Domingos Alexandre Martins da Costa (born 6 September 1979), commonly known as Alex, 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 lea ...

who played mainly as a

right-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

, currently a

manager Management (or managing) is the administration of organizations, whether businesses, nonprofit organizations, or a government bodies through business administration, nonprofit management, or the political science sub-field of public administra ...

. Over seven seasons (15 years in total as a professional), he amassed

Primeira Liga The Primeira Liga (), also known as Liga Portugal Betclic for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Portugal and the highest level of the Portuguese football league system. Organised and supervised by the Liga ...

totals of 170 matches and seven goals, mainly at the service of

Vitória de Guimarães Vitoria or Vitória may refer to: People * Francisco de Vitoria (c. 1483–1546), a Spanish Renaissance theologian * Alberto Vitoria (1956–2010), Spanish footballer * Rui Vitória (born 1970), Portuguese retired footballer * Sofia Vitória (bor ...

as well as

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

and Benfica. He also spent four years in the German

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

with

VfL Wolfsburg Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg e. V., commonly known as VfL Wolfsburg (), is a German professional sports club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. The club grew out of a multi-sports club for Volkswagen workers in the city of Wolfsburg. I ...

. Alex began managing in 2013, leading three teams in his country's second tier.

Playing career

Club

Alex was born in

Guimarães Guimarães () is a city and municipality located in northern Portugal, in the district of Braga. Its historic town centre has been listed as a UNESCO World Heritage Site since 2001, in recognition for being an "exceptionally well-preserved ...

. After starting his career at

AD Fafe Associação Desportiva de Fafe (abbreviated as AD Fafe) is a Portuguese professional football club based in Fafe, in the district of Braga. Background AD Fafe currently plays in the Campeonato Nacional de Seniores – Série A which is ...

he joined

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

, where he won promotion to the

as champion in 2001–02 and then contributed three goals as they came 12th in his and their first top-flight campaign; this included two on 19 January in a 2–1 away win against S.C. Beira-Mar. He then joined Benfica, where he and fellow defender

Luisão Ânderson Luís da Silva (born 13 February 1981), known as Luisão, is a Brazilian former professional association football, footballer who played as a centre back. Luisão started his career at Clube Atlético Juventus, Juventus-SP in 1999 be ...

were the only signings made by manager

José Antonio Camacho José Antonio Camacho Alfaro (; born 8 June 1955) is a Spanish former football left-back and a former manager. He spent 15 professional years at Real Madrid, appearing in more than 500 official matches with the team and helping win 19 major ti ...

ahead of the new season. He mainly deputised for established

Miguel --> Miguel is a given name and surname, the Portuguese and Spanish form of the Hebrew name Michael. It may refer to: Places * Pedro Miguel, a parish in the municipality of Horta and the island of Faial in the Azores Islands *São Miguel (disamb ...

. For 2004–05, Alex was loaned to

. He scored four top-flight goals that season as his hometown club came fifth and

qualified Qualification may refer to: Processes * Qualifications-Based Selection (QBS), a competitive contract procurement process established by the United States Congress * Process qualification, ensures that manufacturing and production processes can ...

for the

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

, starting on 15 November with the equaliser in a 1–1 draw at Rio Ave FC; on 18 March, his brace earned a 2–1 away victory over

C.S. Marítimo Club Sport Marítimo MH M (), commonly known as Marítimo or Marítimo da Madeira, is a Portuguese professional sports club based in the city of Funchal, on the island of Madeira. Established in 1910, Marítimo is best known for its football team ...

. Benfica sold Alex to

on the final days of the summer 2005

transfer window In association football, a transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club, club can add players to their squad who were previously under contract with another club. Such a Transfer (association football), transfer is comp ...

. He had a relatively successful debut campaign, but only appeared four times in the

over the next three (none in the last two). In late May 2009, Alex signed with former club Vitória de Guimarães on a free transfer. During that first season he operated mostly as a

, going on to be fully reconverted to the position the following years and being first-choice.

International

Alex earned three

caps Caps are flat headgear. Caps or CAPS may also refer to: Science and technology Computing * CESG Assisted Products Service, provided by the U.K. Government Communications Headquarters * Composite Application Platform Suite, by Java Caps, a Java ...

for

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic, is a country on the Iberian Peninsula in Southwestern Europe. Featuring Cabo da Roca, the westernmost point in continental Europe, Portugal borders Spain to its north and east, with which it share ...

under

Luiz Felipe Scolari Luiz Felipe Scolari (; born 9 November 1948), also known as Felipão ("Big Phil"), is a Brazilian football manager and former player who currently serves as the technical director of Grêmio. Considered to be one of the greatest and most su ...

in 2005. His debut was on 4 June at home to

Slovakia Slovakia, officially the Slovak Republic, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Poland to the north, Ukraine to the east, Hungary to the south, Austria to the west, and the Czech Republic to the northwest. Slovakia's m ...

in the

2006 FIFA World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international Association football, football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to FIFA World Cup hosts ...

qualifiers, starting the 2–0 win at the

Estádio da Luz The Estádio da Luz (), officially named Estádio do Sport Lisboa e Benfica, is a multi-purpose stadium located in Lisbon, Portugal. It is used mostly for association football matches, hosting the home games of Portuguese club S.L. Benfica, Ben ...

, followed four days later by a 1–0 away victory against

Estonia Estonia, officially the Republic of Estonia, is a country in Northern Europe. It is bordered to the north by the Gulf of Finland across from Finland, to the west by the Baltic Sea across from Sweden, to the south by Latvia, and to the east by Ru ...

Coaching career

On 3 July 2013, Alex announced his retirement from professional football at the age of nearly 34, immediately starting his managerial career with F.C. Felgueiras 1932 in the third division. He first arrived at the professionals in May 2014 after leading his team to safety, being appointed at Segunda Liga side Académico de Viseu FC. Alex won his first game at Académico, 4–1 at home to

Portimonense S.C. Portimonense Sporting Clube is a Portuguese sports club based in Portimão. Founded on 14 August 1914, it is most notable for its professional football team, which currently plays in the Liga Portugal 2, the second division of Portuguese footbal ...

in the

first round First most commonly refers to: * First, the ordinal form of the number 1 First or 1st may also refer to: Acronyms * Faint Images of the Radio Sky at Twenty-Centimeters, an astronomical survey carried out by the Very Large Array * Far Infrared a ...

of the

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

on 27 July 2014; they then lost 5–4 on aggregate against

C.F. Os Belenenses Clube de Futebol Os Belenenses (), commonly known as Os Belenenses or simply Belenenses, is a Portuguese sports club best known for its football team. Founded in 1919, it is one of the oldest Portuguese sports clubs. It is based in the 19,856 ...

after winning the first leg 3–1. He left by mutual consent on 12 November, being one point above the relegation zone after 16 matches. After three years in charge of the under-19 team, Alex succeeded Vítor Campelos at Vitória de Guimarães B in June 2018. The side suffered relegation to the third tier at the end of the campaign, and he was dismissed on 9 December 2019 while in sixth place. Following a spell as assistant to compatriot

Jaime Pacheco Jaime Moreira Pacheco (born 22 July 1958) is a Portuguese former footballer who played as a central midfielder, currently a manager. During his career he played, among others, for Porto and Sporting CP, amassing Primeira Liga totals of 296 matc ...

Zamalek SC Zamalek Sporting Club (), commonly referred to as Zamalek, is an List of football clubs in Egypt, Egyptian Club based in Cairo, Egypt. The club is best known for its professional men's Association football, football team, which plays in the Egy ...

of the

Egyptian Premier League The Egyptian Premier League (), also known as the Nile League () for sponsorship reasons, after the addition of title sponsor Nile Developments, is a professional association football league in Egypt and the highest level of the Egyptian football ...

, Alex ran for Vitória's presidency in March 2022, losing to António Miguel Cardoso; he then replaced

Leonel Pontes Leonel Pontes da Encarnação (born 9 July 1972) is a Portuguese Association football, football Manager (association football), manager. He is currently the technical director of Chinese club Shanghai Shenhua F.C., SH Shenhua. Coaching career ...

as manager of

S.C. Covilhã Sporting Clube da Covilhã, commonly known as just Sporting da Covilhã or Sp. Covilhã, is a Portuguese association football, football club from the city of Covilhã that plays in the third-tier Liga 3 (Portugal), Liga 3. The club was founded on ...

on 6 October. The club was relegated in last place, ending a 15-year spell in division two.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Moreirense * Segunda Liga: 2001–02 Benfica *

Taça de Portugal The Taça de 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 Generali Tranquilidade since the 2024–25 seaso ...

: 2003–04 *

Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira The Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira (; English: Cândido de Oliveira Super Cup, or simply Portuguese Super Cup) is an annual Portuguese association football, football match played since 1979 between the winners of the top-tier league (Primeira L ...

2005 2005 was designated as the International Year for Sport and Physical Education and the International Year of Microcredit. The beginning of 2005 also marked the end of the International Decade of the World's Indigenous Peoples, Internationa ...

Vitória Guimarães *Taça de Portugal:

2012–13 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

References

External links

* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Alex 1979 births Living people Portuguese men's footballers Footballers from Guimarães Men's association football fullbacks Men's association football midfielders Primeira Liga players Liga Portugal 2 players Segunda Divisão players AD Fafe players Moreirense F.C. players S.L. Benfica footballers Vitória S.C. players Vitória S.C. B players Bundesliga players Regionalliga players VfL Wolfsburg players VfL Wolfsburg II players Portugal men's international footballers Portuguese expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Germany Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Germany Portuguese football managers Liga Portugal 2 managers Académico de Viseu F.C. managers S.C. Covilhã managers Portuguese expatriate sportspeople in Egypt