Facts: - caps: 24 37 37 8 12 13 29 15 42 245 - nationalyears: 1999 -- 2000 1998 -- 2005 - ntupdate: 04:56 , 7 december 2014 -lrb- utc -rrb- - birth date: 14 september 1977 - clubs: coritiba palmeiras -lrb- loan -rrb- cruzeiro -lrb- loan -rrb- palmeiras palmeiras -lrb- loan -rrb- cruzeiro fenerbahce coritiba parma flamengo -lrb- loan -rrb- - nationalcaps: 49 15 - caption: alex playing for fenerbahce in 2011 - height: 1.73 m on - nationalgoals: 12 3 - name: alex - nationalteam: brazil u20 brazil - birth place: curitiba , parana , brazil - position: attacking midfielder - fullname: alexsandro de souza - totalgoals: 221 - years: 1995 2000 2001 2001 2002 2002 -- 2004 2004 -- 2012 -- 2013 -- 2014 1997 1997 -- 2000 2000 -- 2002 - totalcaps: 499 - pcupdate: 04:56 , 7 december 2014 -lrb- utc -rrb- - image: alexsandro de souza.jpg - goals: 4 16 9 0 1 0 2 2 10 136 Based on these bullet points, write a short biography describing the life of alexsandro de souza .
alexsandro de souza , commonly known as alex -lrb- born 14 september 1977 in curitiba -rrb- , is a brazilian former footballer .he is a former captain of the brazilian national team and fenerbahce , he has also played for coritiba , palmeiras , flamengo and cruzeiro in brazil and parma in serie a. alex first played professionally for coritiba , a brazilian football club from the state of parana , where he stayed from 1995-97 , when he was sold to palmeiras , from sao paulo .when he was playing for palmeiras where he became a national star , in brazil .he conquered for the parque antarctica club a libertadores da america cup title , in 1999 , a rio-sao paulo cup title in 2000 and a copa do brasil title and a mercosul cup title in 1998 .he left palmeiras and signed with flamengo , of rio de janeiro in 2000 .in 2000 , he returned to palmeiras for a few months and then signed with cruzeiro , where he stayed until 2002 , when he returned to palmeiras .after another great season , alex was sold to parma , of italy .there he had a hard time with coach cesare prandelli , and eventually returned to cruzeiro , after playing only friendly matches for the italian team .at cruzeiro alex had the best performance in his career .made team captain and wearing jersey number 10 , he led his team -lrb- which also had other remarkable players , such as deivid , edu dracena , luisao , maicon , aristizabal , zinho , felipe melo , gomes and cris -rrb- to winning the brazilian triple crown -lrb- that is the state championship , the brasileirao and the brazilian cup -rrb- .cruzeiro won the brazilian league -lrb- brasileirao -rrb- with a record breaking 100 points , 13 ahead of the second place , santos , with more than 100 goals scored in 46 games .