Alessandro Santos

I still remember watching this guy tear down the left flank on TV and thinking, wait, he's playing for Japan? Alessandro Santos was born in Brazil, naturalized as Japanese, and then just went out there and ran full throttle in a samurai blue jersey like it was the most natural thing in the world. That left-footed burst of pace was genuinely exciting to watch — defenders would brace themselves and he'd already be past them. At 178cm he wasn't the biggest guy on the pitch, but he played with this relentless forward drive that made him feel much bigger. Born in 1977, Cancer, came to Japan as a teenager to play high school football and somehow ended up as a fixture in Japan's midfield during the 2000s. The whole story of crossing cultures, learning a language, earning a passport, and then putting in real performances for your adopted country — that's not a publicity stunt, that's commitment. Respect.

This take was written by generative AI, one per person, from publicly reported facts (editorial policy). It is a reading of the record, not reporting.

Alessandro Santos (born July 20, 1977) is a footballer who became a naturalised Japanese citizen and represented the Japan national football team. Known for his explosive pace and dribbling on the left flank, he stood 178 cm tall and was a prominent figure in Japanese football. He was born in 1977 under the Cancer zodiac sign and the Snake in the Japanese zodiac. Born in Maringá, Brazil, he moved to Japan at sixteen to attend Meitoku Gijuku High School, played for Shimizu S-Pulse and Urawa Red Diamonds, and won 82 caps for Japan.

Name (English)

Alessandro Santos

Name (Japanese)

三都主アレサンドロ

Reading

さんとす あれさんどろ

Born

July 20, 1977 (age 49)

Origin

Maringá, Paraná, Brazil

Height

178cm

Occupation

Footballer

Zodiac / Chinese zodiac

Cancer / Snake

• Wikipedia (Japanese)https://ja.wikipedia.org/wiki/%E4%B8%89%E9%83%BD%E4%B8%BB%E3%82%A2%E3%83%AC%E3%82%B5%E3%83%B3%E3%83%89%E3%83%AD
• Wikidatahttps://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q359738

Tags

• Footballer

Last updated

November 2, 2026

Only publicly available facts are listed; non-public or unconfirmed items are omitted. Base data was compiled from Wikidata from June 2026 onward; ages are recalculated daily and deaths are checked against Wikidata on an ongoing basis. English text is machine-assisted (facts translated by Sonnet, "My Take" written by Opus 4.8). The Japanese page is the source of record.