Alex de Souza

Early years

Born in Curitiba, Alex first played professionally for his hometown club Coritiba, where he stayed from 1995 until 97, when he was sold to Palmeiras, from São Paulo. He won the Parque Antárctica club a Libertadores da América cup title, in 1999, a Rio-São Paulo cup title in 2000 and a Copa do Brasil title and a Mercosul cup title in 1998. 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. Alex was sold to Parma of Italy. He returned to Cruzeiro, after playing only friendly matches for the Italian team. Made team captain and wearing jersey number 10, he led his team to winning the Brazilian triple crown (that is the State Championship, the Brasileirão and the Brazilian Cup). Cruzeiro won the Brasileirão with a record-breaking 100 points, 13 ahead of the second place, Santos, with more than 100 goals scored in 46 games.

Fenerbahçe

Alex was then sold by Cruzeiro in 2004 for €5 million to Fenerbahçe. He became Fenerbahçe captain after the team's captain Ümit Özat's transfer to 1. FC Köln and vice-captains Tuncay's transfer to Middlesbrough and Rüştü Reçber's transfer to rival Beşiktaş. 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…

Alex made his senior international debut for Brazil on 23 September 1998 in a 1–1 friendly draw with FR Yugoslavia in São Luís, Maranhão, as an 82nd-minute substitute for Denílson in Brazil's first match since defeat in the 1998 FIFA World Cup. He scored his first goal in his third appearance, opening a 3–0 win over Latvia in his hometown the following 26 June. At the 1999 Copa América in Paraguay, Alex scored the decisive goal in a 2–1 group win over Mexico with a 25-yard strike. Brazil won the tournament under manager Vanderlei Luxemburgo, with Alex and Ronaldinho being young replacements for Edílson and Leonardo who were dropped for disciplinary reasons. Days later at the 1999 FIFA Confederations Cup in Mexico, he scored twice in a 4–0 opening win over Germany and twice again in an 8–2 semi-final rout of Saudi Arabia, though his team lost the final to the hosts. Alex also went with the Brazilian Olympic team to the 2000 tournament in Australia, concluding a 3–1 opening win over Slovakia and scoring the only goal of a group win against Japan; quarter-final defeat to Cameroon led to Luxemburgo's resignation. At the 2001 Copa América in Colombia, Alex equalised in a 3–1 group win over Paraguay as the team were again eliminated in a quarter-final shock, this time to Honduras. In qualification for the 2002 FIFA World Cup, he scored once to open a 3–1 home win over rivals Argentina. He was not chosen for the final tournament, which Brazil won under manager Luiz Felipe Scolari,…

A talented and creative playmaker, with an eye for goal, Alex usually played in a free role as an attacking midfielder. Although he lacked significant pace and physical power, and was not particularly hard-working defensively, he was known for his passing, technical skills, control, low centre of gravity, vision, reading of the game, and ability to provide many assists for his teammates, in addition to being capable of scoring himself, in particular from set pieces. In addition to his usual role as a number ten, he was also deployed as a second striker on occasion throughout his career, or even on the left flank.

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. He was dismissed the following 3 May. On 18 May 2024, Alex was appointed head coach of Antalyaspor. On 13 January 2025, he mutually agreed with the club to part ways. On 16 June 2025, Alex was appointed as head coach of Operário Ferroviário in the second division, replacing Bruno Pivetti. He was sacked the following 18 January, after three losses in four matches into the new season. On 21 February 2026, Alex took over Athletic-MG also in division two.