Fernando José Ribeiro Alexandre (born 2 August 1985) is a Portuguese former 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 mainly as a defensive midfielder.

Club career

Born in

Lourinhã Lourinhã () is a municipality in the District of Lisbon, in the Oeste Subregion of Portugal. The population in 2011 was 25,735, in an area of 147.17 km². The seat of the municipality is the town of Lourinhã, with a population of 8,800 inhab ...

, Lisbon District, Alexandre started his professional career with S.L. Benfica, but could never make any official appearances for the first team. From 2004 to 2006 he played with the club's reserves (soon to be extinct) and in the

second division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

, with

Lisbon Lisbon (; pt, Lisboa ) is the capital and largest city of Portugal, with an estimated population of 544,851 within its administrative limits in an area of 100.05 km2. Grande Lisboa, Lisbon's urban area extends beyond the city's administr ...

neighbours

C.D. Olivais e Moscavide Clube Desportivo dos Olivais e Moscavide is a centenary club located in the eastern area of Lisbon that distinguishes itself in practice in different levels of football, basketball, American Football and Table Football, in addition to developing ...

. After one season in the third tier with

C.D. Mafra Clube Desportivo Mafra is a Portuguese football club, currently playing in the Liga Bwin. They are based in the town of Mafra and own Campo Doutor Mário Silveira stadium, but the games are played in Estádio Municipal de Mafra. Founded in 1965 ...

– also in the region – Alexandre moved to

C.F. Estrela da Amadora Club Football Estrela da Amadora (), sometimes just Estrela, is a Portuguese sports club (predominantly football) based in Amadora, northwest of Lisbon. It's the successor of Clube de Futebol Estrela da Amadora, founded in 1932 and extinct in ...

, again in the capital but now in the

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (; English: Premier League, also written as Liga Portugal 1), also known as Liga Portugal Bwin for sponsorship reasons, is the top level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga Portugal, ...

. He was an essential figure in midfield, as the side finished in a comfortable mid-table position in spite of serious financial difficulties. In late June 2009, after Estrela were relegated off-court, Alexandre moved to S.C. Braga on a free transfer and a four-year contract. He still participated in one league match with the Minho team, playing 25 minutes in a 2–1 win at Sporting CP but, just hours before the August

transfer window A transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club can transfer players from other playing staff into their playing staff. Such a transfer is completed by registering the player into the new club through FIFA. "Transfer win ...

closed, was sent on loan to

Leixões S.C. Leixões Sport Club, commonly known as Leixões (), is a Portuguese sports club from Matosinhos. It is organised into several departments for many sports, such as football, boxing, karate, volleyball, swimming and billiards. It is most well kno ...

also of the top flight, remaining on loan the following two years but with

S.C. Olhanense Sporting Clube Olhanense () is a Portuguese sports club from Olhão, Algarve. Its football team was founded on 27 April 1912 and currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal, the fourth tier of Portuguese football. It holds home matches at the ...

. On 4 July 2013, Académica de Coimbra completed the signing of Alexandre, with the

free agent In professional sports, a free agent is a player who is eligible to sign with other clubs or franchises; i.e., not under contract to any specific team. The term is also used in reference to a player who is under contract at present but who is a ...

penning a one-year contract and reuniting with former Olhanense manager

Sérgio Conceição Sérgio Paulo Marceneiro da Conceição (; born 15 November 1974) is a Portuguese professional football manager and former player who mostly played as a right winger. He is the current manager of Porto. Throughout his career, he played for ten ...

. He was regularly used in the next top-division campaigns, scoring three goals from 27 games in 2015–16 but being relegated. During the 2017 January

, Alexandre was loaned to

Moreirense FC Moreirense Futebol Clube is a Portuguese professional football club based in Moreira de Cónegos, Guimarães Municipality, in Minho. Founded on 1 November 1938, it plays in the Liga Portugal 2, holding home games at Parque de Jogos Comendador Joa ...

Honours

Moreirense *

Taça da Liga The Taça da Liga (), known outside Portugal as Portuguese League Cup, is an annual football club competition organised by the Liga Portuguesa de Futebol Profissional (LPFP) for teams competing in the Primeira Liga and LigaPro, the top two tier ...

: 2016–17

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Alexandre, Fernando 1985 births Living people Portuguese footballers Association football midfielders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players S.L. Benfica B players S.L. Benfica footballers C.D. Olivais e Moscavide players C.D. Mafra players C.F. Estrela da Amadora players S.C. Braga players Leixões S.C. players S.C. Olhanense players Associação Académica de Coimbra – O.A.F. players Moreirense F.C. players Portugal youth international footballers Sportspeople from Lisbon District