Alexsandro de Souza (born 14 September 1977), commonly known as Alex, is a Brazilian football

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of an organization, whether it is a business, a nonprofit organization, or a government body. It is the art and science of managing resources of the business. Management includes the activities ...

, pundit and retired

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 ...

, who played as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

. He is the current head coach of

Avaí Avaí is a municipality in the state of São Paulo in Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 milli ...

. Alex is a former captain of the Brazil national team and Turkish club Fenerbahçe; throughout his career, he also played for

Coritiba Coritiba Foot Ball Club, commonly known as Coritiba and colloquially referred to as "Coxa-Branca" or "Coxa", is a Brazilian football club from Curitiba, capital city of the Brazilian state of Paraná. Founded in 1909, it is the oldest f ...

Palmeiras Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras (), commonly known as Palmeiras, is a Brazilian professional football club based in the city of São Paulo, in the district of Perdizes. Palmeiras is one of the most popular clubs in South America, with around ...

Flamengo Clube de Regatas do Flamengo (; English: ''Flamengo Rowing Club''), more commonly referred to as simply Flamengo, is a Brazilian sports club based in Rio de Janeiro, in the neighborhood of Gávea, best known for their professional football ...

and Cruzeiro in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, and

Parma Parma (; egl, Pärma, ) is a city in the northern Italian region of Emilia-Romagna known for its architecture, music, art, prosciutto (ham), cheese and surrounding countryside. With a population of 198,292 inhabitants, Parma is the second mos ...

in the Italian

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...

. Alex first played professionally for

, a Brazilian football club from the state of Paraná, where he stayed from

1995 File:1995 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: O.J. Simpson is acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The Great Hanshin earthquake str ...

1997 File:1997 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The movie set of ''Titanic'', the highest-grossing movie in history at the time; '' Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone'', is published; Comet Hale-Bopp passes by Earth and becomes one of ...

, when he was sold to

, from

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the Ga ...

. When he was playing for Palmeiras where he became a national star, in Brazil. He conquered for the Estádio Palestra Itália club a Copa Libertadores title, in

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

, a Rio-São Paulo cup title in 2000 and a

Copa do Brasil The Copa do Brasil ( en, Brazil Cup) is a knockout football competition played by 92 teams, representing all 26 Brazilian states plus the Federal District. It is the Brazilian domestic cup and the Brazilian equivalent of the FA Cup, Taça de P ...

title and a

Copa Mercosur The Copa Mercosur (, pt, Copa Mercosul , "Mercosur Cup") was a football competition played from 1998 to 2001 by the traditional top clubs from Brazil, Argentina, Paraguay, Uruguay and Chile. The competition was created by CONMEBOL to generate TV m ...

title in

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

. He left

and signed with

, of

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a ...

in 2000. In 2000, he returned to

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

, 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 (which also had other remarkable players, such as Deivid,

Edu Dracena Eduardo Luís Abonízio de Souza (born 18 May 1981), better known as Edu Dracena, is a Brazilian retired footballer who played as a central defender. Club career Guarani Born in Dracena, São Paulo, Dracena (nickname earned from his birthplac ...

Luisão Ânderson Luís da Silva (born 13 February 1981), known as Luisão, is a Brazilian former professional footballer who played as a centre back. Luisão started his career at Juventus-SP in 1999 before moving to Cruzeiro the year later, where h ...

, Maicon, Aristizábal,

Zinho Crizam César de Oliveira Filho, better known as Zinho (; born 17 June 1967), is a Brazilian football pundit and retired footballer. Playing career Club Born in Nova Iguaçu, Rio de Janeiro, Zinho played club football in Brazil with Flamengo, ...

Felipe Melo Felipe Melo de Carvalho (born 26 June 1983), known as Felipe Melo, is a Brazilian professional footballer who plays as a defensive midfielder for Fluminense. He began his career with Campeonato Brasileiro Série A teams Flamengo, Cruzeiro a ...

Gomes ''Gomes'' is a common Portuguese and Old Galician surname. It derived from the given name ''Gomes'', which derived from the Visigothic word ''guma'', meaning "man". Its Spanish equivalent is Gómez. Notable people A–E * Al Gomes (born 1960), ...

and Cris) to winning the Brazilian triple crown (that is the State Championship, the Brasileirão and the Brazilian Cup). Cruzeiro won the Brazilian League (Brasileirão) with a record-breaking 100 points, 13 ahead of the second place, Santos, with more than 100 goals scored in 46 games. He was eventually transferred to Fenerbahçe SK where he played for 8 years and ended up a club legend. A statue in his honor was erected in Kadıköy, İstanbul. Over the course of his career, Alex scored 421 goals in 1030 matches and produced a total of 363 assists.

Club career

Early years

Born in

Curitiba Curitiba () is the capital and largest city in the state of Paraná in Brazil. The city's population was 1,948,626 , making it the eighth most populous city in Brazil and the largest in Brazil's South Region. The Curitiba Metropolitan area ...

, Alex first played professionally for

, a Brazilian football club from the state of Paraná, where he stayed from 1995- 97, when he was sold to

, from

. When he was playing for Palmeiras where he became a national star, in Brazil. He conquered for the Parque Antárctica club a Libertadores da América cup title, in

, a Rio-São Paulo cup title in 2000 and a

title and a Mercosul cup title in

. He left

and signed with

, of

in 2000. In 2000, he returned to

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

, 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. Made team captain and wearing jersey number 10, he led his team (which also had other remarkable players, such as Deivid,

, Maicon, Aristizábal,

Fenerbahçe

Alex was then sold by Cruzeiro in 2004 for 5 million euro to Fenerbahçe. He became Fenerbahçe captain after the team's captain

Ümit Özat Ümit Özat (born 30 October 1976) is a Turkish professional football manager and former player. Club career Born in Ankara, Özat initially played for Gençlerbirliği and for Fenerbahçe as a central defender or a defensive midfielder. Later ...

's transfer to Köln and vice-captains

Tuncay Tuncay (; ''toonj-eye'') is a Turkish given name for males and a surname. People named Tuncay include: Given name * Tuncay Güney (born 1972), Turkish spy * Tuncay Karakaya (born 1989), Turkish Paralympian goalball player * Tuncay Mataracı (b ...

's transfer to

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

and

Rüştü Reçber Rüştü Reçber (; born 10 May 1973) is a Turkish former professional footballer and a current sports executive. During his professional career, he played as a goalkeeper for Antalyaspor, Fenerbahçe, Barcelona and Beşiktaş. Rüştü was pa ...

's transfer to rival Beşiktaş. Alex scored his 100th goal in the

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), officially known as Spor Toto Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish professional league for association football clubs. It is the top-flight of the Turkish football league system and is run by the ...

for Fenerbahçe on 13 November 2010 against

Gaziantepspor Gaziantepspor was a Turkish football club located in the city of Gaziantep. Formed in 1969 and dissolved in 2020, Gaziantepspor were nicknamed the ''Şahinler'' (The Falcons). The club colours were black and red, and they played their home matche ...

when they lost 2–1. At 33 years of age Alex scored a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

against

Bucaspor Bucaspor was a professional Turkish football club based in Buca, Izmir. Formed in 1928, Bucaspor were nicknamed Fırtına (Storm). The club colours were yellow and navy. It was dissolved in 2020. History Bucaspor was the fifth football club t ...

in the first 35 minutes of the game. Fenerbahçe won the match 5–2. His first goal in this game was Fenerbahçe's 3000th goal in the

, so his kit and shoes used in the

match are now shown in the club's museum. On 9 February 2011, he signed another two-year contract with Fenerbahçe. On 15 May 2011, he scored five goals, including three penalties and a free-kick, in a 6–0 win against Ankaragücü. After Fenerbahçe's league title for the year

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

, Alex won the golden boot award with 28 goals for the season, nine more than second place

Burak Yılmaz Burak Yılmaz (born 15 July 1985) is a Turkish professional footballer who plays as a forward for Eredivisie club Fortuna Sittard. Yılmaz is one of nine players to play for each of the Big Three clubs of Turkey, and one of only two player ...

. He made his 900th career appearance on 12 September 2011 in the opening match of the Super Lig season, a 1–0 victory against

Orduspor Orduspor was a Turkish football club founded in 1967. The club was located in Ordu, Turkey and played their home games at 19 Eylül Stadium. The team managed to qualify for the Turkish Super League again in 2011. But, the last spell in top lev ...

. In the

Turkish Cup The Turkish Cup ( Turkish: ''Türkiye Kupası'') is a football cup competition in Turkish football, run by the Turkish Football Federation since 1962. During a brief sponsorship period with Fortis, its sponsored name was ''Fortis Türkiye Kupas� ...

final on 16 May 2012 against

Bursaspor Bursaspor Kulübü Derneği (), commonly known as Bursaspor, is a Turkish sports club located in the city of Bursa. Formed in 1963, the club colours are green and white, with home kits usually featuring both colours in a striped pattern. In t ...

, Alex netted Fenerbahçe's fourth and final goal of a 4–0 victory and was named the game's "Man of the Match". On 15 September 2012, while Alex was still under contract with Fenerbahçe, a fan-funded statue of the player was unveiled in Kadıköy Yoğurtçu park. Alex's last goal for Fenerbahçe came on 20 September in the

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. It ...

, scoring Fenerbahçe's second goal in a 2–2 draw with

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Fra ...

. Alex's last appearance for the club came on 29 September, playing the first half of a 2–0 defeat to Kasımpaşa in the

. After a rift with coach

Aykut Kocaman Aykut Kocaman (, born 5 April 1965) is a former Turkish footballer, who played as a striker. He is the former manager of İstanbul Başakşehir. Before he made his debut 1980 with the amateur club Kabataş Altınmızrak in Istanbul, Kocaman pe ...

over the team's system, his contract with Fenerbahçe was terminated on 1 October. With Fenerbahçe he has concluded his impressive career in Turkey with 136 assists and 171 goals in 341 games. He left just five goals shy of matching the club record for league goals with 136 goals, held by former striker

Coritiba

After he rarely featured for Fenerbahçe throughout the early part of the 2012–13 campaign, managing just five league appearances through October, Alex joined Brazilian side

on 18 October 2012 for an undisclosed fee. He made his debut for his boyhood club on 31 January 2013, playing the full ninety in a 1–0 defeat of J. Malucelli in Campeonato Paranaense play. His first goal for his new club came on 9 February in a 1–1 draw with

Arapongas Arapongas is a municipality within the state of Paraná, South Region, Brazil. It is located in the Metropolitan area of Londrina, Microregion Apucarana and Mesoregion North Central Paranaense, being located at a distance of 386 km from the ...

, scoring the equalizing goal three minutes after Wellington Indio's opener in the 47th minute. Alex scored the solitary goal of the game against

Londrina Londrina (, literally "Little London") is a city located in the north of the state of Paraná, South Region, Brazil, and is away from the state capital, Curitiba. It is the second largest city in the state and fourth largest in the southern regi ...

on 3 March, starting a run of nine straight matches where the player scored, netting 12 goals. Included in this goal-scoring run was a brace in a 6–0 defeat of Rio Branco on 13 April. Alex finished the Campeonato Paranaense campaign by scoring a brace in Coritiba's 3–1 defeat of

Atlético Paranaense Club Athletico Paranaense (commonly known as Athletico and formerly known as Atlético Paranaense) is a Brazilian football team from the city of Curitiba, capital city of the Brazilian state of Paraná, founded on March 26, 1924. The team ...

on 12 May, securing a 5–3 aggregate win in the final as Coritiba claimed a record 37th state title. In October 2014, Alex announced his retirement from football. His last game was a 3–2 win against Bahia, on 7 December 2014.

Managerial career

On 5 April 2021, Alex joined

after being appointed the head coach of the under-20 team. On 28 October 2022, he left the club. On 16 November 2022, Alex was appointed head coach of

, freshly relegated from the top tier.

Personal life

Alex married Daianne in 2000. The couple have two daughters and one son: Maria Eduarda, born in 2004, Antonia, born in 2006 and Felipe born in 2010. He features prominently in Puma advertising and also has a modeling contract with

Armani Giorgio Armani S.p.A. (), commonly known as Armani, is an Italian luxury fashion house founded in Milan by Giorgio Armani which designs, manufactures, distributes and retails haute couture, ready-to-wear, leather goods, shoes, accessories, and ...

. Alex's father-in-law is the former president of Coritiba. After his retirement, Alex started to work on

ESPN Brasil ESPN is the Brazilian division of ESPN Inc. Launched in March 1989 as Canal+, it was the first country-specific version of ESPN outside the United States, launched in June 1995. The channel has covered major sporting events, like the 1996, 2000, ...

as a pundit and presenter for interview show Papo Cabeça.

Career statistics

Club

International

Manager

Honours

Palmeiras *

* Copa Libertadores:

* Torneio Rio-São Paulo:

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

Copa dos Campeões Copa dos Campeões (Portuguese for Brazilian Champions Cup) was a Brazilian football competition, organized by the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF), contested by the best teams from each one of the regional cups. The Copa dos Campeões wi ...

Flamengo * Campeonato Carioca:

Taça Rio Taça Rio, or Rio Trophy, is an annual Rio de Janeiro football tournament. It is the second stage competition of the Campeonato Carioca, the state football championship in Rio de Janeiro. It has been organized since 1982 by the Rio de Janeiro ...

: 2000 Cruzeiro * Campeonato Brasileiro Série A: 2003 *

: 2003 * Campeonato Mineiro: 2003, 2004 *

Copa Sul-Minas Copa Sul-Minas was a Brazilian football competition that ran between 2000 and 2002, with teams from the three Southern states of Brazil, plus the Southeastern state of Minas Gerais. It replaced the 1999 tournament called Copa Sul which only include ...

: 2001, 2002 Fenerbahçe *

: 2004–05, 2006–07,

: 2011–12Fenerbahçe win Ziraat Turkish Cup
Turkish Football Federation, accessed *

Turkish Super Cup The Turkish Super Cup ( Turkish: ''TFF Süper Kupa''), as it is currently known, is the annual super cup football match contested between the previous season's Süper Lig champions and the Turkish Cup winners in Turkey. It was originally known ...

: 2007, 2009 Coritiba * Campeonato Paranaense:

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

Brazil * Copa América:

, 2004 Brazil U23 *

CONMEBOL Pre-Olympic Tournament The CONMEBOL Preolímpico ( en, Pre-Olympic Tournament) is an international association football event in the South America region organized by CONMEBOL. It is the qualification tournament for the football tournament at the Olympic Games. In ...

Brazil U20 *

South American Youth Championship The South American Youth Football Championship, also known as U-20 South American Championship and es, Torneo Juventudes de América, "Campeonato Sudamericano Sub 20" or pt, Juventude da América (English: "America's Youth") is a South American f ...

: 1992,

Individual * Campeonato Paranaense Revelation: 1995 * Campeonato Paranaense Best Player: 1996 * Campeonato Paranaense Best Midfielder: 1997 * Copa Mercosur Best Player:

IFFHS World's Top Goal Scorer The IFFHS World's Best International Goal Scorer is a football award given annually since 1991 to the world's top international goalscorer in the calendar year. The award is given by the International Federation of Football History & Statistics (I ...

: 1999 ''(3rd place)'' * Troféu Telê Santana Best Midfielder: 2002 * Troféu Telê Santana Star of the Year: 2003 *

Bola de Ouro The ''Bola de Ouro'' (Golden Ball) is an annual award given each year, since 1973, by Brazilian sports magazine '' Placar'' to the best player in the Campeonato Brasileiro. A group of sports journalists watch every match of the competition and ra ...

: 2003 * Bola de Prata: 2003 * Copa América Team of the Tournament: 2004 * Turkish Cup top scorer: 2004–05 * Footballer of the year in Turkey: 2005, 2010Milliyet Yılın Sporcusu ödülleri sahiplerini buldu
* Süper Lig Gol Kralı: 2006–07 ''(19 goals)'',

''(28 goals)'' *

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

top assist provider: 2007–08 ''(6 assists)'' * Turkish Cup Best Player: 2011–12

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Alex 1977 births Living people Brazilian evangelicals Footballers from Curitiba Brazilian footballers Association football midfielders Coritiba Foot Ball Club players Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras players Parma Calcio 1913 players CR Flamengo footballers Cruzeiro Esporte Clube players Fenerbahçe S.K. footballers Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Süper Lig players Brazil under-20 international footballers Olympic footballers of Brazil Brazil international footballers 1999 Copa América players 1999 FIFA Confederations Cup players Footballers at the 2000 Summer Olympics 2001 Copa América players 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup players 2004 Copa América players Copa América-winning players Brazilian expatriate footballers Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate footballers in Italy Expatriate footballers in Turkey Brazilian football managers Avaí FC managers