Alessandro Santos

Alessandro Santos
三都主アレサンドロ
	Santos in 2019
Personal information
Full name	Alessandro dos Santos
Date of birth	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
1997–2003	Shimizu S-Pulse
2004–2009	Urawa Reds
2007	→ Red Bull Salzburg (loan)
2009–2012	Nagoya Grampus
2013	Tochigi SC
2014	FC Gifu
2015	Maringá
2015	Grêmio Maringá
2016	PSTC
Total
International career
2002–2006	Japan
Medal record
Shimizu S-Pulse
Urawa Reds
Nagoya Grampus
Representing Japan
AFC Asian Cup
	*Club domestic league appearances and goals

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.

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 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

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

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

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition^[6]^[7]
Club	Season	League			National cup		League cup		Continental		Total
Club	Season	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	Austrian Bundesliga	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	J1 League	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

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	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	9 August 2006	Tokyo, Japan	Trinidad and Tobago	2–0	Friendly