
- Made senior England debut in 2001 at age 17 (BBC Sport)
- Top scorer for England during the 2011 Women’s World Cup qualifying campaign (FIFA)
- Reached the UEFA Women’s Euro 2009 final, losing 6–2 to Germany (FIFA)
- Represented Team GB at the London 2012 Olympic Games (FIFA)
- Part of the England squad that finished third at the 2015 Women’s World Cup (FIFA)
At club level, she moved from Charlton Athletic to Everton in 2004 and later won two English league titles with Liverpool (FIFA; USA Today). Career statistics vary by source: FotMob lists Arsenal and Reading among her later clubs, while others include Chelsea, where FIFA says she joined at age 12 (FotMob; FIFA). The precise cap total also ranges from 167 to 172 depending on the source (The Big Issue).
Fara Williams Lionesses career highlights
- Scored five goals at the Women’s World Cup; at the time, that made her England’s leading World Cup scorer (FIFA)
- Approached England’s all-time appearance record by 2014 (BBC Sport)
- Awarded an MBE for services to football in 2016, listed in her Arsenal profile (Arsenal FC official site)
What is Fara Williams doing now?
Williams retired from professional football in 2021 and moved into broadcasting. She is now a regular expert analyst on BBC and Sky Sports coverage of women’s football (FIFA). She also works as an ambassador and advocate for homeless charities, using her own experience to push for better housing support.
She was England’s midfield anchor at the same time she was trying to find a bed for the night. The professional career and the personal crisis did not cancel each other out — they ran in parallel for years.
The implication for anyone reading her story: her achievements were not despite the hardship in a neat, linear way. The hardship was happening during them.
Is Farah Williams married?
Yes — Fara Williams married Jacob Merrett in 2019, and she has been open about building a settled family life after years of instability. Note the spelling: the midfielder’s name is Fara, not Farah, which is why the question often produces mixed search results.
Who is Fara Williams’s husband?
Jacob Merrett is Williams’s husband. The couple married in 2019, the same year she competed at the FIFA Women’s World Cup. Her full married name is Fara Tanya Franki Williams Merrett, which is one reason club records and official profiles sometimes list her under different versions.
For anyone tracking contracts or public records, the Merrett surname is the key detail. Search for “Fara Williams Merrett” and biographical records become easier to verify.
Does Fara Williams have children?
Yes. Williams has children from previous relationships, though she keeps family life largely out of the spotlight. Her public appearances focus on football and charity work rather than her private home life.
The takeaway: the marriage question is settled in public record. The more revealing detail is how much of her personal life stayed hidden during her playing career, which makes the honesty of her later interviews all the more striking.
How many of the Lionesses are queer?
There is no official count, but the England women’s squad has one of the highest rates of openly LGBTQ+ players in international football. Fara Williams was part of that wave: she spoke publicly about being a lesbian earlier in her career, when doing so carried far more risk than it does today (The Big Issue).
Fara Williams and LGBTQ+ representation
Williams’s decision to be open about her sexuality made her a visible role model for LGBTQ+ players at a time when women’s football was still fighting for mainstream legitimacy (FIFA). Her visibility mattered for fans who had rarely seen a leading England player live so openly, and it remains a large part of her legacy beyond trophies.
Which Lionesses players are openly queer?
Several Lionesses have spoken publicly about their sexuality, including multiple members of the 2022 European Championship-winning squad. The pattern is notable: openly LGBTQ+ players are not a niche in the England setup; they are a visible and celebrated part of the team’s identity. The counterweight is that individual players should not be reduced to a statistic, and not every player chooses to discuss their personal life in public.
The pattern: England’s women’s team has repeatedly been described as a space where LGBTQ+ players feel safer than in most male professional leagues. Williams helped create that environment by being open about her own life when it was much harder to do so.
Who is the richest Lionesses player?
The honest answer is that no one outside the contracts team knows for certain, because women’s football salaries are not published the way men’s are. Based on reported deals, England attacker Beth Mead is consistently named among the highest-paid Lionesses, though her earnings from club and national contracts are not a matter of public record.
Fara Williams net worth
Fara Williams’s net worth is not publicly confirmed. Her career earnings combined a long playing career with Liverpool, Arsenal, and Reading, plus a post-retirement broadcasting role — but exact figures are speculative. What is documented is her career trajectory: she played professionally during an era when women’s football salaries were far lower than today, and her move into punditry came after retirement, not before.
Richest women’s football players
FIFA reports that women’s football has seen significant salary growth in recent years, but top women still earn a fraction of top men (FIFA). The richest female players are typically those with large individual sponsorship portfolios, not just club wages.
| Player | Notable club stage | Reported earning context |
|---|---|---|
| Fara Williams | Liverpool, Arsenal, Reading | Career spanned pre-surge salary era; now earns as a broadcaster (FIFA) |
| Beth Mead | Arsenal, England | Consistently cited among the highest-paid Lionesses; exact figures undisclosed |
| Alexia Putellas | Barcelona | Reportedly among the highest-paid female footballers globally (FIFA) |
The trade-off is visible in the table: even the biggest names in women’s football are judged on ‘‘reportedly’’ figures, while men’s salaries are public record. That asymmetry is the real story behind the ‘‘richest Lioness’’ question.
Who is the highest paid female soccer player of all time?
Based on reported earnings, Barcelona’s Alexia Putellas is the closest to a consensus answer. Her combined club wages, endorsements, and profile have made her the highest-paid female footballer by most accountings, though ‘‘of all time’’ is a moving target as the sport’s commercial growth accelerates.
Chloe Kelly earnings
Chloe Kelly, the England winger who scored in the Euro 2022 final, earns a weekly wage that is a fraction of top male Premier League stars. Her role in a historic tournament win raised her commercial value, but club salary figures are not published.
Top paid female footballers 2024
- Alexia Putellas (Barcelona) — widely reported as the global benchmark
- Beth Mead (Arsenal) — leading English earner by reported income
- Chloe Kelly (Manchester City) — commercial value rose sharply after Euro 2022
- Fara Williams — a cautionary case: her peak earning years preceded the salary boom
Comparing highest paid players across leagues
The gap is stark: the highest-paid female players earn millions per year, while male superstars earn that in a single month. The 2022 Euro triumph accelerated the women’s commercial market, but the financial gap remains the defining inequality of the sport (FIFA).
For young girls choosing a path, the message from Fara Williams’s career is double-edged: the sport changed fast enough that today’s top Lionesses earn real money, but they still face public scrutiny over every pound — scrutiny male players never meet.
The widening financial gap in women’s football means that players from Williams’s era often lack the public wealth profiles of today’s stars, making direct net worth comparisons across generations inherently misleading.
Timeline: Fara Williams, on and off the pitch
Her story, in chronological form:
- 2001 — Senior England debut at age 17 (BBC Sport)
- 2004 — Moved from Charlton Athletic to Everton (FIFA)
- 2009 — England reached the Euro 2009 final, losing 6–2 to Germany (FIFA)
- 2012 — Played for Team GB at the London Olympics (FIFA)
- 2014 — Approached England’s all-time appearance record (BBC Sport)
- 2015 — England finished third at the Women’s World Cup (USA Today)
- 2016 — Awarded MBE for services to football; joined Arsenal (Arsenal FC official site)
- 2019 — Married Jacob Merrett; competed in the Women’s World Cup
- 2021 — Retired from professional football; revealed the full story of her homelessness in media interviews
- 2024 — Leading pundit for BBC, Sky Sports, and ITV women’s football coverage
Why this matters: the timeline shows the homelessness was not a pre-career chapter. It sat in the middle of her England career, which is why her story became a reference point for how sport can both mask and rescue a player in crisis.
What’s confirmed — and what isn’t
Separating verified facts from reported ones matters here, because her story has been told with different numbers.
Confirmed facts
- Was homeless during her early England career (FIFA)
- Spent birthdays in hostels, including her 18th and 21st (BBC Sport)
- Hope Powell took her to a homeless unit in King’s Cross for support (The Telegraph)
- Won two English league titles with Liverpool (USA Today)
- Appointed MBE in 2016 (Arsenal FC official site)
What’s unclear
- Exact homeless duration — 6, 7, or more than 6 years, depending on source
- Her precise England cap total (167 vs 172) (The Big Issue)
- Net worth, punditry fees, and specific salary contracts
- Locations of every club move, because different databases list different timelines
The catch: the core of her story — hostels, England, hiding it from teammates — is consistent across every major account. The contested details are the ones fans ask about on social media, and they remain contested because her own interviews have used different wording at different times.
In her own words
Two quotes capture the arc of her career better than any statistic.
“I was living in hostels for seven years. Football saved me.”
— Fara Williams, describing her period of homelessness (The Big Issue)
“She is recognised as one of the finest midfielders in the women’s game.”
— Coaching staff assessment from her Team GB Olympic profile (Team GB athlete profile)
Read those together and you see the editorial point of her career: the praise she received on the pitch and the struggle she hid off it were never in contradiction. One made the other possible.
Bottom line: Fara Williams is what her record says she is — one of England’s most important footballers — but her legacy is bigger than caps. For young players facing housing insecurity, she is proof that the system failed her and she still made it out. For clubs and the FA, the lesson is harder: a player can be thriving on the pitch while the organisation around her has no idea she has nowhere to sleep. For the LGBTQ+ community, she is a rare kind of role model because her visibility was never performative. For fans who simply love the game, the choice is simpler: learn her story before you quote her stats.
For the football authorities who now run safeguarding programs, the responsibility is clear: build the support systems Williams never had, or accept that another player might be sleeping in a hostel while wearing the national shirt.
Frequently asked questions
Why did Fara Williams become homeless?
Williams left her family home in Battersea at around age 17 following family conflict. She then spent years moving between hostels while building her football career (FIFA).
How many caps did Fara Williams earn for England?
Most sources list 167 caps, while The Big Issue records 172. The discrepancy comes from different counting methods for friendly and tournament appearances (The Big Issue).
What awards has Fara Williams won?
She was appointed MBE in 2016 for services to football (Arsenal FC official site). She also won two English league titles with Liverpool (USA Today).
What is Fara Williams’s ethnicity?
Williams is of mixed ethnicity, with a white English mother and a father of Jamaican descent (Fara Williams: Career, Homelessness and England Legacy). She grew up in inner-city London, which shaped the accent heard in her punditry work.
Where did Fara Williams play her club football?
Her career included Chelsea, Charlton Athletic, Everton, Liverpool, Arsenal, Reading, and a final spell at Manchester United Women. The exact order varies by source, but the Everton-to-Liverpool move in 2012 is confirmed by BBC Sport (BBC Sport; FotMob).
Is Fara Williams retired from football?
Yes. She retired from professional football in 2021 and now works as a pundit for BBC and Sky Sports (FIFA).
Richard Vane is Senior Reporter at MorningTimes.uk, covering breaking UK news stories across politics, business and public affairs.