Axel (footballer)

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.

Axel played the 2004 Campeonato Paulista for hometown side Portuguesa Santista, before moving to Paraná Clube in the top tier. He represented Figueirense in the following season,^[7] and later returned to Briosa in 2007, after another unassuming spell at Campinense.

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]

Axel made his full international debut with the Brazil national team on 23 September 1992, starting in a 4–2 friendly win over Costa Rica.^[11]

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]

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.

Club

More information Club, Season ...

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition

Club	Season	League			State league[a]		National cup[b]		Continental		Other		Total
		Division	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals	Apps	Goals
Santos	1989	Série A	5	0	3	0	—		0	0	—		8	0
	1990		19	2	26	1	—		2[c]	0	—		47	3
	1991		12	0	21	1	—		2[c]	0	—		35	1
	1992		19	1	27	1	—		2[c]	0	—		48	2
	1993		13	1	18	1	—		2[c]	0	0	0	33	2
	Total		68	4	95	4	—		8	0	0	0	171	8
São Paulo	1994[27]	Série A	14	2	23	1	—		11[d]	0	1[e]	0	49	3
	1995[28]		0	0	12	0	2	0	0	0	—		14	0
	1996[29]		15	0	5	0	1	0	2[c]	0	1[f]	0	24	0
	1997[30]		0	0	23	0	4	0	0	0	4[g]	0	31	0
	2000[31]		5	0	15	0	7	0	3[h]	0	6[i]	0	36	0
	Total		34	2	78	1	14	0	16	0	12	0	154	3
Sevilla (loan)	1997–98[32]	Segunda División	24	1	—		2	0	—		—		26	1
Atlético Paranaense (loan)	1999	Série A	15	0	—		—		—		2[j]	0	17	0
Sport Recife	2001	Série A	18	0	22	0	4	0	—		10[k]	0	54	0
Cerezo Osaka	2003	J.League 1	15	0	—		0	0	—		0	0	15	0
Portuguesa Santista	2004	Série C	0	0	10	0	2	0	—		—		12	0
Paraná	2004	Série A	31	3	—		—		—		—		31	3
Figueirense	2005	Série A	14	0	5	0	7	0	—		—		26	0
Portuguesa Santista	2007	Paulista A2	—		6	0	—		—		—		6	0
Santacruzense	2008	Paulista A3	—		2	0	—		—		—		2	0
Jabaquara	2009	Paulista 2ª Divisão	—		12	2	—		—		—		12	2
Career Total			219	10	230	7	29	0	24	0	24	0	526	17

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1. [a]

   Includes Campeonato Paulista
2. [b]

   Includes Copa do Brasil, Emperor's Cup
3. [c]

   Appearance(s) in Supercopa Libertadores
4. [d]

   Eight appearances in Copa Libertadores, three appearances in Supercopa Libertadores
5. [e]

   Appearance(s) in Recopa Sudamericana
6. [f]

   Appearance(s) in Copa de Oro
7. [g]

   Appearance(s) in Torneio Rio–São Paulo
8. [h]

   Appearance(s) in Copa Mercosur
9. [i]

   Two appearances in Torneio Rio–São Paulo, four appearances in Copa dos Campeões
10. [j]

    Appearance(s) in Seletiva para a Libertadores [pt]
11. [k]

    Seven appearances in Copa do Nordeste, three appearances in Copa dos Campeões

International

^[33]

More information Brazil national team, Year ...

Brazil national team
Year	Apps	Goals
1992	1	0
Total	1	0

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Player

São Paulo

• Recopa Sudamericana: 1994
• Campeonato Paulista: 2000