Alessandro Santos

Alessandro Santos
Personal information
Full name Alessandro Santos
Date of birth July 20, 1977 (1977-07-20) (age 34)
Place of birth Maringá, Paraná, Brazil
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Playing position Midfielder
Club information
Current club Nagoya Grampus
Number 38
Youth career
1986–1993 Gremio Maringá
1994–1996 Meitokugijuku High School
Senior career*
Years Team Apps† (Gls)†
1997–2003 Shimizu S-Pulse 198 (56)
2004–2009 Urawa Red Diamonds 100 (11)
2007 → Red Bull Salzburg (loan) 20 (1)
2009- Nagoya Grampus 14 (0)
National team‡
2002–2006 Japan 82 (7)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 4 February 2010.

† Appearances (Goals).

‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 4 February 2010

Alessandro Santos (三都主アレサンドロ Santosu Aresandoro?), formerly name ; Alessandro dos Santos (until he obtained Japanese citizenship), born July 20, 1977 in Maringá, Paraná, Brazil, and often known as Alex, is a Brazilian Japanese football player who plays for Nagoya Grampus.

Contents

Career

He was born in Maringá in Paraná and moved to Japan in 1994 at the age of sixteen. He enrolled in Meitoku Gijuku High School in Kōchi and played football for the school club. After graduating from the school, he joined the J. League Division 1 team Shimizu S-Pulse in 1997. In 1999 he received J. League Player of the Year.

In 2001 he obtained Japanese citizenship. He made his first appearance for Japan on March 21, 2002 against Ukraine, and he was part of Philippe Troussier's selection for the 2002 FIFA World Cup. He was the second foreign-born person to play for Japan in the World Cup finals after Wagner Lopes, who played in the 1998 World Cup and also the third naturalized citizen to play for Japan after Lopes and another Brazilian-born Japanese citizen, Ruy Ramos.

In August 2002, Alex agreed to join English Premier League club Charlton Athletic. But he was denied a work permit by the Home Office because he had not made the minimum number of national team appearances required for players from outside the European Union and returned to Shimizu for the remainder of the season.[1] In January 2004, he left Shimizu to join the Urawa Red Diamonds.

Since Zico took over as the national team manager, Alex was a constant on the left side of the Japanese lineup, as a fullback in 4-4-2 formation or midfielder in 3-5-2 formation, and was selected to Japan's 2006 World Cup squad in May 2006, providing an assistance for Keiji Tamada in a group stage match against his former country Brazil.

In January 2007 Alex was loaned out to Red Bull Salzburg.[2] He went back to Urawa in January 2008. He received a serious injury in a test match and had only one appearance in this season. In July 2009 he agreed to move to Nagoya Grampus.[3]

Career statistics

Club performance League Cup League Cup Continental Total
Season Club League Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Japan League Emperor's Cup League Cup Asia Total
1997 Shimizu S-Pulse J. League 1 27 3 3 0 2 1 - 32 4
1998 26 10 5 2 5 0 - 36 12
1999 30 11 1 0 4 0 - 35 11
2000 30 4 5 4 5 0 - 40 8
2001 30 12 5 1 2 1 - 37 14
2002 29 9 3 0 2 2 2 2 36 13
2003 26 7 4 0 4 0 3 1 37 8
2004 Urawa Red Diamonds J. League 1 27 2 2 1 1 0 - 30 3
2005 32 4 5 0 5 0 - 42 4
2006 34 5 1 0 - - 35 5
Austria League Austrian Cup League Cup Europe Total
2006-07 Red Bull Salzburg Bundesliga 9 0 - - - 9 0
2007-08 11 1 - - 1 0 12 1
Japan League Emperor's Cup League Cup Asia Total
2008 Urawa Red Diamonds J. League 1 1 0 - - - 1 0
2009 6 0 - 4 0 - 10 0
Nagoya Grampus 14 0 6 1 - 4 0 24 1
2010 25 0 3 1 1 0 - 29 1
Total Japan 337 67 43 10 35 4 9 3 424 84
Austria 20 1 - - 1 0 21 1
Career total 357 68 43 10 35 4 10 3 445 85

Honors

Individual Honors

Team Honors

National Career Stats

[4]

Japan national team
Year Apps Goals
2002 9 1
2003 15 1
2004 22 2
2005 17 1
2006 19 2
Total 82 7

Appearances in Major Competitions

Year Competition Category Appearances Goals Team Record
Start Sub
2002 2002 FIFA World Cup Senior 1 1 0 Round of 16
2003 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup Senior 3 0 0 Round 1
2004 2004 AFC Asian Cup Senior 6 0 0 Champion
2005 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup Senior 3 0 0 Round 1
2004–2005 2006 FIFA World Cup qualification Senior 9 1 0 Qualified
2006 2006 FIFA World Cup Senior 3 0 0 Round 1
2006 2007 AFC Asian Cup qualification Senior 6 0 0 Qualified

Goals for national team

# Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1. May 2, 2002 Kobe, Japan  Honduras 3-3 Drew Friendly
2. December 7, 2003 Saitama, Japan  Hong Kong 1-0 Won East Asian Football Championship 2003
3. February 12, 2004 Tokyo, Japan  Iraq 2-0 Won Friendly
4. May 30, 2004 Manchester, England  Iceland 3-2 Won Friendly
5. January 29, 2005 Yokohama, Japan  Kazakhstan 4-0 Won Friendly
6. August 9, 2006 Tokyo, Japan  Trinidad and Tobago 2-0 Won Friendly
7. August 9, 2006 Tokyo, Japan  Trinidad and Tobago 2-0 Won Friendly

Personal life

He is married to a Japanese woman from Shizuoka and has a son.

References

  1. ^ Charlton miss out on Alex, BBC, 28 August 2002
  2. ^ Japan's Alex to join Miyamoto at Salzburg, December 21, 2006
  3. ^ 名古屋が三都主獲り、大型補強第３弾, Nikkan sport, July 26, 2009
  4. ^ http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/asantos-intlg.html

External links

1993: Miura | 1994: Pereira | 1995: Stojković | 1996: Jorginho | 1997: Dunga | 1998: Nakayama | 1999: Alex | 2000: Nakamura | 2001: Fujita | 2002: Takahara | 2003: Emerson | 2004: Nakazawa | 2005: Araújo | 2006: Tulio | 2007: Ponte | 2008: Marquinhos | 2009: Ogasawara | 2010: Narazaki | 2011: Leandro Domingues
GK: Masanori Sanada  · DF: Yuji Nakazawa  · DF: Toshihide Saito  · DF: Ryuzo Morioka  · MF: Shunsuke Nakamura  · MF: Alessandro Santos  · MF: Teruyoshi Ito  · MF: Masaaki Sawanobori  · MF: Takashi Fukunishi  · FW: Dragan Stojković  · FW: Hwang Sun-Hong
Nagoya Grampus – current squad