Alexandre Henrique Gonçalves de Freitas (born 27 August 1991), commonly known as Alex, is a Portuguese 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 ...

who plays for S.C.U. Torreense mainly as a

left winger 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 ...

Club career

Porto

Born in

Funchal Funchal () is the largest city, the municipal seat and the capital of Portugal's Autonomous Region of Madeira, bordered by the Atlantic Ocean. The city has a population of 105,795, making it the sixth largest city in Portugal. Because of its high ...

, Madeira, Alex started his career with local C.D. Nacional. In 2005, the 14-year-old signed for FC Porto and went on to complete his development with the Primeira Liga giants. During his only season as a senior with the northerners, 2009–10, Alex was summoned to four games with the first team: on 17 October 2009, he played 20 minutes against

Sertanense F.C. Sertanense Futebol Clube (), formerly Sertanense Foot-ball Club, is a Portuguese football club based in Sertã. Founded in 1934, it currently plays in the Campeonato de Portugal, holding home games at ''Campo de Jogos Dr. Marques dos Santos''. ...

in the

Taça de Portugal The Taça de Portugal (; "Cup of Portugal") is an annual association football competition and the premier knockout tournament in Portuguese football. For sponsorship reasons, it has been known as Taça de Portugal Placard since the 2015–16 sea ...

after coming on as a substitute for Mariano González in a 4–0 home win. He also remained on the bench in two Taça da Liga matches and the 2–1 group-stage home victory over

APOEL FC APOEL FC ( el, ΑΠΟΕΛ; short for Αθλητικός Ποδοσφαιρικός Όμιλος Ελλήνων Λευκωσίας, ''Athletikos Podosferikos Omilos Ellinon Lefkosias'', literally "Athletic Football Club of Greeks of Nicosia") ...

in the

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 ...

Santa Clara

In the summer of 2010, Alex signed with C.D. Santa Clara of the Segunda Liga. He appeared in 26 games (19 starts) in his

first year A freshman, fresher, first year, or frosh, is a person in the first year at an educational institution, usually a secondary school or at the college and university level, but also in other forms of post-secondary educational institutions. Ar ...

with the

Azores ) , motto =( en, "Rather die free than subjected in peace") , anthem= ( en, "Anthem of the Azores") , image_map=Locator_map_of_Azores_in_EU.svg , map_alt=Location of the Azores within the European Union , map_caption=Location of the Azores wi ...

club. Alex scored his first goal for the team on 22 October 2011, through a

penalty Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) A p ...

and also providing an

assist Assist or ASSIST may refer to: Sports Several sports have a statistic known as an "assist", generally relating to action by a player leading to a score by another player on their team: *Assist (basketball), a pass by a player that facilitates a ba ...

in a 2–1 home defeat of

U.D. Oliveirense União Desportiva Oliveirense (UDO), commonly known as Oliveirense, is a Portuguese sports club from the city of Oliveira de Azeméis, in Aveiro District. The club was founded on 25 October 1922. The main football team currently plays at the Es ...

. He repeated the feat the following weekend and in the same fashion, helping the visitors draw 2–2 at

C.D. Aves Clube Desportivo das Aves (), commonly known as Desportivo das Aves, or simply as Aves, is a Portuguese professional football club based in Vila das Aves, Santo Tirso. The club was founded on 12 November 1930 and plays at the Estádio do Clube ...

Guimarães

On 3 July 2013, Alex joined

Vitória S.C. Vitória Sport Clube, commonly known as Vitória de Guimarães, is a Portuguese professional football club based in Guimarães that competes in the Primeira Liga, the top-flight of football in Portugal. Vitória de Guimarães have finished t ...

on a four-year contract. He was initially assigned to their reserves, in the third division. Alex managed to find the net in his Portuguese top flight debut on 4 April 2014, but in a 1–3 home loss to G.D. Estoril Praia. On 31 January 2017, having been rarely played over the course of his

third Third or 3rd may refer to: Numbers * 3rd, the ordinal form of the cardinal number 3 * , a fraction of one third * Second#Sexagesimal divisions of calendar time and day, 1⁄60 of a ''second'', or 1⁄3600 of a ''minute'' Places * 3rd Street (d ...

and fourth seasons, he was loaned to fellow league side Moreirense F.C. until June. He scored twice during his short spell – including once in a 3–1 home win against Porto – helping to a narrow escape from relegation.

Salernitana

In the 2017 off-season, Alex moved abroad for the first time and signed with

U.S. Salernitana 1919 Unione Sportiva Salernitana 1919, commonly referred to as Salernitana, is an Italian football club based in Salerno, Campania. The original club was founded in 1919 and has been reconstituted three times in the course of its history, most recen ...

from the Italian

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 season. It had been ...

. In the following

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 wi ...

, he was loaned to

F.C. Pro Vercelli 1892 Football Club Pro Vercelli 1892, commonly referred to as Pro Vercelli, is an Italian football club based in Vercelli, Piedmont. The club is mostly renowned as one of the most successful teams in the early football era of Italy, with seven natio ...

in the same league.

International career

In 2009, Alex was part of the Portugal under-19 side that failed to make the 2009 UEFA European Championship. As the country qualified for the next edition in France, he contributed four goals in six matches and was picked for the final squad in an eventual group-stage exit. Alex was selected for

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

's squad at the 2011 FIFA U-20 World Cup. He played all the games but one in Colombia ''en route'' to the second place, scoring in the 3–2 final defeat against

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 ...

Honours

Porto *

: 2009–10 Portugal U20 *

FIFA U-20 World Cup The FIFA U-20 World Cup is the biennial football world championship tournament for FIFA members’ men's national teams with players under the age of 20. The competition has been staged every two years since the inaugural tournament in 1977 whe ...

runner-up: 2011 Orders * PRT Order of Prince Henry - Knight BAR

Knight of the Order of Prince Henry

References

External links

* * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Freitas, Alex 1991 births Living people Sportspeople from Funchal Portuguese footballers Madeiran footballers Association football wingers Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Campeonato de Portugal (league) players FC Porto players C.D. Santa Clara players Vitória S.C. B players Vitória S.C. players Moreirense F.C. players Vitória F.C. players Casa Pia A.C. players C.D. Cova da Piedade players S.C.U. Torreense players Serie B players U.S. Salernitana 1919 players F.C. Pro Vercelli 1892 players Portugal youth international footballers Portuguese expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Italy Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Italy