Alessandro Santos| Personal information |
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| Full name | Alessandro dos Santos |
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| Date of birth | (1977-07-20) July 20, 1977 |
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| Place of birth | Maringá, Paraná, Brazil |
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| Height | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) |
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| Playing position | Left winger |
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| Club information |
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Current team | Maringá |
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| Youth career |
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| 1986–1993 | Grêmio Maringá |
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| 1994–1996 | Meitokugijuku High School |
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| Senior career* |
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| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
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| 1997–2003 | Shimizu S-Pulse | 198 | (56) |
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| 2004–2009 | Urawa Red Diamonds | 100 | (11) |
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| 2007 | → Red Bull Salzburg (loan) | 20 | (1) |
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| 2009–2012 | Nagoya Grampus | 55 | (0) |
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| 2013 | Tochigi SC | 25 | (2) |
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| 2014 | FC Gifu | 18 | (2) |
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| 2015– | Maringá | 0 | (0) |
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| National team‡ |
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| 2002–2006[1] | Japan | 82 | (7) |
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* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 21 February 2015.
† 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 Alessandro dos Santos (born 20 July 1977), and often known as Alex, is a Brazilian-Japanese football player.
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 the J. League Player of the Year.[2]
In 2001, he obtained Japanese citizenship. He made his first appearance for Japan on March 21, 2002 against Ukraine,[1] 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 fifth naturalized citizen to play for Japan after Daishiro Yoshimura, George Yonashiro, Ruy Ramos, and Lopes.
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.[3] 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.[4] 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.[5] He made 55 appearances for the club, before joining J. League Division 2 side Tochigi SC for the 2013 season. He made 25 appearances there, scoring twice. In January 2014, he joined fellow J. League Division 2 team F.C. Gifu.
Career statistics
- As of 22 January 2015
Honors
Individual Honors
- J. League MVP: 1999
- J. League Best Eleven: 1999
Team Honors
National Career Stats
[6]
Appearances in Major Competitions
Goals for national team
| # | Date | Venue | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
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| 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 | .svg.png) 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
- ↑ 1.0 1.1 "SANTOS Alessandro". Japan National Football Team Database.
- ↑ "Alex: Dreadlocks in deadlock at S-Pulse". The Japan Times. 30 November 2000. Retrieved 26 December 2012.
- ↑ Charlton miss out on Alex, BBC, 28 August 2002
- ↑ Japan's Alex to join Miyamoto at Salzburg, December 21, 2006
- ↑ 名古屋が三都主獲り、大型補強第３弾, Nikkan sport, July 26, 2009
- ↑ http://www.rsssf.com/miscellaneous/asantos-intlg.html
External links
1999 J-League Team of the Year |
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