Alessandro dos Santos, (Japanese:三都主アレサンドロ, Santosu Aresandoro), born 20 July 1977 in Maringá Paraná, Brazil) usually known as Alex, is a Brazilian-born football player who acquired Japanese citizenship in November 2001 and played a prominent role in the Japanese national team in the 2002 FIFA World Cup.

He moved to Japan in his teenage years, playing for his high school team before first playing for the J-League team Shimizu S-Pulse in 1997. In 1999 he was named J-League Player of the Year, and his citizenship application was approved in a very rapid eight months in 2001.

Alex became the first foreign-born person to play for Japan in the World Cup finals, although Japan's large resident Brazilian population had previously supplied Ruy Ramos and Wagner Lopes in Japan's unsuccessful campaigns to qualify for the 1994 and 1998 finals, respectively.

Teams

• Shimizu S-Pulse (1997 - 2003)
• Urawa Red Diamonds (2004 - active)

• Japan national football team (2002 - active)
  • Debut against Ukraine
  • Appearances: 46 (end of 2004)
  • World Cup appearances: 2002
  • Goals: 4 (end of 2004)

Honors

With the Japanese national team:

• AFC Asian Cup
  • Appearance 2004
  • Winner 2004

With the Shimizu S-Pulse:

• Asian Cup Winners Cup: 1999
• Emperor's Cup: 2002
• Xerox Super Cup: 2002
• J. League: 1999-2nd

With the Urawa Red Diamonds:

• J. League: 2004-2nd

Personal honors:

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

External link

• Santos Alessandro Official Website