Alexandre Santos (football manager)

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Alexandre Santos
Personal information
Full name Alexandre Crispim dos Santos
Date of birth (1976-11-18) 18 November 1976 (age 48)
Place of birth Lisbon, Portugal
Team information
Current team
AS FAR (manager)
Managerial career
YearsTeam
2002–2005 Alverca under-19
2018 Real Massamá
2018 Estoril under-23
2018–2019 Sporting CP under-23
2020–2021 Alverca
2021–2024 Petro Luanda
2024 Sfaxien
2025– AS FAR

Alexandre Crispim dos Santos (born 18 November 1976) is a Portuguese football manager. He is the current manager of Moroccan Botola Pro club AS FAR.

Contents

He spent several years as assistant to José Peseiro at clubs such as Braga, Porto and various teams in the Arab world. In 2021, he was appointed at Petro de Luanda, where he won the Girabola and Taça de Angola double in each of his three seasons.

Career

Early career and assistant to José Peseiro

Santos was born in Lisbon as the son of two workers of a foundry in Vila Franca de Xira, and grew up in Alhandra, a parish of the latter city. His father later got a job in sports with the city council, inspiring Santos to become a physical education teacher. [1]

Santos managed F.C. Alverca's under-19 team from 2002 to 2005. [2] He then worked as a fitness coach at G.D. Estoril Praia in the following season, [3] and became an assistant to Daúto Faquirá at C.F. Estrela da Amadora and Vitória de Setúbal. [4] [5]

In August 2010, compatriot manager José Peseiro named Santos as assistant on the Saudi Arabia national team. [6] He spent most of the 2010s as Peseiro's assistant at home and in the Middle East, with roles at S.C. Braga, Al Wahda FC, Al Ahly SC, FC Porto, Braga again, and Sharjah FC. [7]

Return to Portugal

On 22 January 2018, 41-year-old Santos was given his first job as a senior head coach, at Real S.C. who were in last place in Portugal's second tier. [8] For the following season, he returned to Estoril as under-23 manager; [3] with the team in 4th place, he moved to the same role at 6th-placed Sporting CP on 13 December 2018, succeeding Tiago Fernandes. [9]

In June 2019, Santos went back to assistant roles abroad, signing for French Ligue 2 club SM Caen under Portuguese manager Rui Almeida. [10] The staff were sacked nine games into the season. [11] On 29 December, he went back to head coach roles in his country, returning to Alverca. [2] He resigned on 1 February 2021, with the team second-placed in their group in the Campeonato de Portugal. [12]

Manager in Africa

On 23 August 2021, Santos was appointed at Atlético Petróleos de Luanda in the Angolan Girabola. [13] His team won a double of league and Taça de Angola in each of his three seasons. [14] [15] [16]

At the end of June 2024, Santos agreed to become the new manager of CS Sfaxien in the Tunisian Ligue Professionnelle 1. [17] He left the following 6 January, having lost his last six games, with the team 9th in the domestic league and without a point in the CAF Confederation Cup. [18]

Remaining in North Africa, Santos signed for Morocco's AS FAR on 9 February 2025, succeeding Hubert Velud at a club ranked second in the Botola Pro and awaiting the quarter-finals of the CAF Champions League. [19]

Honours

Petro Luanda

AS FAR

References

  1. Simões de Abreu, Alexandra (23 November 2024). ""Quando entrei no FC Porto com o Peseiro havia um ambiente destrutivo, jogadores que não queriam estar ali, era uma equipa sem ADN Porto"" ["When I entered FC Porto with Peseiro there was a destructive atmosphere, players who didn't want to be there, it was a team without Porto DNA"]. Expresso (in Portuguese). Retrieved 18 October 2025.
  2. 1 2 "Alexandre Santos é o novo treinador do Alverca". Record (in Portuguese). 29 December 2019. Retrieved 18 October 2025.
  3. 1 2 "Alexandre Santos lidera Sub-23 dos canarinhos" [Alexandre Santos leads Canaries' Under-23 team]. Record (in Portuguese). 1 September 2018. Retrieved 18 October 2025.
  4. "Dauto Faquirá é o novo treinador do E. Amadora" [Dauto Faquirá is the new manager of E. Amadora]. Jornal de Notícias (in Portuguese). 31 May 2016. Retrieved 18 October 2025.
  5. ""Darei tudo para vencer e convencer"" ["I will give everything to win and convince"] (in Portuguese). Rádio e Televisão de Portugal. 18 May 2008. Retrieved 18 October 2025.
  6. "Arábia Saudita: José Peseiro reforça equipa com três portugueses" [Saudi Arabia: José Peseiro bolsters team with three Portuguese coaches] (in Portuguese). Mais Futebol. 9 August 2010. Retrieved 18 October 2025.
  7. Luz, Nuno; Pato, Gabriel (12 March 2025). "Alexandre Santos e a vida na Arábia Saudita: "Nunca tinha visto uma metralhadora tão perto de mim"" [Alexandre Santos and life in Saudi Arabia: "I'd never seen a machine gun so close to me"] (in Portuguese). SIC Notícias . Retrieved 18 October 2025.
  8. "Antigo adjunto de Peseiro é o novo treinador do Real de Massamá" [Former Peseiro assistant is new manager of Real Massamá] (in Portuguese). CNN Portugal. 22 January 2018. Retrieved 18 October 2025.
  9. "Sporting apresenta Alexandre Santos como treinador da equipa sub-23" [Sporting present Alexandre Santos as manager of under-23 team] (in Portuguese). Rádio e Televisão de Portugal. 13 December 2018. Retrieved 18 October 2025.
  10. "Le SM Caen officialise son staff pour la saison 2019-2020" [SM Caen confirm their staff for the 2019-2020 season] (in French). France 3. 15 June 2019. Retrieved 18 October 2025.
  11. Lainé, Guillaume (28 September 2019). "SM Caen. Pour Rui Almeida, l'issue était devenue inéluctable" [SM Caen. For Rui Almeida, the issue had become inevitable]. Ouest-France (in French). Retrieved 18 October 2025.
  12. "Técnico Alexandre Santos deixa Alverca" [Manager Alexandre Santos leaves Alverca]. Record (in Portuguese). 1 February 2021. Retrieved 18 October 2025.
  13. "Angola: Alexandre Santos é o novo treinador do Petro Luanda" [Angola: Alexandre Santos is the new manager of Petro Luanda] (in Portuguese). Mais Futebol. 23 August 2021. Retrieved 18 October 2025.
  14. "Petro de Luanda de Alexandre Santos conquista Taça de Angola e faz a dobradinha" [Alexandre Santos's Petro de Luanda win Taça de Angola and do the double]. Record (in Portuguese). 12 June 2022. Retrieved 18 October 2025.
  15. "Alexandre Santos reedita 'dobradinha' no Petro" [Alexandre Santos repeats 'double' for Petro]. A Bola (in Portuguese). 3 June 2023. Retrieved 18 October 2025.
  16. Pombo, Nuno (23 June 2024). "Alexandre Santos conquista a Taça de Angola: «Fizemos algo nunca visto na história do futebol angolano»" [Alexandre Santos wins Taça de Angola: "We did something never seen before in the history of Angolan football"]. Record (in Portuguese). Retrieved 18 October 2025.
  17. "CSS : Alexandre Santos nouvel entraîneur" [CSS: Alexandre Santos new manager]. Le Temps (in French). 25 June 2024. Retrieved 18 October 2025.
  18. "OFICIAL: Alexandre Santos confirma saída do Sfaxien" [OFFICIAL: Alexandre Santos confirms exit from Sfaxien] (in Portuguese). Mais Futebol. 6 January 2025. Retrieved 18 October 2025.
  19. "Officiel: Alexandre Santos nouvel entraîneur de l'AS FAR" [Official: Alexandre Santos new manager of AS FAR] (in French). Le 360 Sport. 8 February 2025. Retrieved 18 October 2025.