, often known as Alex, is a former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

. Born in Brazil, he became a Japanese citizen and made 82 appearances for the Japan national team.

Club career

Santos was born in

Maringá Maringá () is a Municipalities of Brazil, municipality in southern Brazil founded on 10 May 1947 as a planned urban area. It is the third largest city in the state of Paraná (state), Paraná, with 385,753 inhabitants in the city proper, and 76 ...

Paraná Paraná, Paranã or Parana may refer to: Geology * Paraná Basin, a sedimentary basin in South America Places In Argentina *Paraná, Entre Ríos, a city * Paraná Department, a part of Entre Ríos Province In Brazil *Paraná (state), a state ...

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 The , the J.League or the for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Japan and the highest level of the Japanese football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation ...

team

Shimizu S-Pulse is a Japanese professional association football, football club located in Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka, Shimizu-ku, Shizuoka (city), Shizuoka, Shizuoka Prefecture. S-Pulse is going to compete in the J1 League for the 2025 Season, after winning promotio ...

in 1997. In 1999, the club won the second place and he received the J.League Player of the Year. In Asia, the club won the champions

1999–2000 Asian Cup Winners' Cup The 1999–2000 Asian Cup Winners' Cup was the tenth edition of association football competition run by the Asian Football Confederation specifically for its members cup holders. First round West Asia ''1 Al Arabi withdrew'' East As ...

and third place

2000–01 Asian Cup Winners' Cup The 2000–01 Asian Cup Winners' Cup was the eleventh edition of association football competition run by the Asian Football Confederation specifically for its members cup holders. Al Shabab won their first Asian Cup Winners' Cup title, beating ...

. In August 2002, Santos agreed to join English

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

club

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Charlton, south-east London, England. The team compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Their home ground is ...

. But he was denied a work permit by the

Home Office The Home Office (HO), also known (especially in official papers and when referred to in Parliament) as the Home Department, is the United Kingdom's interior ministry. It is responsible for public safety and policing, border security, immigr ...

because he had not made the minimum number of national team appearances required for players from outside the

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational union, supranational political union, political and economic union of Member state of the European Union, member states that are Geography of the European Union, located primarily in Europe. The u ...

and returned to Shimizu for the remainder of the season. In January 2004, he left Shimizu to join the

Urawa Reds The or simply Urawa Reds (浦和レッズ, ''Urawa Rezzu''), also known as Mitsubishi Urawa Football Club from April 1992 to January 1996, are a professional football club in the city of Saitama, part of the Greater Tokyo Area in Japan, who p ...

. They would come in second place at

for two consecutive seasons in (

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and Its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 60 ...

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

). The club won the 2006 J1 League title. In January 2007, Santos was loaned out to Red Bull Salzburg. 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 ; formerly known as is a Japanese association football club that plays in the J1 League, and have for all but one season since the inauguration of the league, following promotion from the J2 League in 2017. Based in Nagoya, Aichi Prefecture an ...

.名古屋が三都主獲り、大型補強第3弾
Nikkan sport, 26 July 2009 He made 55 appearances for the club, before joining

J2 League The or simply J2 is the second division of the and the second level of the Japanese association football league system. The top tier is represented by the J1 League. It (along with the rest of the J.League) is currently sponsored by Meiji Yasud ...

side

Tochigi SC , commonly referred to as Tochigi SC (栃木SC, ''Tochigi Esushi'') is a Japanese football club based in Utsunomiya, Tochigi Prefecture, Japan. They set to play in the J3 League after relegation from J2 in 2024, Japan's third tier of profession ...

for the 2013 season. He made 25 appearances there, scoring twice. In January 2014, he joined fellow J2 League team

FC Gifu Football Club Gifu (フットボールクラブ岐阜, ''Futtobōrukurabu Gifu''), abbreviated as is a Japanese football club based in Gifu, capital of Gifu Prefecture, Japan. They play in the J3 League, the third tier of Japanese professional ...

International career

In 2001, Santos obtained Japanese citizenship. He made his first appearance for Japan national team on 21 March 2002, against

Ukraine Ukraine is a country in Eastern Europe. It is the List of European countries by area, second-largest country in Europe after Russia, which Russia–Ukraine border, borders it to the east and northeast. Ukraine also borders Belarus to the nor ...

, and he was part of

Philippe Troussier Philippe Omar Troussier,October's ten – Religious conversions
...

's selection for the

2002 World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea/Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...

. He was the second non-Japan-born person to play for Japan in the World Cup finals.

Wagner Lopes is a football coach of Luverdense and former player who played as a forward. Born in Brazil, Lopes is a naturalised Japanese citizen and represented their national team on 20 occasions. After retiring he took up coaching mainly working in b ...

was the first who played in the 1998 World Cup. Santos became the fifth naturalized Japanese citizen to play for Japan following

Daishiro Yoshimura (former name; Nelson Yoshimura, ネルソン吉村) was a Japanese football player and manager. He played for Japan national team, having naturalized in 1970. Club career Yoshimura was born in São Paulo, Brazil on August 16, 1947. He moved t ...

George Yonashiro is a former football player and manager. Born in Brazil, he played for the Japan national team. Club career Yonashiro was born in São Paulo, Brazil on November 28, 1950. He joined Japan Soccer League Division 2 club Yomiuri in 1972. The club ...

Ruy Ramos is a Brazilian-born Japanese former football manager and player. He is currently active as a television personality and '' tarento'', represented by Irving. Club career Ramos was one of the first foreign players in Japanese professional f ...

, 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 In association football, the formation of a team refers to the position players take in relation to each other on a pitch. As association football is a fluid and fast-moving game, a player's position (with the exception of the goalkeeper) in a ...

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 The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the event in July 2000. Teams represe ...

, providing an assist for Keiji Tamada in a group stage match against his former country

Brazil Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...

. Until 1982, he played 82 games and scored 7 goals for Japan.

Others

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

Campeonato Paranaense The Campeonato Paranaense is the top-flight professional state football league in the Brazilian state of Paraná. It is run by the Paraná Football Federation (FPF). List of champions Notes * In 1924 Internacional and América merged in ...

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Japan's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Santos goal.''

Honours

Shimizu S-Pulse *

Asian Cup Winners' Cup The Asian Cup Winners' Cup was an Asian football club competition contested annually by the winners of domestic cup competitions. The cup was, chronologically, the second seasonal inter-Asian club competition organised by Asian Football Confedera ...

: 1999–2000 *

Emperor's Cup , commonly known as or Japan FA Cup, and rebranded as The JFA Emperor's Cup from 2024 onwards, is a Japanese annual football competition. It has the longest tradition of any football tournament in Japan, dating back to 1921, before the formatio ...

2001 The year's most prominent event was the September 11 attacks against the United States by al-Qaeda, which Casualties of the September 11 attacks, killed 2,977 people and instigated the global war on terror. The United States led a Participan ...

Japanese Super Cup The , the for sponsorship reasons, is an annual one-match association football competition in Japan organised by J.League and the Japan Football Association. This competition serves as the season opener and is played between the reigning J1 Leag ...

: 2002 Urawa Red Diamonds *

2006 2006 was designated as the International Year of Deserts and Desertification. Events January * January 1– 4 – Russia temporarily cuts shipment of natural gas to Ukraine during a price dispute. * January 12 – A stampede during t ...

: 2002, 2006 Red Bull Salzburg *

Austrian Bundesliga The Bundesliga ( , "Federal League"), also known as Admiral Bundesliga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Austria and the highest level of the Austrian football league system. The competition decides the A ...

: 2006–07 Nagoya Grampus *

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

Japan *

AFC Asian Cup The AFC Asian Cup is the primary association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the Asian Football Confederation (AFC), determining the continental champion of Asia. It is the second-oldest c ...

Individual * J.League MVP: 1999 *

Best Eleven: 1999

References

External links

* *
Japan National Football Team Database
*

, FIFAworldcup.com, 22 June 2005 {{DEFAULTSORT:Santos, Alessandro 1977 births Living people Brazilian emigrants to Japan Naturalized citizens of Japan Naturalised association football players Footballers from Maringá Brazilian men's footballers Japanese men's footballers Men's association football midfielders Japan men's international footballers J1 League players J2 League players Shimizu S-Pulse players Urawa Red Diamonds players Nagoya Grampus players Tochigi SC players FC Gifu players Austrian Football Bundesliga players FC Red Bull Salzburg players 2002 FIFA World Cup players 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup players 2004 AFC Asian Cup players 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup players 2006 FIFA World Cup players AFC Asian Cup–winning players Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Japanese expatriate men's footballers Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Austria Japanese expatriate sportspeople in Austria Expatriate men's footballers in Austria Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Japan Expatriate men's footballers in Japan Expatriate men's footballers in Brazil