Iraneuton Sousa Morais Júnior (born 22 July 1986), known as Júnior Morais or Júnior Maranhão, is a Brazilian professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who plays as a

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

for

Liga I Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1 and officially known as SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Romania and the highest level of the Romanian football league system. Contested by 1 ...

club Metaloglobus București.

Career

Morais spent the first years of his senior career in Brazil and Portugal, with

São Cristóvão São Cristóvão (, ''Saint Christopher'') is a Brazilian Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in the Northeast Region, Brazil, Northeastern state of Sergipe. Founded at the mouth of the Vaza-Barris River on January 1, 1590, the municipality is ...

and

Freamunde Freamunde is a Portuguese parish in the municipality of Paços de Ferreira. The population in 2011 was 7,789,Astra Giurgiu Asociația Fotbal Club Astra Giurgiu (), commonly known as Astra Giurgiu or simply Astra, was a Romanian football club last based in the city of Giurgiu, Giurgiu County. Founded in 1921 in Ploiești as ''Clubul Sportiv Astra-Română'', it spe ...

. 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

for the 2017–18 and 2018–19 campaigns, signing for

FCSB Fotbal Club FCSB (), formerly named and still sometimes referred to as FC Steaua București, is a Romanian professional football club based in Bucharest. It has spent its entire history in the Liga I, the top flight of the Romanian football le ...

. Morais transferred to Turkish club

Gaziantep Gaziantep, historically Aintab and still informally called Antep, is a major city in south-central Turkey. It is the capital of the Gaziantep Province, in the westernmost part of Turkey's Southeastern Anatolia Region and partially in the Medi ...

in the summer of 2019, where he rejoined former Astra manager

Marius Șumudică Marius Ninel Șumudică (born 4 March 1971) is a Romanian professional football manager and former player. Șumudică played as a striker and started out at Sportul Studențesc in 1989, going on to represent five other teams in his native coun ...

. He spent two years in the

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), also known as Trendyol Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Turkey and the highest level of the Turkish football league system. In the 2023–2024 season, twen ...

before returning to Romania with

Rapid București Rapid(s) or RAPID may refer to: Hydrological features * Rapids, sections of a river with turbulent water flow * Rapid Creek (Iowa River tributary), Iowa, United States * Rapid Creek (South Dakota), United States, namesake of Rapid City Sport ...

, aged nearly 35.

Personal life

In 2015, Morais married Romanian

handball Handball (also known as team handball, European handball, Olympic handball or indoor handball) is a team sport in which two teams of seven players each (six outcourt players and a goalkeeper) pass a ball using their hands with the aim of thr ...

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

Career statistics

Honours

Astra Giurgiu *

: 2015–16 *

Cupa României The Cupa României () is a Association football, football cup competition for List of football clubs in Romania, Romanian teams which has been held annually since 1933–34 Cupa României, 1933–34, except during World War II. It is the Romania ...

: 2013–14 *

Supercupa României The Supercupa României () is a Romanian football (soccer), football championship contested by the winners of the Liga I and the Cupa României. It is usually played at the Arena Națională in Bucharest. The competition started off in 1994 Supe ...

2014 The year 2014 was marked by the surge of the Western African Ebola epidemic, West African Ebola epidemic, which began in 2013, becoming the List of Ebola outbreaks, most widespread outbreak of the Ebola, Ebola virus in human history, resul ...

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

References

External links

*
Astra Giurgiu official profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Morais, Junior Footballers from São Luís, Maranhão 1986 births Living people Men's association football defenders Brazilian men's footballers Men's association football midfielders São Cristóvão de Futebol e Regatas players S.C. Freamunde players FC Astra Giurgiu players FCSB players Gaziantep F.K. footballers FC Rapid București players FC Metaloglobus București players Liga Portugal 2 players Liga I players Liga II players Süper Lig players Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Expatriate men's footballers in Romania Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Romania Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey 21st-century Brazilian sportsmen