| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Wylliam Sam Stanway | ||
| Date of birth | (2001-05-21)21 May 2001 (age 24) | ||
| Place of birth | Barrow-in-Furness, England | ||
| Height | 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)[1] | ||
| Position | Goalkeeper | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Barrow | ||
| Number | 1 | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Barrow | |||
| Holker Old Boys | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| 2021 | Furness Rovers | ||
| 2021–2022 | Holker Old Boys | 12 | (0) |
| 2021–2022 | →Lancaster City (dual registration) | 5 | (0) |
| 2022–2024 | Chester | 57 | (0) |
| 2022 | →FC United of Manchester (loan) | 7 | (0) |
| 2022 | →Bootle (loan) | 5 | (0) |
| 2022–2023 | →Macclesfield (loan) | 20 | (0) |
| 2024– | Barrow | 18 | (0) |
| International career‡ | |||
| 2024 | England C | 1 | (0) |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 01:20, 5 May 2025 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals as of 8 April 2024 (UTC) | |||
Wylliam Sam Stanway (born 21 May 2001) is an Englishfootball goalkeeper and former cricketer who currently plays forEFL League Two clubBarrow. In cricket, he representedCumbria.
Wylliam Sam Stanway[2] was born on 21 May 2001 inBarrow-in-Furness inCumbria.[3] He is one of four siblings, with two brothers and an older sister, footballerGeorgia Stanway.[4][5] They are fromAskam-in-Furness.[6]
Though the siblings all played football together growing up,[5] Stanway played club andNational Countiescricket before his football career.[4] His father had previously made theCumberland County Cricket Second XI in 1991,[7] with Georgia and their younger brother also representing Cumbria's youth teams.[8] In cricket, Wyll Stanway was anall-rounder, playing for Furness Cricket Club as well asgrade cricket in Australia and representingCumbria up to and including senior.[4][9] When he was 17, he captained the under-18Twenty20 team of Carrum Cricket Club in Melbourne.[10] Stanway made his senior debut for Cumbria (then Cumberland) in 2019, and played for them in theNCCA Knockout Trophy and2021 National Counties Championship.[11][12] A notedbatsman for Furness and other clubs,[9][13] he had success as abowler for Cumbria.[14]
He attended theChetwynde School[15] and worked part-time in thenuclear engineering industry as a support worker, having reduced his hours when he joinedChester.[4]
Having played in some youth teams of local clubBarrow's Performance Centre,[16] Stanway and his brothers played forHolker Old Boys as teenagers;[2][17][18] Stanway and his younger brother had stopped playing there by 2019, at which point Wyll was focused on cricket, while older brother JP was still at the club as a striker.[19] Continuing in local football, Wyll Stanway played as an outfieldcentre-back until he was 19, in early 2021,[20] when Furness Rovers needed a substitute goalkeeper.[4] Stanway discovered this due to the manager being a friend, and offered to "stand in net for them".[16] As a goalkeeper, he was described as a raw talent. In June 2021 he moved from Furness Rovers[21] to Holker Old Boys,[22] and a few months into the 2021–22 season he also signed forLancaster City on dual registration.[23] He made 12 appearances for Holker Old Boys and 5 for Lancaster before, in January 2022, he transferred toChester.[22][24]
He signed for Chester on a non-contract basis until the end of the 2021–22 season,[4] making 11 league appearances.[25] His debut for the club in February 2022 meant he had gone fromstep 7 football at Furness Rovers to step 2 in seven months, reported as an "incredible rise".[26] He was not used for a period during the season, with the manager choosing a more experienced goalkeeper instead, but returned to a starting role towards the end, including keeping aclean sheet in four of the last five games. In June 2022 he signed a one-year contract for Chester. At the time, he described his good run of form as bittersweet, due to it coming at the end of a season.[4][21] His progress as a goalkeeper saw him draw attention from other clubs.[20]
In the 2022–23 season, Stanway spent time on loan at three clubs.[25] He joinedF.C. United of Manchester on 28-day loan at the end of September 2022,[27] where he played seven games and was namedplayer of the match twice, including on his debut.[28][29][30] After F.C. United he went toBootle, intended to be until the end of the season. He was recalled from Bootle by Chester at the end of November 2022 and sent instead toMacclesfield for the remainder of the season,[31] after Macclesfield's first-choice goalkeeper suffered an injury.[32] With Macclesfield he won theDivision One West of theNorthern Premier League.[25][33]Robbie Savage, a board member of the club, later revealed that Macclesfield had wanted to offer Stanway a permanent deal, but could not agree terms with Chester.[32]
Stanway was kept under contract at Chester for the 2023–24 season,[34] being given the number 1 shirt.[35] By the end of January 2024, he had kept 18 clean sheets for them in the season;[36] he finished the season with 22 clean sheets, having played every minute. He was also voted as Chester's player of the season by the club's travelling fans.[37]
On 23 May 2024,EFL League Two side Barrow announced that they had signed Stanway to a professional two-year contract, with option for another year, for an undisclosed fee.[38] Chester manager Calum McIntyre described the fee as "significant".[37] Stanway was expected to be second choice behindPaul Farman, but an injury to Farman early in the season saw Stanway step up.[39] He made his debut in theEnglish Football League on 14 September 2024, which Barrow won 2–1 away atGrimsby Town, and was named player of the match.[6] He was an unused substitute in theEFL Cupthird-round tie againstChelsea atStamford Bridge on 24 September, which saw Barrow knocked out of the competition.[40] The team then won theLancashire Senior Cup on 26 November in a 1–1 draw againstBurnley Under-23s, decided by apenalty shoot-out in which Stanway made two saves.[41]
He was re-introduced to the starting squad later in the season,[39] and after twelve EFL appearances kept his first clean sheet in the league on 5 April 2025 with a 3–0 away victory atMK Dons: he made seven vital saves, including six inside the box, and was named in the EFL Team of the Week.[42][43][44] Stanway followed this with four consecutive clean sheets[39] before providing the assist for Barrow's third goal in a 3–3 draw toBromley[45] and ending the season with another clean sheet away.[46] He received the club's young player of the season award.[47]
Stanway gave a highlight performance in October 2025, when Barrow played away at league leadersWalsall.[48] Having kept three clean sheets in his previous four games,[49] Stanway made eleven saves as Barrow went down to ten players in the 2–1 victory, setting season records for most saves in a game and ending Walsall's eight-game unbeaten run. He was named man of the match and selected to the League Two team of the week.[48][50] ManagerAndy Whing described him as "an old school keeper who comes for crosses. He's big, tall. He's learning the game."[51] Stanway produced another good performance in their next game with seven saves in a draw toBarnet, after again having a player sent off.[52][53]
In March 2024, he was called up to theEngland national football C team as one of two step 2 players in the squad,[54] debuting as a substitute in a match againstWales C.[55]
Macclesfield
Barrow
Individual
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