Sandro Raniere Guimarães Cordeiro (born 15 March 1989), or simply Sandro, is a Brazilian

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 recently 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 ...

for club Harborough Town.

Club career

Early career

Sandro is a product of Internacional's youth academy. He signed his first professional contract and began his senior career in 2007 as an 18-year-old. Sandro was one of the main players of Inter's winning

2010 Copa Libertadores The 2010 Copa Libertadores de América (officially the 2010 Copa Santander Libertadores for sponsorship reasons) was the 51st edition of the Copa Libertadores de América The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as Copa Libertadores de Améric ...

campaign. Sandro was already signed to Tottenham through most of the competition, but that did not affect his performance negatively: on the contrary, he said he "live with great intensity, as each game could be the last". With this in mind, he worked hard to stay at Internacional as long as possible in order to help the team reach the finals. After winning South America's top trophy, he flew to England the following week.

Tottenham Hotspur

In August 2009

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

were reported to have had a £14 million bid rejected for the player. However, on 20 October 2009, Spurs and Internacional agreed an affiliation of the two clubs, ensuring that Tottenham have first option on all academy players from the Brazilian outfit. Six days later Tottenham manager

Harry Redknapp Henry James Redknapp (born 2 March 1947) is an English former association football, football manager (association football), manager and player. He has previously managed AFC Bournemouth, West Ham United F.C., West Ham United, Portsmouth F.C., ...

confirmed he was interested in Sandro for a fee rumoured to be around £8 million. On 10 March 2010, Internacional President Vitorio Piffero confirmed the transfer of the midfielder to Tottenham, after the

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as Copa Libertadores de América (), is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in South American club football. The tournam ...

. The transfer amount was speculated to be around €10 million, with only the contract yet to be signed. Both Internacional and Tottenham reported on their respective websites that a deal had been agreed for Sandro for an undisclosed fee. Sandro joined Tottenham following the end of the

, which finished on 18 August. Internacional's financial report stated that the fee was R$ 20,633,850, with about 25% re-distributed by Inter to third party owners. Tottenham Hotspur confirmed that a deal for Sandro had been completed and that he would join up at the end of Internacional's Copa Libertadores campaign. Sandro said of the move to England that he thought Spurs were "a great fit for me" and that "a club that is growing every year makes it the ideal club for me". He made his Tottenham debut in a 4–1 home defeat against

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

in the third round of the League Cup on 21 September 2010. On 9 January 2011, Sandro made a start against League One side

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 ...

, assisting

Andros Townsend Andros Darryl Townsend (born 16 July 1991) is an English professional footballer who plays as a right winger for Turkish Süper Lig club Antalyaspor. A graduate of the Tottenham Hotspur academy, Townsend was initially loaned out to several Le ...

and playing the full match. He made his

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

debut for Tottenham on 15 February 2011 at the

San Siro San Siro is a football stadium in the San Siro district of Milan, Italy. It has a seating capacity of 75,817, making it the largest stadium in Italy and one of the largest stadiums in Europe. It is the home stadium of the city's principal ...

against seven times winners

A.C. Milan (), commonly referred to as Milan or AC Milan () mainly outside of Italy, is an Italian professional Football club (association football), football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Founded in 1899, the club competes in the Serie A, the top tie ...

, receiving special praise from manager Harry Redknapp in his side's 1–0 win. Playing a pivotal role just in front of the back four, he was man of the match in the return leg at

White Hart Lane White Hart Lane was a Association football, football stadium in Tottenham, North London and the home of Tottenham Hotspur F.C., Tottenham Hotspur Football Club from 1899 to 2017. Its capacity varied over the years; when changed to all-seater i ...

. He scored his first goal for the club against Chelsea with a 35-yard volley in a 2–1 defeat. Sandro signed a new five-year contract with Tottenham on 8 September 2011, a deal which would have run till 2016. In January 2013, Sandro picked up a knee injury during the game against

Queens Park Rangers Queens Park Rangers Football Club, commonly abbreviated to QPR, is a professional association football club based in Shepherd's Bush, West London, England. The team currently compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English f ...

. After the game it was announced that Sandro would be out for the remainder of the 2012–13 season. Prior to the game, after a run of impressive performances Sandro has been affectionately nicknamed 'Beast' by the Tottenham fans. He scored his third goal in Tottenham colours in December 2013 against

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

, with a powerful shot from into the top corner described by opponent

Wayne Rooney Wayne Mark Rooney (born 24 October 1985) is an English professional Manager (association football), football manager and former Association football, player who was most recently the head coach of EFL Championship club Plymouth Argyle F.C., Pl ...

as "a great strike".

Queens Park Rangers

On 1 September 2014, Sandro signed for

for an undisclosed fee. He made his debut against

, coming off injured and replaced by

Karl Henry Karl Levi Daniel Henry (born 26 November 1982) is an English Association football, footballer who plays as a midfielder for Boldmere St. Michaels F.C., Boldmere St. Michaels. Henry was a product of the Stoke City F.C., Stoke City academy who we ...

. He scored his first goal for QPR against former club Tottenham on 7 March 2015. On 29 January 2016, Sandro signed for West Brom on loan. He made his debut in the 1–1 draw with Swansea City.

Antalyaspor

On 11 January 2017, Sandro signed for Turkish club

Antalyaspor Antalyaspor Kulübü is a Turkish professional multi-sport club based in Antalya, southern Turkey. The club's colours are red and white. The association football, football side play their home matches at the Antalya Stadium. In Turkey, the cl ...

on a three-year deal. On 10 January 2018, Sandro signed with a loan contract with

Benevento Benevento ( ; , ; ) is a city and (municipality) of Campania, Italy, capital of the province of Benevento, northeast of Naples. It is situated on a hill above sea level at the confluence of the Calore Irpino (or Beneventano) and the Sabato (r ...

until 30 June 2018. He made his debut on 28 January 2018 in 3–0 away loss against

Torino Turin ( , ; ; , then ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. The city is main ...

. He scored his first goal for Benevento during his 4th match by scoring the 1-1 goal in a 3–2 home win against

Crotone Crotone (; ; or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Calabria, Italy. Founded as the Achaean colony of Kroton ( or ; ), it became a great Greek city, home of the renowned mathematician-philosopher Pythagoras amongst other famous citizens, and one ...

Genoa

On 3 July 2018, Sandro signed a contract with Italian club

Genoa Genoa ( ; ; ) is a city in and the capital of the Italian region of Liguria, and the sixth-largest city in Italy. As of 2025, 563,947 people live within the city's administrative limits. While its metropolitan city has 818,651 inhabitan ...

. His contract with Genoa was terminated in early 2020 after he didn't appear in any games for the club in the first half of the 2019–20 season.

Udinese

On 31 January 2019, Sandro joined

Udinese Udinese Calcio (; "Udinese Football") is a professional football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, Italy. The team currently competes in the Serie A, the first tier of Italian football. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a sport ...

on loan for the remainder of the 2018–19 season.

Goiás

On 18 January 2020, he joined

Goiás Goiás () is a Brazilian States of Brazil, state located in the Central-West Region, Brazil, Central-West region. Goiás borders the Federal District (Brazil), Federal District and the states of (from north clockwise) Tocantins, Bahia, Minas Ge ...

Retirement

On 4 September 2023, Sandro announced his retirement from professional football.

Harborough Town

On 5 November 2024, Harborough Town of the Southern League Premier Central announced that Sandro had signed a contract with the club. He was convinced by Harborough Town manager Mitch Austin after meeting him at a

game and was jokingly offered a chance to play for the club. Sandro agreed to play for free. He made his debut in the second round proper of the

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual Single-elimination tournament, knockout association football, football competition in domestic Football in England, English football. First played during ...

, playing 46 minutes in a 5-3 extra time loss against Reading F.C.

International career

Sandro and Scott Brown - Brazil vs Scotland Mar11

Having represented Brazil at Under-20 level, and captaining them at the 2009 South American Youth Championship, Sandro made his full debut for the Brazil national team as a substitute in a World Cup qualifier against

Chile Chile, officially the Republic of Chile, is a country in western South America. It is the southernmost country in the world and the closest to Antarctica, stretching along a narrow strip of land between the Andes, Andes Mountains and the Paci ...

on 9 September 2009. He was named as 1 of 7 back-up players to the

2010 FIFA World Cup The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. ...

squad.

Personal life

During his time in England, Sandro became interested in darts, and recorded a video with professional player

Bobby George Robert Francis George (born 16 December 1945) is an English television presenter and former professional darts player. He is widely recognised as one of the game's biggest personalities, known for his flamboyant entrances in which the "King o ...

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Internacional *

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 ...

Brazil *

Olympic Silver Medal An Olympic medal is awarded to successful competitors at one of the Olympic Games. There are three classes of medal to be won: gold, silver, and bronze, awarded to first, second, and third place, respectively. The granting of awards is laid ou ...

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

References

External links

Sandro
at tottenhamhotspur.com * *
Internacional.com.br
* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Sandro 1989 births Living people Brazilian men's footballers SC Internacional players Tottenham Hotspur F.C. players Queens Park Rangers F.C. players West Bromwich Albion F.C. players Antalyaspor footballers Benevento Calcio players Genoa CFC players Udinese Calcio players Goiás Esporte Clube players B-SAD players Harborough Town F.C. players Brazil men's international footballers Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Premier League players English Football League players Süper Lig players Serie A players Southern Football League players Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in Portugal Men's association football midfielders 2011 Copa América players Footballers at the 2012 Summer Olympics Olympic footballers for Brazil Olympic silver medalists for Brazil Olympic medalists in football Brazil men's youth international footballers Medalists at the 2012 Summer Olympics Footballers from Minas Gerais Copa Libertadores–winning players Copa Sudamericana–winning players 21st-century Brazilian sportsmen Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Portugal