Alexandre Soares (born 5 February 1973) is a former Brazilian professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played as a

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

. He is known in Greece by the nickname ''"Giannis"'' which given to him by his then coach in Kalamata,

Jacek Gmoch Jacek Wojciech Gmoch (born 13 January 1939 in Pruszków) is a former Polish footballer, who later became a trainer and manager of the Poland National Team. While having a successful football career he graduated in communication from the Warsaw ...

. He himself was so "tied" to this nickname that he baptized his little son who was born in Greece with the name "Giannis". His given name also known as Alessandro.

Club career

Soares started his professional career in Montes Claros. In 1997, the contacts and connections of the then major shareholder of Kalamata, Stavros Papadopoulos, with the Brazilian market of football players, and suggested hid transfer to

Greece Greece,, or , romanized: ', officially the Hellenic Republic, is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the southern tip of the Balkans, and is located at the crossroads of Europe, Asia, and Africa. Greece shares land borders with ...

. After a tryout by the then coach of the Messinians,

Babis Tennes Babis Tennes ( gr, Μπάμπης Τεννές; born 17 November 1953) is a Greek professional football manager. Managerial career Tennes began his professional coaching career with Kallithea in 1993 in Gamma Ethniki. After that he built up his ...

, he signed for the club playing with the team for four seasons. In 2001 he was signed by OFI, where he played until 2004. In the summer of 2004, he caught the interest of

Panathinaikos Panathinaikos Athlitikos Omilos ( el, Παναθηναϊκός Αθλητικός Όμιλος, literally in English: "Panathenaic Athletic Club" or Panathinaikos A.C.), also known simply as Panathinaikós , is a major Greek multi-sport club ba ...

and AEK Athens. Eventually, the coach of the "greens",

Zdeněk Ščasný Zdeněk Ščasný (born 9 August 1957) is a Czech football manager and former player. Ščasný has won the Czech league championship five timesthree times as a player and twice as a coachand the Czech Cup three timestwice as a player and once ...

suggested the acquisition of another striker, thus on 23 July 2004 he was signed by AEK, initially with a season-long loan and then by a permanent transfer. On his first season with the yellow-blacks he emerged as the club's top scorer, while playing 7 matches in the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

scoring once against Gorica on 30 September 2004. He repeatedly tried to obtain Greek citizenship but three times he fell victim to the change in legislation and the increase of the years of residence required for its granting. In the summer of he moved to

Cyprus Cyprus ; tr, Kıbrıs (), officially the Republic of Cyprus,, , lit: Republic of Cyprus is an island country located south of the Anatolian Peninsula in the eastern Mediterranean Sea. Its continental position is disputed; while it is geo ...

and Anorthosis Famagusta. On 12 May 2007, he won

Cypriot Cup The Cypriot Cup () is the main cup competition in Cypriot football, run by the Cyprus Football Association (CFA). It began in 1934, the same season with the Cypriot Championship. It is the second most important competition for Cypriot club team ...

scoring in the 3–2 final against Omonia. In the summer of 2007 he signed for Alki Larnaca, where he played for a season. In 2008 he also played for Cypriot Second Division side, Ermis Aradippou, helping them win promotion to the Cypriot First Division in 2009. Afterwards, he moved to Chalkanoras Idaliou, where he helped them win the

Cypriot Third Division The Cypriot Third Division (Greek: Πρωτάθλημα Γ΄ Κατηγορίας) is the third tier football league competition in Cyprus, run by the Cyprus Football Association. Each year, the top finishing teams of the league are promoted to th ...

in 2010 by finishing as first scorer of the league with 17 goals.

Honours

Anorthosis Famagusta * Cypriot First Division: 2006–07 *

: 2006–07 Alki Larnaca * Cypriot Second Division: 2008–09 Chalkanoras Idaliou *

: 2009–10 Individual *Cypriot Third Division top scorer: 2009–10

References

External links

*
CBF
{{DEFAULTSORT:Soares, Alexandre 1973 births Living people Brazilian footballers Super League Greece players Cypriot First Division players Cypriot Second Division players Anorthosis Famagusta F.C. players Alki Larnaca FC players Ermis Aradippou FC players Kalamata F.C. players AEK Athens F.C. players OFI Crete F.C. players Chalkanoras Idaliou players Association football forwards Brazilian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Greece Expatriate footballers in Cyprus Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Cyprus Footballers from Rio de Janeiro (city)