Alessandro Santos

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 Maringa in Parana and moved to Japan in 1994 at the age of sixteen. He enrolled in Meitoku Gijuku High School in Kochi 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. 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. In January 2004, he left Shimizu to join the Urawa Reds. After won the second place at J1 League for two years in a row (2004, 2005), the club won the champions in 2006 J1 League.

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. 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.

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