Alan Souza was named MVP of the 2019 FIVB Volleyball World Cup after helping Brazil win gold in Japan. The tournament transformed the 202 cm opposite from a player still establishing himself in Brazil’s senior rotation into an internationally recognized scorer. He has since represented Brazil at two Olympic Games, won the Volleyball Nations League and built an overseas club career across Russia, Poland and Japan.
Alan currently plays for PGE GiEK SKRA Bełchatów, which renewed his contract for the 2026/27 season despite an injury-disrupted first year with the club. The injury he suffered during the 2025 World Championship delayed his 2025/26 PlusLiga debut until January, but he returned before the playoffs and was back in preseason action in September 2026, scoring 11 points in SKRA’s four-set friendly win over Jastrzębie Barkom. Brazil’s situation is different: Alan was not included in the federation’s 30-player registration for the 2026 VNL or its final roster for the 2026 South American Championship, so his most recent national-team season remains 2025.
Player Information
| Attribute | Information |
|---|---|
| Full Name | Alan Ferreira de Souza |
| Known As | Alan Souza |
| Date of Birth | March 21, 1994 |
| Place of Birth | Rio de Janeiro, Rio de Janeiro, Brazil |
| Nationality | Brazilian |
| Position | Opposite Spiker |
| Height | 202 cm |
| Weight | 98 kg |
| Listed Spike Reach | 367 cm |
| Listed Block Reach | 343 cm |
| Current Club | PGE GiEK SKRA Bełchatów |
| Current League | PlusLiga |
| Club Number | 1 |
| Previous Clubs | Olympico/MartMinas/Uptime, Sada Cruzeiro Vôlei, SESI São Paulo, Kuzbass Kemerovo, APAN/Eleva Blumenau, Indykpol AZS Olsztyn, Toray Arrows Shizuoka |
| National Team | Brazil Men’s National Volleyball Team — most recently selected in 2025 |
| Olympic Appearances | Tokyo 2020, Paris 2024 |
| @alanvolei |
Brazilian Olympic Committee records list Alan’s full name, March 21, 1994 birth date, Rio de Janeiro birthplace and 202 cm height. Current PlusLiga records also list him at 202 cm and 98 kg with a 367 cm attack reach, while SKRA’s 2026/27 league roster lists him as No. 1. Older player databases commonly list a 343 cm block reach.
Early Life & Volleyball Beginnings
Alan began playing volleyball at around 14 years old. His first serious opportunity came through Botafogo in Rio de Janeiro, after a coach noticed him during one of his first tournaments. Alan later recalled that although his height and competitiveness were obvious, his technique was still underdeveloped. Training required long journeys on public transport while he was also trying to keep up with school.
That balance nearly ended his volleyball development. After Alan repeated a year at school, his parents temporarily stopped him from playing because they considered education the priority. His coach contacted the family and argued that their son had genuine potential in the sport, allowing Alan to continue. At 17, an opportunity arrived to move to Minas Gerais and enter the Sada Cruzeiro development structure. He then committed fully to pursuing volleyball professionally.
The early transition was important because Alan was not yet the technically polished opposite he would become. His pathway was based first on physical potential and competitiveness, followed by several years inside one of Brazil’s strongest player-development environments. By 2013 he was already competing internationally at age-group level and was named Best Opposite Spiker at the FIVB U21 World Championship, where Brazil took silver behind Russia.
Club Career
Alan entered the Sada Cruzeiro system as a teenager, with his 2012/13 playing record also including Olympico/MartMinas/Uptime before he established himself with Cruzeiro’s senior group. His first extended senior period with Sada Cruzeiro Vôlei ran from 2013 to 2017 and placed him inside the most successful Brazilian club environment of the period.
During those years, Sada Cruzeiro won two FIVB Club World Championships and three Brazilian Superliga titles with Alan in the organization. The world titles came in 2015 and 2016. He was initially developing behind more established attackers rather than carrying the full offensive load, but the environment gave him regular exposure to international club competition and high-level training before he became Brazil’s senior national-team opposite.
In 2017, Alan moved to SESI São Paulo, where greater responsibility followed. He spent three seasons with SESI and developed into a more prominent scorer. His 2018/19 campaign brought individual recognition as one of the leading opposites in the Brazilian league, strengthening his case for a larger role with the national team at almost exactly the same time that his international career was accelerating.
Alan returned to Sada Cruzeiro for 2020/21 after three seasons away. One of the clearest performances of that second spell came in the Brazilian Cup final in February 2021. Cruzeiro defeated Taubaté in five sets, and Alan led all scorers with 27 points as the club won the trophy.
His first club move outside Brazil followed. Alan signed with Kuzbass Kemerovo in Russia for the 2021/22 season, but the experiment ended much sooner than planned. A persistent left-foot problem eventually required him to stop playing, and he and Kuzbass terminated the contract during the season. The injury required surgery and significantly interrupted what was supposed to be his first full overseas club campaign.
Alan returned to Brazil with APAN/Eleva Blumenau for 2022/23 before trying European volleyball again. This time the result was very different. He joined Indykpol AZS Olsztyn for the 2023/24 PlusLiga season and finished as the league’s leading scorer, producing 623 points in 33 matches. His total included 523 attack points, 60 blocks and 40 aces, with a 49% attacking success rate.
That season opened another overseas opportunity. Alan moved to Toray Arrows Shizuoka in Japan for 2024/25 and scored 666 league points across 35 matches. His ability to maintain a heavy attacking workload in Japan then led back to Poland, where PGE GiEK SKRA Bełchatów signed him for 2025/26.
The start in Bełchatów was disrupted by the injury suffered while representing Brazil at the 2025 World Championship. Alan did not make his PlusLiga debut for SKRA until January 17, 2026. He gradually regained a larger role, finished the regular season with 115 points from 10 appearances and later played in the club’s quarterfinal series. SKRA renewed his contract in March 2026, and he remains with the club for 2026/27.
Club Career Timeline
| Seasons | Team | Country |
|---|---|---|
| 2012–2013 | Olympico/MartMinas/Uptime | Brazil |
| 2013–2017 | Sada Cruzeiro Vôlei | Brazil |
| 2017–2020 | SESI São Paulo | Brazil |
| 2020–2021 | Sada Cruzeiro Vôlei | Brazil |
| 2021 | Kuzbass Kemerovo | Russia |
| 2022–2023 | APAN/Eleva Blumenau | Brazil |
| 2023–2024 | Indykpol AZS Olsztyn | Poland |
| 2024–2025 | Toray Arrows Shizuoka | Japan |
| 2025–present | PGE GiEK SKRA Bełchatów | Poland |
The timeline reflects Alan’s meaningful senior club periods; Botafogo belongs to his formative youth career rather than the professional sequence above.
National Team Career
Alan progressed through Brazil’s age-group teams well before becoming a regular member of the main senior squad. In 2013, Brazil finished second at the U21 World Championship and Alan was selected as the tournament’s Best Opposite Spiker. The same year also brought a U23 world title, one of the major early achievements listed in his Brazilian Olympic Committee record.
His place in Brazil’s primary senior rotation became more established from 2018. The breakthrough season was 2019. First, Brazil won the South American Championship after recovering from two sets down to defeat Argentina, and Alan was selected as the tournament MVP. A few weeks later, he produced the performance that became the defining early landmark of his senior international career.
At the 2019 FIVB World Cup in Japan, Alan took on a major scoring role and helped Brazil win gold. He finished the tournament as its Most Valuable Player. Volleyball World later described the World Cup as the point at which Alan moved from being relatively little known outside Brazil to having opponents specifically preparing for his attacking patterns.
Brazil followed with another major title in the 2021 Volleyball Nations League, and Alan was part of the squad that won the inaugural Brazilian VNL gold. He then made his Olympic debut at Tokyo 2020, where Brazil finished fourth. After the Games, Brazil won the 2021 South American Championship, with Alan scoring 24 points in the decisive victory over Argentina.
The next phase of his national-team career was shaped heavily by injuries. Alan entered 2022 as one of the candidates to inherit the starting-opposite role after Wallace de Souza’s international retirement. He had already undergone foot surgery following his abbreviated season in Russia, then suffered another injury during the 2022 VNL. Younger brother Darlan stepped into the lineup, and Alan ultimately missed Brazil’s bronze-medal campaign at the 2022 World Championship.
He returned to Brazil in 2023 and again became a major scoring option. At the South American Championship, Brazil finished second to Argentina and Alan was selected as the competition’s Best Opposite. The year also intensified one of the unusual dynamics in Brazil’s roster: Alan and Darlan were brothers competing for playing time in the same position.
Alan and Darlan eventually both reached the Paris 2024 Olympic Games with Brazil. For Alan, it was a second Olympics; for Darlan, his first. Brazil reached the quarterfinals before being eliminated by the United States and finished eighth.
Alan remained with the senior team in 2025. During the VNL, he delivered several major performances, including 31 points against Italy — 26 kills, four blocks and one ace — in a five-set Brazilian victory. Brazil later won bronze, with Alan leading the team with 18 points in the third-place match against Slovenia.
His final international competition of 2025 was the World Championship in the Philippines. He scored 35 points in three pool matches, with 31 from attack, three from blocks and one from serve. Brazil did not advance from the opening phase, and an injury from the tournament subsequently delayed Alan’s start to his SKRA club season.
Alan was not included among Brazil’s 30 registered players for the 2026 VNL. He was also absent from the 16-player August training group and the final 14-player roster that won the 2026 South American Championship and secured Olympic qualification for Los Angeles 2028. His current status is therefore that of an active professional club player whose most recent Brazil appearances came in 2025.
Playing Style & Strengths
Alan’s game is built around the classic scoring responsibilities of an opposite. He is generally removed from the primary serve-reception pattern so that he can remain available for right-side attacks in the front row and back-row swings from zone one. At 202 cm with a listed 367 cm attack reach, he has the contact height to attack above large blocks, but his best seasons have also depended on handling a very high number of sets without becoming predictable.
The 2023/24 PlusLiga season is a particularly useful statistical picture of that role. Alan took 1,068 attack attempts across 130 sets, converting 523 of them for points at a 49% success rate. Just 26 reception attempts were recorded for him all season, illustrating how completely Olsztyn organized his role around scoring rather than first-contact responsibility.
He is not only an attack-volume player. The same Olsztyn season included 60 block points and 40 aces, meaning 100 of his 623 points came directly from the other two scoring skills. That balance matters for an opposite: a player who can pressure receivers from the service line and score against opposing outside hitters at the block can influence rotations even before receiving an attacking set.
His 31-point match against Italy in the 2025 VNL showed the same three-way scoring profile at international level. Alan scored through 26 attacks, four blocks and an ace in Brazil’s five-set win. It was not merely a case of receiving enough volume to accumulate points; he contributed directly in all three scoring categories against one of the strongest teams in international volleyball.
Alan also brings experience in high-ball and transition situations. Opposites frequently receive the least comfortable sets when a team is out of system, and his career as a primary scorer in Brazil, Poland and Japan has required him to attack against organized double blocks repeatedly. His physical reach remains important, but shot selection, using the blockers’ hands and controlling the direction of his approach have become increasingly central as his career has progressed.
Major Achievements
Selected National Team Honors
| Year | Competition | Result |
|---|---|---|
| 2019 | South American Championship | Gold |
| 2019 | FIVB World Cup | Gold |
| 2021 | Volleyball Nations League | Gold |
| 2021 | South American Championship | Gold |
| 2023 | South American Championship | Silver |
| 2025 | Volleyball Nations League | Bronze |
Alan’s international record should not include Brazil’s 2022 World Championship bronze because his VNL injury ruled him out of that tournament. His two Olympic appearances — Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 — also did not produce medals, with Brazil finishing fourth and eighth respectively.
Selected Club Honors
| Year / Season | Competition | Result | Team |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2014/15 | Brazilian Superliga | Champion | Sada Cruzeiro Vôlei |
| 2015 | FIVB Club World Championship | Champion | Sada Cruzeiro Vôlei |
| 2015/16 | Brazilian Superliga | Champion | Sada Cruzeiro Vôlei |
| 2016 | FIVB Club World Championship | Champion | Sada Cruzeiro Vôlei |
| 2016/17 | Brazilian Superliga | Champion | Sada Cruzeiro Vôlei |
| 2021 | Brazilian Cup | Champion | Sada Cruzeiro Vôlei |
FIVB records Alan’s first Sada Cruzeiro period as producing two Club World Championship titles and three Brazilian Superliga championships. On his return to the club, he was the top scorer in the 2021 Brazilian Cup final with 27 points.
Selected Individual Awards
| Year | Competition | Award |
|---|---|---|
| 2013 | FIVB U21 World Championship | Best Opposite Spiker |
| 2015 | Pan American Cup | MVP |
| 2018 | Pan American Cup | Best Opposite & Best Scorer |
| 2019 | Brazilian Superliga | Best Opposite |
| 2019 | South American Championship | MVP |
| 2019 | FIVB World Cup | MVP |
| 2023 | South American Championship | Best Opposite |
The two 2019 MVP awards came in very different settings: one at continental level and the other at the World Cup, where Alan’s performance established him internationally as a leading opposite.
Family & Personal Life
Alan’s younger brother Darlan Souza is also an international-level opposite. Darlan has described Alan as one of the central influences behind his own volleyball career, having watched his older brother progress from Brazil’s club system into the national team and eventually win the 2019 World Cup MVP award.
The brothers reached Brazil’s senior national-team environment together in 2022. In a Volleyball World interview before the 2022 VNL, Alan spoke about Darlan being called up to compete in the same opposite group, saying that they had long talked about how special it would be to play for the national team at the same time. He also made clear that family ties did not remove the competition between them for a place on court.
That competition became tangible later in the tournament. After Alan was injured against Iran, Darlan replaced his older brother in the starting role against Bulgaria and scored 10 attacking points in Brazil’s straight-set victory. By 2023 both were established options for Brazil, and in 2024 they were selected for the same Olympic team in Paris. The family connection is therefore more than a biographical detail: the brothers reached the highest level of the sport together while playing the one position that normally allows only one of them to start at a time.
Where Is Alan Souza Playing Now?
Alan Souza plays for PGE GiEK SKRA Bełchatów in Poland for the 2026/27 season. SKRA renewed his contract in March 2026, and the current league roster lists him as No. 1 alongside fellow opposite Arkadiusz Żakieta. The club finished fifth in Poland in 2025/26 and will also return to European competition in the CEV Cup during 2026/27.
His fitness entering the season is particularly relevant after the injury problems of 2025/26. Alan took part in SKRA’s September preseason program and scored 11 points in the club’s 4-0 friendly victory over Jastrzębie Barkom on September 19.
At international level, Alan’s situation has changed. He last represented the Brazil Men’s National Volleyball Team in 2025 and was not registered for the 2026 VNL or selected for the 2026 South American Championship. He remains an active club professional, but he is not part of Brazil’s current 2026 senior roster.
Recent Performance Snapshot
| Season | Club / Competition | Matches | Points | Attack Points | Block Points | Aces |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 2023/24 | Indykpol AZS Olsztyn — PlusLiga | 33 | 623 | 523 | 60 | 40 |
| 2024/25 | Toray Arrows Shizuoka — SV.League | 35 | 666 | — | — | — |
| 2025/26 | PGE GiEK SKRA Bełchatów — PlusLiga | 12 | 143 | 108 | 24 | 11 |
Alan was the overall scoring leader of the 2023/24 PlusLiga, a particularly strong result in his first Polish season. His Japanese year maintained a similarly large workload, with 666 points in 35 league appearances for Toray. The following season’s lower SKRA totals reflect the injury that kept him out until January rather than a full 2025/26 campaign.
Frequently Asked Questions
How tall is Alan Souza?
Alan Souza is 202 cm tall. Current Brazilian Olympic Committee and league records use the 202 cm figure.
What position does Alan Souza play?
Alan is an opposite spiker. His role centers on right-side and back-row scoring, serving and blocking rather than carrying a primary serve-reception assignment.
Which club does Alan Souza play for?
Alan plays for PGE GiEK SKRA Bełchatów in Poland’s PlusLiga. He renewed for the 2026/27 season and remains part of SKRA’s current roster.
Is Alan Souza still playing for Brazil?
Alan’s most recent Brazil appearances came in 2025, when he helped the team win VNL bronze and later competed at the World Championship. He was not registered for Brazil’s 2026 VNL roster and was not selected for the 2026 South American Championship.
Is Darlan Souza Alan Souza’s brother?
Yes. Darlan Souza is Alan’s younger brother, and both are opposites. Darlan has publicly credited Alan with inspiring his own volleyball career, and the two later competed for the same position with Brazil.
Has Alan Souza played at the Olympics?
Yes. Alan represented Brazil at Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024. Brazil finished fourth in Tokyo and eighth in Paris.
What is Alan Souza’s biggest individual international award?
His most prominent senior international award is the 2019 FIVB World Cup MVP. He received the honor after helping Brazil win the tournament in Japan.
References
- Brazilian Olympic Committee — Paris 2024 Media Guide
- Tribuna do Paraná — Alan Souza’s early volleyball development and Botafogo years
- FIVB — World Cup MVP Alan back with Sada Cruzeiro
- FIVB — Alan leads Sada Cruzeiro to Brazilian Cup three-peat
- Volleyball World — Alan looking to return to his MVP form
- Volleyball World — Hungry Alan ready to help Brazil in the VNL
- Volleyball World — Way to step in for injured brother, Darlan
- FIVB — Darlan following in older brother Alan’s footsteps
- PlusLiga — Alan Souza finishes 2023/24 as the league’s leading scorer
- PlusLiga — Alan Souza signs with PGE GiEK SKRA Bełchatów
- PlusLiga — Alan Souza renews with PGE GiEK SKRA Bełchatów
- Volleyball World — Alan scores 31 points as Brazil defeats Italy in VNL 2025
- Volleyball World — Brazil wins VNL 2025 bronze with Alan leading the team
- Volleyball World — Alan Souza 2025 World Championship player profile
- Brazilian Volleyball Confederation — Brazil’s registered players for the 2026 VNL