Atiba Erasto Harris (born 9 January 1985) is a

Kittitian Saint Kitts and Nevis, officially the Federation of Saint Christopher (St Kitts) and Nevis, is an island country consisting of the two islands of Saint Kitts and Nevis, both located in the West Indies, in the Leeward Islands chain of the Less ...

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

administrator and former professional footballer. He captained the Saint Kitts and Nevis national team. As of August 2021, he serves as President of the St. Kitts and Nevis Football Association.

Career

Club

Harris played for St. Peters FC as a youngster, captaining them to the SKNFA Premier League Finals, and became the first player from St. Kitts-Nevis to sign with a Spanish club when he signed in Spain with

Cádiz Cádiz ( , , ) is a city in Spain and the capital of the Province of Cádiz in the Autonomous communities of Spain, autonomous community of Andalusia. It is located in the southwest of the Iberian Peninsula off the Atlantic Ocean separated fr ...

in 2003–04. In 2006, he became the first St. Kitts player to sign with

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

. He signed with Salt Lake and scored four goals and recorded one assist in 12 starts. In December 2007, Harris was traded to

Chivas USA Chivas USA (pronounced ''CHEE-vahs'') was an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The club competed in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conf ...

for a third-round pick in the 2008 SuperDraft. After a season and a half with Chivas USA, the Goats traded Harris in July 2009 to

FC Dallas FC Dallas is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Dallas–Fort Worth metroplex. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The franchise be ...

in exchange for Marcelo Saragosa. Harris ended his Chivas USA career with 42 appearances, 5 goals, and 7 assists. On 12 September 2009, in a match against

Los Angeles Galaxy The Los Angeles Galaxy are an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Greater Los Angeles area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The Gal ...

, Harris scored his first goal with FC Dallas off a Dax McCarty cross. He went on to score another goal vs Seattle finishing the season with two goals and five assists for FC Dallas and four goals and seven assists overall for the 2009 MLS season. Harris was a key player for Dallas in 2010 scoring four goals during the season and helping the club reach its first

MLS Cup MLS Cup is the annual championship game of Major League Soccer (MLS) and the culmination of the MLS Playoffs. The game is held in November or December and pits the winner of the Eastern Conference Final against the winner of the Western Confere ...

final. He was selected by the

Vancouver Whitecaps FC Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional Association football, soccer club based in Vancouver. The Whitecaps compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The MLS ite ...

in the 2011 MLS Expansion Draft. Harris suffered an injury and missed most of the 2011 season. He stayed with Vancouver throughout the 2012 season before being traded to

Colorado Rapids The Colorado Rapids are an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Denver metropolitan area. The Rapids compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. Founded in ...

in December 2012 in exchange for an international roster spot. After one season in Colorado Harris was traded to

San Jose Earthquakes The San Jose Earthquakes are an American professional association football, soccer club based in San Jose, California. The Earthquakes compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. Origin ...

in January 2014 in exchange for Marvin Chávez. Harris stayed one season in San Jose before entering the 2014 MLS Re-Entry Draft in December 2014. He was selected in stage two of the draft by

. During his second stint in Dallas, head coach

Óscar Pareja Óscar Alexander Pareja Gómez (born 10 August 1968) is a Colombian Association football, professional football manager and former player. He is currently the head coach of Orlando City SC in Major League Soccer. Pareja is nicknamed ''El Genera ...

mostly used Harris as a right fullback.

International

Harris has played for the Saint Kitts and Nevis national team since 2003 and served as team

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader or highest rank officer of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police depa ...

. He played in five of St. Kitts'

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to FIFA World Cup hosts ...

qualifying games, and in its

2010 FIFA World Cup The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. ...

qualifying game against

Belize Belize is a country on the north-eastern coast of Central America. It is bordered by Mexico to the north, the Caribbean Sea to the east, and Guatemala to the west and south. It also shares a maritime boundary with Honduras to the southeast. P ...

on 6 February 2008.

Post-playing career

In May 2021, following his retirement from playing, Harris declared his candidacy for president of the St. Kitts and Nevis Football Association, which he won on 29 August. Under his leadership, the Saint Kitts and Nevis men's national team has qualified for its country’s first major tournament when they qualified for the 2023 Concacaf Gold Cup in the United States. He was re-elect as President of the SKNFA on 12th January 2025 to serve a second term from 2025 to 2029.

Career statistics

International goals

:''Scores and results list Saint Kitts and Nevis's goal tally first.''

Personal life

Harris is from Monkey Hill,

Saint Kitts Saint Kitts, officially Saint Christopher, is an island in the West Indies. The west side of the island borders the Caribbean Sea, and the eastern coast faces the Atlantic Ocean. Saint Kitts and the neighbouring island of Nevis constitute one ...

. He is the son of Sonia Williams of Gingerland,

Nevis Nevis ( ) is an island in the Caribbean Sea that forms part of the inner arc of the Leeward Islands chain of the West Indies. Nevis and the neighbouring island of Saint Kitts constitute the Saint Kitts and Nevis, Federation of Saint Kitts ...

, and Egbert Harris of St. Peter's, St. Kitts. He has two older sisters along with a younger brother, Kareem Harris, who is also a footballer. He and his wife Rachael Harris have four daughters. He is the cousin of English former footballer

Micah Richards Micah Lincoln Richards (born 24 June 1988) is an English Association football, football pundit and former professional player who played as a right-back. Richards began his senior career with Manchester City F.C., Manchester City and made 245 a ...

Honours

FC Dallas * Western Conference ** Playoffs:

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

** Regular Season:

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

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 ...

Supporters' Shield The Supporters' Shield is an annual award given to the Major League Soccer team with the best regular season record, as determined by the MLS points system. The Supporters' Shield has been annually awarded at the MLS Supporters' Summit since 199 ...

: 2016 * Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup:

Legacy

On 14 February 2020, the sporting facility in his hometown St. Peter's was renamed the Atiba Erasto Harris Sporting Complex. This facility hosts a football field along with both a basketball and a netball court. On 29 August 2021, Harris became the youngest president of the SKNFA at the age of 36. 1st President to lead his country to a major tournament when the St. Kitts-Nevis Senior Men’s Team qualified for the 2023 Concacaf Gold Cup in the United States.

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Harris, Atiba 1985 births Living people People from Basseterre Saint Kitts and Nevis men's footballers Saint Kitts and Nevis men's international footballers Cádiz CF players CD Linares players Real Salt Lake players Chivas USA players FC Dallas players Vancouver Whitecaps FC players Colorado Rapids players San Jose Earthquakes players OKC Energy FC players Murciélagos F.C. footballers Saint Kitts and Nevis expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Spain Saint Kitts and Nevis expatriate sportspeople in Spain Expatriate men's footballers in Mexico Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Expatriate men's soccer players in Canada Saint Kitts and Nevis expatriate sportspeople in Canada Saint Kitts and Nevis expatriate sportspeople in Mexico Saint Kitts and Nevis expatriate sportspeople in the United States Major League Soccer players Men's association football wingers Men's association football defenders USL Championship players