Efraín Andrés Morales Badillo (born March 4, 2004) is a 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 defender for

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 ...

club

Atlanta United Atlanta United FC is an American professional association football, soccer club based in Atlanta. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Eastern Conference (MLS), Eastern Conference. Domestically, the club has won o ...

. Born in the United States, he represents

Bolivia Bolivia, officially the Plurinational State of Bolivia, is a landlocked country located in central South America. The country features diverse geography, including vast Amazonian plains, tropical lowlands, mountains, the Gran Chaco Province, w ...

internationally.

Club career

Born in Decatur,

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the South Caucasus * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the southeastern United States Georgia may also refer to: People and fictional characters * Georgia (name), a list of pe ...

, Morales joined in the youth academy of

club

in 2016. Morales began at the under-12 level but quickly progressed to the under-17 side. After impressing coaches in the youth setup, Morales signed a professional homegrown player contract with Atlanta United on August 13, 2020, which will come into effect on January 1, 2021. On August 15, 2020, Morales made his professional debut for

Atlanta United 2 Atlanta United 2 are the reserve team of the Major League Soccer club Atlanta United FC. The team plays in MLS Next Pro, the official reserve league of MLS. The team was established on November 14, 2017 and began their first professional seaso ...

, Atlanta United's reserve team in the

USL Championship The USL Championship (USLC) is a men's professional association football, soccer league in the second tier of the United States soccer league system#Men's leagues, United States league system. It is organized by the United Soccer League (USL) a ...

, against

Charleston Battery The Charleston Battery are an American professional association football, soccer club based in Charleston, South Carolina, and member of the USL Championship. Founded in 1993, the Battery are the oldest continuously operating professional socc ...

. He came on as a 22nd-minute substitute for

Patrick Nielsen Patrick Reinhard Nielsen (born 23 March 1991) is a Danish former professional boxer. He is currently a member of the motorcycle club Satudarah MC. He challenged once for the WBA interim middleweight title in 2014. He has been in jail for vio ...

and scored his first professional goal in the 51st minute. Despite the goal, Atlanta United 2 lost 3–2. Morales signed a contract extension with Atlanta United on November 29, 2023.

International career

Morales made his Bolivia national team debut on 14 November 2024 in a

World Cup qualifier The FIFA World Cup qualification is a set of competitive matches that a national association football team plays in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the men's FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments ar ...

against Ecuador at

Estadio Monumental Isidro Romero Carbo The Estadio Monumental Banco Pichincha is a football stadium in the parish (municipality) of Tarqui in northern Guayaquil, Ecuador. An aerial lift or cable car to connect the stadium with the " Aerovia" Julian Coronel station in downtown Guaya ...

. He played the full game as Ecuador won 4–0.

Personal life

Born in the United States, Morales is the son of a Bolivian father and a Puerto Rican mother.

Career statistics

Club

International

References

External links

* 2004 births Living people Sportspeople from Decatur, Georgia Bolivian men's footballers Bolivia men's under-20 international footballers Bolivia men's international footballers American men's soccer players Bolivian people of Puerto Rican descent American people of Bolivian descent American sportspeople of Puerto Rican descent Men's association football defenders Atlanta United 2 players Atlanta United FC players USL Championship players Soccer players from Georgia (U.S. state) Homegrown Players (MLS) MLS Next Pro players Major League Soccer players 21st-century American sportsmen {{US-footy-defender-2000s-stub