Alessandro Ferreira Leonardo


Alessandro Ferreira Leonardo, commonly known as Sandro, is a Brazilian-born Hong Kong football player who currently plays for Hong Kong Premier League club Eastern.

Career

Citizen

Sandro was sent off after a second bookable offence in the match against South China, when he pressured Zhang Chunhui to take his goal kick quickly and was considered by the referee to have obstructed the goalkeeper. Citizen lost the match 1:2.
Sandro scored a hat-trick against Tai Po FC on 2 May 2009 to help the club win 4:1 and end the 2008–09 season in third place in the league. On 25 October 2009, Sandro scored 5 goals for Citizen against Happy Valley at Siu Sai Wan Sports Ground, including a 50-yard lob.
With Citizen, Sandro won the 2010–11 Hong Kong Senior Challenge Shield after defeating South China AA in the final on penalties. But his contract was not renewed by the club at the end of the season.

Rangers

Sandro joined Rangers for the 2011–12 season. He scored on his debut for the club in the 1–4 defeat away to Pegasus. He scored again in the second game against his old club Citizen to tie the match 2–2.

Pegasus

Sandro joined Pegasus for an undisclosed fee before the start of 2012–13 season. However, he only scored 1 goal in 10 matches and was released by the club on 31 December 2012.

Citizen

Sandro re-joined Citizen as a free transfer after he was released by Pegasus.

Kitchee

On 15 July 2015, Sandro was formally signed as a Kitchee player. There was controversy surrounding the move as he had signed a pre-contractual agreement with Eastern nine months prior. While Sandro claimed, through his lawyer's advice that the agreement was not legally binding, Eastern's Executive Director :zh:梁守志|Peter Leung took league action after the Hong Kong Football Association was unable to resolve the situation. Eventually the situation was resolved.
During the 2016–17 season, Sandro scored 21 goals en route to winning the Golden Boot. He was rewarded with a new contract on 11 July 2017.

Tai Po

After spending the latter half of 2018 with Indonesian club PSM Makassar, Sandro returned to Hong Kong. He joined Tai Po on 6 February 2019 ahead of their 2019 AFC Cup campaign.
On 4 May 2019, Sandro scored two goals in the second to lead Tai Po to a 2–1 comeback victory against title rivals R&F. The win clinched Tai Po's first league title in club history.
On 26 December 2019, after the match against Lee Man in the semi-final of the Senior Shield, Sandro announced that he would leave the club with immediate effect.

Eastern

On 1 January 2020, less than a week after leaving Tai Po, Sandro signed with Eastern. He scored on his debut for the club in a 2–1 win over Lee Man.

International career

Sandro was born and raised in Brazil, but became a naturalized Hong Kong citizen through residency. Sandro made his international debut and scored his first goal for Hong Kong against Myanmar on 7 November 2015.

Career statistics

International

International goals

NoDateVenueOpponentScoreResultCompetition
1.7 November 2015Mong Kok Stadium, Mong Kok, Hong Kong4–05–0Friendly
2.1 September 2016Mong Kok Stadium, Mong Kok, Hong Kong3–14–2Friendly
3.6 November 2016Mong Kok Stadium, Mong Kok, Hong Kong2–03–22017 EAFF E-1 Football Championship qualification
4.5 September 2017Hang Jebat Stadium, Malacca City, Malaysia1–01–12019 AFC Asian Cup qualification
5.5 October 2017Mong Kok Stadium, Mong Kok, Hong Kong4–04–0Friendly
6.16 November 2018Taipei Municipal Stadium, Taipei, Taiwan1–05–12019 EAFF E-1 Football Championship qualification
7.16 November 2018Taipei Municipal Stadium, Taipei, Taiwan3–15–12019 EAFF E-1 Football Championship qualification

Honours

Club

Citizen
Kitchee
Tai Po