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 professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Born in Brazil, he became a Japanese citizen and made 82 appearances for the Japan national team.

Alessandro Santos
三都主 アレサンドロ
Santos in 2019
Personal information
Full name Alessandro dos Santos
Date of birth (1977-07-20) 20 July 1977 (age 47)
Place of birth Maringá, Paraná, Brazil
Height 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in)
Position(s) Midfielder
Youth career
1994–1996 Meitoku Gijuku High School
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1997–2003 Shimizu S-Pulse 198 (56)
2004–2009 Urawa Reds 100 (11)
2007Red 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)
International career
2002–2006 Japan 82 (7)
Medal record
Shimizu S-Pulse
Runner-up J1 League 1999
Winner Emperor's Cup 2001
Runner-up Emperor's Cup 1998
Runner-up Emperor's Cup 2000
Urawa Reds
Winner J1 League 2006
Runner-up J1 League 2004
Runner-up J1 League 2005
Runner-up J.League Cup 2004
Winner Emperor's Cup 2005
Winner Emperor's Cup 2006
Nagoya Grampus
Winner J1 League 2010
Runner-up J1 League 2011
Runner-up Emperor's Cup 2009
Representing  Japan
AFC Asian Cup
Gold medal – first place 2004 China
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Club career

edit

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 second 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 third place 2000–01 Asian Cup Winners' Cup.

In August 2002, Santos 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. They would come in second place at J1 League for two consecutive seasons in (2004, 2005). The club won the 2006 J1 League title.

In January 2007, Santos 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.

International career

edit

In 2001, Santos obtained Japanese citizenship. He made his first appearance for Japan national team on 21 March 2002, against Ukraine,[5] and he was part of Philippe Troussier's selection for the 2002 World Cup. He was the second non-Japan-born person to play for Japan in the World Cup finals. Wagner Lopes was the first who played in the 1998 World Cup. Santos became the fifth naturalized Japanese citizen to play for Japan following Daishiro Yoshimura, George Yonashiro, Ruy Ramos, and Lopes.

After Zico took over as the national team manager, Santos was used on the left side of the Japanese lineup, as a full-back in a 4-4-2 formation or a midfielder in a 3-5-2 formation. He played in all 6 matches of the 2004 Asian Cup; Japan won. In May 2006 he was selected in the Japan squad for the 2006 World Cup, providing an assist for Keiji Tamada in a group stage match against his former country Brazil. Until 1982, he played 82 games and scored 7 goals for Japan.[5]

Others

edit

In 2020, Alex founded the Aruko Sports Brasil, a team that currently competes in the Campeonato Paranaense.

Career statistics

edit

Club

edit
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition[6][7]
Club Season League National cup League cup Continental Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Shimizu S-Pulse 1997 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
Total 198 56 26 7 24 4 5 3 253 70
Urawa Reds 2004 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
Total 93 11 8 1 6 0 0 0 107 12
Red Bull Salzburg 2006–07 Austrian Bundesliga 9 0 9 0
2007/08 11 1 1 0 12 1
Total 20 1 1 0 21 1
Urawa Reds 2008 J1 League 1 0 0 0 0 0 1 0
2009 6 0 0 0 4 0 10 0
Total 7 0 0 0 4 0 0 0 11 0
Nagoya Grampus 2009 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
Total 55 0 15 2 2 0 8 0 80 2
Tochigi SC 2013 J2 League 25 2 2 0 27 2
FC Gifu 2014 J2 League 18 2 0 0 18 2
Career total 416 72 51 10 36 4 14 3 517 89

International

edit
Appearances and goals by national team and year[5][8]
National team Year Apps Goals
Japan 2002 9 1
2003 15 1
2004 22 2
2005 17 1
2006 19 2
Total 82 7
Scores and results list Japan's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Santos goal.
List of international goals scored by Alessandro Santos
No. Date Venue Opponent Score Result Competition
1 2 May 2002 Kobe, Japan   Honduras 3–3 Friendly
2 7 December 2003 Saitama, Japan   Hong Kong 1–0 East Asian Football Championship 2003
3 12 February 2004 Tokyo, Japan   Iraq 2–0 Friendly
4 30 May 2004 Manchester, England   Iceland 3–2 Friendly
5 29 January 2005 Yokohama, Japan   Kazakhstan 4–0 Friendly
6 9 August 2006 Tokyo, Japan   Trinidad and Tobago 2–0 Friendly
7

Honours

edit

Shimizu S-Pulse

Urawa Red Diamonds

Red Bull Salzburg

Nagoya Grampus

Japan

Individual

References

edit
  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 Archived 29 June 2011 at the Wayback Machine, 21 December 2006
  4. ^ 名古屋が三都主獲り、大型補強第3弾, Nikkan sport, 26 July 2009
  5. ^ a b c "Japan National Football Team Database". Archived from the original on 15 June 2018. Retrieved 15 June 2018.
  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
edit