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

pundit A pundit is a person who offers mass media opinion or commentary on a particular subject area (most typically politics, the social sciences, technology or sport). Origins The term originates from the Sanskrit term ('' '' ), meaning "knowledg ...

and retired footballer, who played as an attacking midfielder. He is the current head coach of Avaí. Alex is a former

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

of the Brazil national team and Turkish club Fenerbahçe; throughout his career, he also played for Coritiba, Palmeiras, Flamengo and Cruzeiro in Brazil, and Parma in the Italian Serie A. Alex first played professionally for Coritiba, 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 O. J. Simpson murder case, acquitted of the murders of Nicole Brown Simpson and Ronald Goldman from the 1994, year prior in "The Trial of the Century" in the United States; The ...

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 t ...

, when he was sold to Palmeiras, from São Paulo. When he was playing for Palmeiras where he became a national star, in Brazil. He conquered for the

Estádio Palestra Itália The Palestra Itália Stadium ( pt, Estádio Palestra Itália), was a football stadium located in Barra Funda, São Paulo, standing on the site now occupied by the Allianz Parque stadium. It was the home ground of Sociedade Esportiva Palmeiras fr ...

club a

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as the Copa Libertadores de América ( pt, Copa Libertadores da América), is an annual international club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in S ...

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 shootin ...

, a Rio-São Paulo cup title in 2000 and a Copa do Brasil title and a Copa Mercosur 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 ...

. 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 Claudio Cesare Prandelli (; born 19 August 1957) is an Italian football coach and former player. He was most recently head coach of Fiorentina. Career Player Prandelli was a midfielder who moved from Atalanta to Juventus in 1979. His first game ...

, 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 Deivid de Souza, commonly known as Deivid (born 22 October 1979), is a Brazilian professional football coach and former player who most recently managed Criciúma. Club career Early career He was transferred from Santos, where he was paired ...

, Edu Dracena, Luisão,

Maicon Maicon is a Brazilian variant of the given name Michael. It may refer to: Brazilian footballers *Maicon (footballer, born 1981), Maicon Douglas Sisenando, Brazilian football right-back *Maicon dos Santos (born 1981), Brazilian football midfielder * ...

, Aristizábal, Zinho, Felipe Melo, Gomes 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 A statue is a free-standing sculpture in which the realistic, full-length figures of persons or animals are carved or cast in a durable material such as wood, metal or stone. Typical statues are life-sized or close to life-size; a sculpture t ...

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, Alex first played professionally for Coritiba, a Brazilian football club from the state of Paraná, where he stayed from 1995- 97, when he was sold to Palmeiras, from São Paulo. 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 Copa do Brasil title and a Mercosul cup title in

, 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

, Edu Dracena, Luisão,

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's transfer to

Köln Cologne ( ; german: Köln ; ksh, Kölle ) is the largest city of the German western state of North Rhine-Westphalia (NRW) and the fourth-most populous city of Germany with 1.1 million inhabitants in the city proper and 3.6 million ...

and vice-captains Tuncay's transfer to Middlesbrough and Rüştü Reçber's transfer to rival

Beşiktaş Beşiktaş () is a district and municipality of Istanbul, Turkey, located on the European shore of the Bosphorus strait. It is bordered on the north by Sarıyer and Şişli, on the west by Kağıthane and Şişli, on the south by Beyoğlu, and ...

. Alex scored his 100th goal in the Süper Lig for Fenerbahçe on 13 November 2010 against Gaziantepspor when they lost 2–1. At 33 years of age Alex scored a hat-trick against Bucaspor 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 Süper Lig, so his kit and shoes used in the Bucaspor 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. I ...

, Alex won the golden boot award with 28 goals for the season, nine more than second place Burak Yılmaz. He made his 900th career appearance on 12 September 2011 in the opening match of the

Super Lig Super may refer to: Computing * SUPER (computer program), or Simplified Universal Player Encoder & Renderer, a video converter / player * Super (computer science), a keyword in object-oriented programming languages * Super key (keyboard butt ...

season, a 1–0 victory against Orduspor. In the Turkish Cup final on 16 May 2012 against Bursaspor, 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, scoring Fenerbahçe's second goal in a 2–2 draw with Marseille. Alex's last appearance for the club came on 29 September, playing the first half of a 2–0 defeat to Kasımpaşa in the Süper Lig. After a rift with coach Aykut Kocaman 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 Aykut Kocaman.

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 Coritiba 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 Campeonato Paranaense, which has been contested since 1915, is the top-flight football league of the state of Paraná, Brazil. Format The format has changed in 2014. 12 teams are together in a single group. They play against each other once, ...

play. His first goal for his new club came on 9 February in a 1–1 draw with Arapongas, 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 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 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 São Paulo 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 Avaí, 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 Puma or PUMA may refer to: Animals * ''Puma'' (genus), a genus in the family Felidae ** Puma (species) or cougar, a large cat Businesses and organisations * Puma (brand), a multinational shoe and sportswear company * Puma Energy, a mid- and d ...

advertising and also has a modeling contract with Armani. Alex's father-in-law is the former president of Coritiba. After his retirement, Alex started to work on ESPN Brasil as a pundit and presenter for interview show Papo Cabeça.

Career statistics

Club

International

Manager

Honours

Palmeiras * Copa do Brasil:

* Copa Mercosur:

* 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 ...

* Copa dos Campeões:

Flamengo *

Campeonato Carioca The Campeonato Carioca (Carioca Championship), officially known as Campeonato Estadual do Rio de Janeiro (Port., Rio de Janeiro State Championship), was started in 1906 and is the annual football championship in the state of Rio de Janeiro, B ...

* Taça Rio: 2000 Cruzeiro *

Campeonato Brasileiro Série A The Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (; English: "Brazilian Championship A Series"), commonly referred to as the Brasileirão (; English: "Big Brazilian"), and also known as Brasileirão Assaí due to sponsorship with Assaí Atacadista, is a Br ...

2003 File:2003 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The crew of STS-107 perished when the Space Shuttle Columbia disintegrated during reentry into Earth's atmosphere; SARS became an epidemic in China, and was a precursor to SARS-CoV-2; A des ...

* Copa do Brasil:

Campeonato Mineiro Campeonato Mineiro is the state football league of the state of Minas Gerais and is controlled by the Minas Gerais Football Federation FMF (Federação Mineira de Futebol). The history of Campeonato Mineiro can be divided into two parts: befor ...

: 2003, 2004 * Copa Sul-Minas: 2001, 2002 Fenerbahçe * Süper Lig: 2004–05, 2006–07,

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

2007 File:2007 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Steve Jobs unveils Apple's first iPhone; TAM Airlines Flight 3054 overruns a runway and crashes into a gas station, killing almost 200 people; Former Pakistani Prime Minister of Pakistan, Pr ...

2009 File:2009 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The vertical stabilizer of Air France Flight 447 is pulled out from the Atlantic Ocean; Barack Obama becomes the first African American to become President of the United States; 2009 Iran ...

Coritiba *

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 fact ...

Brazil *

Copa América The Copa América ( en, America Cup) or CONMEBOL Copa América, known until 1975 as the South American Football Championship (''Campeonato Sudamericano de Fútbol'' in Spanish and ''Campeonato Sul-Americano de Futebol'' in Portuguese), is the t ...

2004 2004 was designated as an International Year of Rice by the United Nations, and the International Year to Commemorate the Struggle Against Slavery and its Abolition (by UNESCO). Events January * January 3 – Flash Airlines Flight 6 ...

Brazil U23 * CONMEBOL Pre-Olympic Tournament:

Brazil U20 * South American Youth Championship:

1992 File:1992 Events Collage V1.png, From left, clockwise: 1992 Los Angeles riots, Riots break out across Los Angeles, California after the Police brutality, police beating of Rodney King; El Al Flight 1862 crashes into a residential apartment buildi ...

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

* Bola de Prata: 2003 * Copa América Team of the Tournament:

* Turkish Cup top scorer: 2004–05 * Footballer of the year in Turkey:

2005 File:2005 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: Hurricane Katrina in the Gulf of Mexico; the Funeral of Pope John Paul II is held in Vatican City; "Me at the zoo", the first video ever to be uploaded to YouTube; Eris was discovered in ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

Milliyet Yılın Sporcusu ödülleri sahiplerini buldu
* Süper Lig Gol Kralı: 2006–07 ''(19 goals)'',

''(28 goals)'' * UEFA Champions League 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