Júnior Morais

Brazilian footballer (born 1986)

Júnior Morais
Morais with FCSB in 2017
Personal information
Full name Iraneuton Sousa Morais Júnior
Date of birth (1986-07-22) 22 July 1986 (age 37)
Place of birth São Luís, Brazil
Height 1.76 m (5 ft 9 in)
Position(s) Left-back
Team information
Current team
 Gaziantep
Number 13
Youth career
1998–2006 São Cristóvão
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2006–2009 São Cristóvão 81 (5)
2009–2010 Freamunde 32 (3)
2011–2017 Astra Giurgiu 198 (6)
2017–2019 FCSB 49 (0)
2019–2021 Gaziantep 51 (0)
2021–2023 Rapid București 71 (4)
2023– Gaziantep 15 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 24 February 2024

Iraneuton Sousa Morais Júnior (born 22 July 1986), known as Júnior Morais or Júnior Maranhão, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a left-back for Süper Lig club Gaziantep.

Career

Morais spent the first years of his senior career in Brazil and Portugal, with São Cristóvão and Freamunde, respectively. In 2011, he joined Astra Ploiești in Romania, which was later relocated and renamed Astra Giurgiu. Over the course of six and a half seasons, Morais totalled 256 matches and eight goals in all competitions for Astra; he also aided to four domestic trophies, including the 2015–16 Liga I title.

He continued in the country and its Liga I for the 2017–18 and 2018–19 campaigns, signing for FCSB.[1] Morais transferred to Turkish club Gaziantep in the summer of 2019, where he rejoined former Astra manager Marius Șumudică.[2] He spent two years in the Süper Lig before returning to Romania with Rapid București,[3] aged nearly 35.

Personal life

In 2015, Morais married Romanian handballer Andreea Dospin. They have two children together, a girl and a boy, with his former Astra teammate Constantin Budescu baptizing them.[4] Despite earlier reports, Morais stated in October 2020 that he does not hold Romanian citizenship.[5]

Career statistics

Morais playing for Rapid București in August 2022
As of match played 24 February 2024[6]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National cup League cup Continental Other Total
Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
São Cristóvão 2006 – – – –
2007 – – – –
2008 – – – –
2009 – – – –
Total 81 5 – – – – – – – – 81 5
Freamunde 2009–10 19 2 2 1 0 0 – – 21 3
2010–11 13 1 0 0 3 0 – – 16 1
Total 32 3 2 1 3 0 – – – – 37 4
Astra Giurgiu 2010–11 14 0 – – – – 14 0
2011–12 31 0 1 0 – – – 32 0
2012–13 33 3 5 0 – – – 38 3
2013–14 33 2 5 1 0 0 8 0 – 46 3
2014–15 29 0 0 0 4 0 10 0 1 0 44 0
2015–16 29 1 1 0 1 0 6 0 – 37 1
2016–17 29 0 4 1 0 0 11 0 1 0 45 1
Total 198 6 16 2 5 0 35 0 2 0 256 8
FCSB 2017–18 21 0 0 0 – 11 2 – 32 2
2018–19 28 0 2 0 – 4 0 – 34 0
Total 49 0 2 0 – – 15 2 – – 66 2
Gaziantep 2019–20 29 0 1 0 – – – 30 0
2020–21 22 0 1 0 – – – 23 0
Total 51 0 2 0 – – – – – – 53 0
Rapid București 2021–22 34 2 1 0 – – – 35 2
2022–23 36 2 1 0 – – – 37 2
2023–24 1 0 – – – – 1 0
Total 71 4 2 0 – – – – – – 73 4
Gaziantep 2023–24 15 0 2 0 – – – 17 0
Career total 497 18 26 3 8 0 50 2 2 0 583 23

Honours

Astra Giurgiu[6]

References

  1. ^ "Junior Morais a semnat un contract pe trei sezoane cu FCSB" [Júnior Morais signed a three-season contract with FCSB] (in Romanian). Mediafax. 7 June 2017. Retrieved 5 August 2021.
  2. ^ "Junior Morais, la Gaziantep Gazişehir! Preţul tranzacţiei" [Júnior Morais, to Gaziantep Gazişehir! The price of the transaction] (in Romanian). Digi Sport. 30 June 2019. Retrieved 5 August 2021.
  3. ^ "Junior Morais a semnat cu Rapid" [Júnior Morais signed for Rapid] (in Romanian). FC Rapid București. 3 July 2021. Retrieved 5 August 2021.
  4. ^ "Junior Morais este casatorit cu o fosta handbalista, care a evoluat la Oltchim! Cum s-au cunoscut cei doi" [Júnior Morais is married to a former handball player, who played for Oltchim! How the two of them met] (in Romanian). Sport.ro. 27 March 2019.
  5. ^ "Fotbalistul cu 200 de meciuri în Liga 1 rupe tăcerea: "Din cauza patronului nu am luat titlul cu FCSB!"" [The footballer with 200 matches in Liga 1 breaks the silence: "Because of the owner we didn't win the title with FCSB!"]. Gazeta Sporturilor (in Romanian). 12 October 2020. Retrieved 5 August 2021. It was just a picture, a joke I made on Instagram! I posted it there and people thought I had obtained citizenship.
  6. ^ a b Júnior Morais at Soccerway. Retrieved 5 July 2019.

External links

  • Júnior Morais at RomanianSoccer.ro (in Romanian)
  • Astra Giurgiu official profile (in Romanian)
  • v
  • t
  • e
Gaziantep F.K. – current squad