Alessandro dos Santos (三都主アレサンドロ, Santosu Aresandoro^?), born July 20, 1977 in Maringá, Paraná, Brazil, and often known as Alex, is a Brazilian Japanese football player who plays for Japanese club Nagoya Grampus.

[edit] Career

He 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 soccer for the school club. After graduating from the school, he joined the J-League team Shimizu S-Pulse in 1997. In 1999 he received J-League Player of the Year.

In 2001 he obtained Japanese citizenship. He made his first appearance for Japan on March 21, 2002 against Ukraine, and he was part of Philippe Troussier's selection for the 2002 FIFA 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 third naturalized citizen to play for Japan after Lopes and another Brazilian-born Japanese citizen, Ruy Ramos.

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.^[1] In January 2004, he left Shimizu to join the Urawa Red Diamonds.

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, and was selected to Japan's 2006 World Cup squad in May 2006.

In January 2007 Alex was loaned out to Red Bull Salzburg^[2]. 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.^[3]

[edit] Career statistics

[edit] Honors

[edit] Individual Honors

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

[edit] Team Honors

• Asian Cup champions: 2004
• J. League Champions: 2006
• Asian Cup Winners Cup Champions: 1999
• Emperor's Cup Champions: 2002, 2005, 2006
• Japanese Super Cup Champions: 2002, 2006
• Austrian Bundesliga Champions: 2007

[edit] National Career Stats

[edit] Appearances in Major Competitions

[edit] Goals for national team

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

[edit] References

1. ^ Charlton miss out on Alex, BBC, 28 August, 2002
2. ^ Japan's Alex to join Miyamoto at Salzburg, December 21, 2006
3. ^ 名古屋が三都主獲り、大型補強第３弾, Nikkan sport, July 26, 2009

[edit] External links

• National Football Teams
• No divided loyalties for Alex, FIFAworldcup.com, June 22, 2005

Japan Squad v • d • e Japan squad – 2002 FIFA World Cup 1 Kawaguchi • 2 Akita • 3 Matsuda • 4 Morioka • 5 Inamoto • 6 Hattori • 7 H. Nakata • 8 Morishima • 9 Nishizawa • 10 Nakayama • 11 Suzuki • 12 Narazaki • 13 Yanagisawa • 14 Alex • 15 Fukunishi • 16 K. Nakata • 17 Miyamoto • 18 Ono • 19 Ogasawara • 20 Myojin • 21 Toda • 22 Ichikawa • 23 Sogahata • Coach: Troussier v • d • e Japan squad – 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup 1 Narazaki • 2 Narahashi • 3 Akita • 4 Morioka • 5 Inamoto • 6 Hattori • 7 H. Nakata • 8 Ogasawara • 9 Ōkubo • 10 Nakamura • 11 Matsui • 12 Doi • 13 Oku • 14 Alex • 15 Myojin • 16 K. Nakata • 17 Miyamoto • 18 Nagai • 19 Endō • 20 Takahara • 21 Tsuboi • 22 Yamada • 23 Kawaguchi • Coach: Zico v • d • e Japan squad – 2004 AFC Asian Cup Champions (3rd Title) 1 Narazaki • 3 Tanaka • 4 Endō • 5 Miyamoto • 6 Nakata • 8 Ogasawara • 10 Nakamura • 11 Suzuki • 12 Doi • 14 Alex • 15 Fukunishi • 16 Fujita • 17 Miura • 18 Matsuda • 19 Motoyama • 20 Tamada • 21 Kaji • 22 Nakazawa • 23 Kawaguchi • 24 Nishi • 25 Chano • 26 Yamada • Coach: Zico v • d • e Japan squad – 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup 1 Narazaki • 2 Tanaka • 3 Chano • 4 Endō • 5 Miyamoto • 6 K. Nakata • 7 H. Nakata • 8 Ogasawara • 9 Tamada • 10 Nakamura • 11 Suzuki • 12 Doi • 13 Yanagisawa • 14 Alex • 15 Fukunishi • 16 Oguro • 17 Miura • 18 Inamoto • 19 Motoyama • 20 Tsuboi • 21 Kaji • 22 Moniwa • 23 Kawaguchi • Coach: Zico v • d • e Japan squad – 2006 FIFA World Cup 1 Narazaki • 2 Moniwa • 3 Komano • 4 Endō • 5 Miyamoto • 6 K. Nakata • 7 H. Nakata • 8 Ogasawara • 9 Takahara • 10 Nakamura • 11 Maki • 12 Doi • 13 Yanagisawa • 14 Alex • 15 Fukunishi • 16 Oguro • 17 Inamoto • 18 Ono • 19 Tsuboi • 20 Tamada • 21 Kaji • 22 Nakazawa • 23 Kawaguchi • Coach: Zico