Alessandro Santos

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For the Coritiba attacking midfielder and Fenerbahçe idol, see Alex (footballer, born 1977). For the A.C. Milan and former Chelsea central defender, see Alex (footballer, born 1982).
"Alex dos Santos" redirects here. For other uses, see Alex dos Santos (disambiguation).
Alessandro Santos
三都主 アレサンドロ
Personal information
Full name Alessandro dos Santos
Date of birth (1977-07-20) 20 July 1977 (age 44)
Place of birth Maringá, Paraná, Brazil
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s) Midfielder
Youth career
1994–1996
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1997–2003 Shimizu S-Pulse 198 (56)
2004–2009 Urawa Reds 100 (11)
2007 → Red Bull Salzburg (loan) 20 (1)
2009–2012 Nagoya Grampus 55 (0)
2013 Tochigi SC 25 (2)
2014 FC Gifu 18 (2)
2015 Maringá
2015 Grêmio Maringá
2016 PSTC
Total 416 (72)
National team
2002–2006 Japan 82 (7)
Honours
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Alessandro Santos (三都主 アレサンドロ, Santosu Aresandoro, formerly Alessandro dos Santos; born 20 July 1977), often known as Alex, is a former footballer who was born in Brazil and became a Japanese citizen who made 82 appearances for the Japan national team.

Club career[]

Santos 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 J1 League team Shimizu S-Pulse in 1997. In 1999, the club won the 2nd place and he received the J.League Player of the Year.[1] In Asia, the club won the champions 1999–2000 Asian Cup Winners' Cup and 3rd place 2000–01 Asian Cup Winners' Cup.

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.[2] In January 2004, he left Shimizu to join the Urawa Reds. After won the 2nd place at J1 League for 2 years in a row (2004, 2005), the club won the champions in 2006 J1 League.

In January 2007, Alex was loaned out to Red Bull Salzburg.[3] 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.[4] He made 55 appearances for the club, before joining J2 League side Tochigi SC for the 2013 season. He made 25 appearances there, scoring twice. In January 2014, he joined fellow J2 League team FC Gifu.

National team career[]

In 2001, Santos obtained Japanese citizenship. He made his first appearance for Japan national team on March 21, 2002 against Ukraine,[5] and he was part of Philippe Troussier's selection for the 2002 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.

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. At 2004 Asian Cup, he played full time in all 6 matches and Japan won the champions. He was selected to Japan's 2006 World Cup squad in May 2006, providing an assist for Keiji Tamada in a group stage match against his former country Brazil. He played 82 games and scored 7 goals for Japan until 2006.[5]

Personal life[]

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

Club statistics[]

[6][7]

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 J.League Cup Asia Total
1997 Shimizu S-Pulse J1 League 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 Reds J1 League 27 2 2 1 1 0 - 30 3
2005 32 4 5 0 5 0 - 42 4
2006 34 5 1 0 0 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 J.League Cup Asia Total
2008 Urawa Reds J1 League 1 0 0 0 0 0 - 1 0
2009 6 0 0 0 4 0 - 10 0
2009 Nagoya Grampus J1 League 14 0 6 1 0 0 4 0 24 1
2010 25 0 3 1 1 0 - 29 1
2011 11 0 4 0 1 0 3 0 19 0
2012 5 0 2 0 0 0 1 0 8 0
2013 Tochigi SC J2 League 25 2 2 0 - - 27 2
2014 FC Gifu J2 League 18 2 0 0 - - 18 2
Total Japan 396 71 51 10 36 4 13 3 496 88
Austria 20 1 - - 1 0 21 1
Career total 416 72 51 10 36 4 14 3 517 89

National team statistics[]

[5] [8]

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

Honours[]

Club[]

Shimizu S-Pulse

Urawa Red Diamonds

FC Red Bull Salzburg

Nagoya Grampus

Japan[]

Individual[]

  • J.League MVP: 1999
  • J1 League Best Eleven: 1999

References[]

  1. ^ "Alex: Dreadlocks in deadlock at S-Pulse". The Japan Times. 30 November 2000. Retrieved 26 December 2012.
  2. ^ Charlton miss out on Alex, BBC, 28 August 2002
  3. ^ Japan's Alex to join Miyamoto at Salzburg, December 21, 2006
  4. ^ 名古屋が三都主獲り、大型補強第３弾, Nikkan sport, July 26, 2009
  5. ^ Jump up to: a b c "Japan National Football Team Database". Archived from the original on 2018-06-15. Retrieved 2018-06-15.
  6. ^ Nippon Sports Kikaku Publishing inc./日本スポーツ企画出版社, "J1&J2&J3選手名鑑 2014 (NSK MOOK)", 14 February 2014, Japan, ISBN 978-4905411109 (p. 239 out of 290)
  7. ^ Nippon Sports Kikaku Publishing inc./日本スポーツ企画出版社, "J1&J2選手名鑑 2013 (NSK MOOK)", 14 February 2013, Japan, ISBN 978-4905411161 (p. 209 out of 266)
  8. ^ RSSSF

External links[]

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