Axel Rodrigues de Arruda (born 9 January 1970), simply known as Axel, is a Brazilian footballcoach and former player who played as a midfielder. He is the current head coach of Santos' under-16 team.
Born in Santos, São Paulo, Axel began his career with local side Portuários, later moving to the youth sides of Santos and then Portuguesa Santista. After impressing with the under-17 squad of the latter, he returned to Peixe for the under-20 team, and made his senior debut in 1989.[1]
Axel became a starter for Santos in the 1990 season, forming a partnership with César Sampaio in the club's midfield in the following two years.[2] In January 1994, he moved to São Paulo, with Gilberto, Dinho and Macedo moving in the opposite direction.[3] Regularly used in the first campaign, he subsequently lost space and joined Spanish side Sevilla on loan on 21 July 1997.[4]
Upon returning, Axel served loans at Bahia and Atlético Paranaense before returning to São Paulo in 2000.[5] On 31 January 2001, he was presented at Sport Recife.[6] Despite being regularly used, he spent the entire 2002 season without a club after nursing an ankle injury,[5] and had a brief spell at Japanese side Cerezo Osaka in 2003.
In 2008, after playing for Pelotas[8] and Santacruzense, Axel announced his retirement,[5] focusing to play only showbol and being named the best player in the category for two consecutive years (2008 and 2009).[5] His performances in showbol led him to return to professional football in 2009 with Jabaquara,[9] and after a brief period at Camboriú,[10]
After retiring, Axel worked in the youth sides of Jabaquara before becoming the head coach of the first team on 1 March 2013.[12] He left at the end of the season, and became an assistant of Cláudio Caçapa and Caio Zanardi in the Brazil national under-15 and under-17 teams, respectively.[13]
After ending his period in the national sides, Axel returned to Jabuca on 19 March 2015, back as head coach.[14] On 5 February 2016, he was announced in charge of Taboão da Serra.[15]
Axel led CATS to a promotion to the Campeonato Paulista Série A3, and spent a period in charge of Guarulhos before returning to Taboão da Serra on 26 July 2017.[16] He left the club after the 2018 Paulista Série A3, and spent a period without a club before taking over Portuguesa Santista on 25 September 2020.[17]
Sacked by Portuguesa on 10 May 2021,[18] Axel became an assistant of Max Sandro at São Caetano fifteen days later.[19] On 29 January 2022, he became the interim head coach of the latter side after Max Sandro was sacked,[20] but remained in charge of the club until 20 October, when he was himself dismissed.[21]
On 19 February 2023, however, Axel returned to Azulão as head coach.[22] He was relieved from his duties on 1 February 2024, after a winless start of the season.[23]
On 2 October 2024, Axel returned to Santos to work as an interim head coach of the under-16 squad, while also working as an assistant of Leandro Zago in the under-20s.[24] In April of the following year, he became an assistant of former teammate César Sampaio in the first team squad, in an interim manner.[25]
Personal life
On 13 February 2022, Axel, his son Daniel and Marquinhos Pitbull (his assistant coach at the time) suffered a domestic accident in his house; Axel and Marquinhos suffered mild burns and were discharged, but Daniel remained hospitalized and deceased on the 22nd.[26] He also has another five children.
Career statistics
Club
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
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