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Date of Birth: Thursday, June 17, 1982
Birth Place: Brazil
Height: 188cm
Position: Defender
Former Clubs/Teams: PSV Eindhoven, Santos FC

Biography

Alex is a defender for Brazil and Chelsea in the English Premier League. He was affectionately known as ‘the tank’ at PSV because of his uncompromising style of play and his brute physical strength, which he puts to good use to help protect the goal. He can play as the right-sided full-back, but doesn’t have the pace necessary to dart up the wing on a frequent basis, not the attacking inclination. He is fast becoming first-choice for both Chelsea and Brazil.

Childhood

Alex was born on 17th June 1982, in Niteroi, in the shadow of the famous Christ the Redeemer statue. He has nearly always played in the centre of the park – playing first as a central midfielder for his youth teams, but switching to defence in his early teens, when his height made the role easy for him. His full name is Alex Rodrigo Dias da Costa.

Early Career

After years in the reserve and youth teams, Alex finally signed professional forms in February 2002, when he was 20 years old. He was initially used sparingly by his coach at Santos, but as the season progressed, and injuries took their toll, he found himself practically ever-present at the heart of the defence.

He became a first-choice centre back in his next season, playing every game in the Brazilian League, and receiving some rave reviews. Chelsea, amongst others, were watching on from afar, and looked to sign up the talented Brazilian in the Summer of 2004 – Alex’s season for Santos was cut short to just 4 games as he flew out to catch the start of the European season.

Because of work permit problems, Chelsea immediately loaned Alex out to PSV, whom they had a partnership agreement with, and Alex was thrust into the first-team. In his three seasons at the Dutch club he won the League title each year, as well as the Dutch Cup once, and helped PSV to progress to the Semi Finals in the Champions League.

Current Club

Alex was finally granted a work permit in July 2007, and he joined Chelsea’s first-team for the first time since initially signing for the club over 3 years earlier. It took some time to adapt to the pace of the English game, but Alex soon got to grips with that as well as the cultural differences. Trying to break up the established partnership of John Terry and Ricardo Carvalho was always going to be a hard task, but Alex kept his head down ad worked hard.

With the arrival of a Brazilian manager, Felipe Scolari, Alex had more chances, whilst he is now the first reserve for Terry and Carvalho, having seen both Boulahrouz and Tal Haim leave the club. He is fast becoming a first-team regular due to injuries.

International

Alex is now the preferred partner to Lucio at the heart of the Brazilian defence. He made his international debut in July 2003, when he was still at Santos, but was not included in the World Cup 2006 Squad. He started to become more integral to the team after the World Cup retirements of Emerson and Juan, and was in the first-team for Brazil’s triumphant Copa America campaign in 2007.