# 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 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. 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. 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. 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.

## International career

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

## 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 :
| Club | Season | League | League | League | National cup | National cup | League cup | League cup | Continental | Continental | Total | 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 |
| Shimizu S-Pulse | 1998 | J1 League | 26 | 10 | 5 | 2 | 5 | 0 | – | – | 36 | 12 |
| Shimizu S-Pulse | 1999 | J1 League | 30 | 11 | 1 | 0 | 4 | 0 | – | – | 35 | 11 |
| Shimizu S-Pulse | 2000 | J1 League | 30 | 4 | 5 | 4 | 5 | 0 | – | – | 40 | 8 |
| Shimizu S-Pulse | 2001 | J1 League | 30 | 12 | 5 | 1 | 2 | 1 | – | – | 37 | 14 |
| Shimizu S-Pulse | 2002 | J1 League | 29 | 9 | 3 | 0 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 2 | 36 | 13 |
| Shimizu S-Pulse | 2003 | J1 League | 26 | 7 | 4 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 37 | 8 |
| Shimizu S-Pulse | Total | Total | 198 | 56 | 26 | 7 | 24 | 4 | 5 | 3 | 253 | 70 |
| Urawa Reds | 2004 | J1 League | 27 | 2 | 2 | 1 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 30 | 3 |
| Urawa Reds | 2005 | J1 League | 32 | 4 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 0 | – | – | 42 | 4 |
| Urawa Reds | 2006 | J1 League | 34 | 5 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 35 | 5 |
| Urawa Reds | Total | Total | 93 | 11 | 8 | 1 | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 107 | 12 |
| Red Bull Salzburg | 2006–07 | Austrian Bundesliga | 9 | 0 | – | – | – | – | – | – | 9 | 0 |
| Red Bull Salzburg | 2007/08 | Austrian Bundesliga | 11 | 1 | – | – | – | – | 1 | 0 | 12 | 1 |
| Red Bull Salzburg | Total | Total | 20 | 1 | – | – | – | – | 1 | 0 | 21 | 1 |
| Urawa Reds | 2008 | J1 League | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 0 | – | – | 1 | 0 |
| Urawa Reds | 2009 | J1 League | 6 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 4 | 0 | – | – | 10 | 0 |
| Urawa Reds | Total | 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 |
| Nagoya Grampus | 2010 | J1 League | 25 | 0 | 3 | 1 | 1 | 0 | – | – | 29 | 1 |
| Nagoya Grampus | 2011 | J1 League | 11 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 19 | 0 |
| Nagoya Grampus | 2012 | J1 League | 5 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 8 | 0 |
| Nagoya Grampus | Total | 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 | Career total | Career total | 416 | 72 | 51 | 10 | 36 | 4 | 14 | 3 | 517 | 89 |

### International

Appearances and goals by national team and year :
| National team | Year | Apps | Goals |
| Japan | 2002 | 9 | 1 |
| Japan | 2003 | 15 | 1 |
| Japan | 2004 | 22 | 2 |
| Japan | 2005 | 17 | 1 |
| Japan | 2006 | 19 | 2 |
| Total | 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 |

## Honours

Shimizu S-Pulse
* Asian Cup Winners' Cup: 1999–2000
* Emperor's Cup: 2001
* Japanese Super Cup: 2002
Urawa Red Diamonds
* J1 League: 2006
* Emperor's Cup: 2005, 2006
* Japanese Super Cup: 2002, 2006
Red Bull Salzburg
* Austrian Bundesliga: 2006–07
Nagoya Grampus
* J1 League: 2010
Japan
* AFC Asian Cup: 2004
Individual
* J.League MVP: 1999
* J1 League Best Eleven: 1999