Anton Artyomovich Efremov (; born 11 June 2003) is a Russian 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

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

for Spanish club Sestao River on loan from

Villarreal Villarreal (officially, in ) is a city and municipality in the province of Castellón which is part of the Valencian Community in the east of Spain. The town is located at 42 m above sea level, 7 km to the south of the province's capital ( ...

Club career

Efremov began at the DYuTs Sormovo municipal academy in the Sormovo City District of

Nizhny Novgorod Nizhny Novgorod ( ; rus, links=no, Нижний Новгород, a=Ru-Nizhny Novgorod.ogg, p=ˈnʲiʐnʲɪj ˈnovɡərət, t=Lower Newtown; colloquially shortened to Nizhny) is a city and the administrative centre of Nizhny Novgorod Oblast an ...

. In this subsidiary club of the

FC Volga Nizhny Novgorod FC Volga Nizhny Novgorod () was a Russian football club from Nizhny Novgorod, founded in 1998. In 2008, FC Volga won the Ural-Povolzhye (Volga Region in Russian) zone of the Russian Second Division and advanced to the Russian First Division. In ...

, his coach for 3 seasons was the

Spanish Spanish might refer to: * Items from or related to Spain: **Spaniards are a nation and ethnic group indigenous to Spain **Spanish language, spoken in Spain and many countries in the Americas **Spanish cuisine **Spanish history **Spanish culture ...

José Luis Lorenzo Ortega, who sent reports to

Villarreal CF Villarreal Club de Fútbol, Sociedad Anónima Deportiva, S.A.D., usually abbreviated to Villarreal CF, is a Spanish professional association football, football club based in Villarreal, in the Province of Castellón, Castellón province of easte ...

where he reported the quality of the player. Despite the reports,

FC Lokomotiv Moscow FC Lokomotiv Moscow (, ) is a Russian professional association football, football club based in Moscow. Lokomotiv have won the Russian Premier League on three occasions; the Soviet Cup twice; and the Russian Cup (football), Russian Cup a record ...

moved faster and signed the player where he spent 3 seasons. In the 2019–20 season, his first year as a youth, he remained on

training with Juvenil A but was unable to debut in the league due to bureaucratic delays with his

visa Visa most commonly refers to: * Travel visa, a document that allows entry to a foreign country * Visa Inc., a US multinational financial and payment cards company ** Visa Debit card issued by the above company ** Visa Electron, a debit card ** Vi ...

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. This tired the player who returned to

Russia Russia, or the Russian Federation, is a country spanning Eastern Europe and North Asia. It is the list of countries and dependencies by area, largest country in the world, and extends across Time in Russia, eleven time zones, sharing Borders ...

to play for the FC Chertanovo Moscow academy where he received the opportunity to debut in the

Russian Football National League The Russian First League (, Pervaya liga), formerly called Russian First Division () and Russian Football National League (FNL) () is the second level of the Russian football league system. The Russian Professional Football League (PFL) used t ...

on 17 October 2020 in a game against

FC Veles Moscow FC Veles Moscow () is a Russian association football, football team based in Moscow. "Veles" was founded in 2016 based on the Savelovskaya football school and entered amateur competitions. The club is private, funded by the founders. The title spo ...

at only 17 years old, just started his youth stage. and another game in the Russian Cup, at just 17 years old, just beginning his youth stage. In July 2021,

decided to make every effort to sign Antón Efremov, signing him as a property with a professional contract until 30 June 2024. After his signing, the Villarreal football department cataloged him as their new

Pau Torres Pau Francisco Torres (born 16 January 1997) is a Spanish professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for club Aston Villa and the Spain national team. He began his career with Villarreal, making 173 competitive appearances and winnin ...

. In the 2022–23 season, Efremov played his first season in senior football in Villarreal's second reserve team at the

Tercera Federación Tercera Federación, previously known as Tercera RFEF, is the fifth tier of the Spanish football league system. It is below the ''La Liga'', ''Segunda División'', and its fellow semi-professional divisions '' Primera Federación'' and ''Segunda F ...

. On 30 August 2024, Efremov joined Sestao River in the third-tier

Primera Federación The Primera Federación, officially the Primera Federación Versus e-Learning for sponsorship reasons (formerly known as Primera RFEF). is the third tier of the Spanish football league system beginning with the 2021–22 season. It is administe ...

on a season-long loan.

Career statistics

References

External links

Profile by Russian Football National League
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Efremov, Anton 2003 births Footballers from Nizhny Novgorod Living people Russian men's footballers Russia men's youth international footballers Russia men's under-21 international footballers Men's association football defenders Men's association football central defenders FC Chertanovo Moscow players Villarreal CF C players Sestao River Club footballers Russian First League players Primera Federación players Russian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Russian expatriate sportspeople in Spain 21st-century Russian sportsmen