Éder Citadin Martins (born 15 November 1986), simply known as Éder (; ), is a professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugb ...

who plays as a forward for

Criciúma Criciúma is a city in the Brazilian state of Santa Catarina. At , it is located 180 km south of Florianópolis, the state capital and around 900 km south of São Paulo. The city is the center of Brazil's flooring and home materials in ...

. Born in Brazil with Italian ancestry, Éder moved to Italy at age 19, where he spent most of his professional career (from 2006 to 2018). He began his career with Brazilian club

, and moved to Italian club

Empoli Empoli () is a town and ''comune'' in the Metropolitan City of Florence, Tuscany, Italy, about southwest of Florence, to the south of the Arno in a plain formed by the river. The plain has been usable for agriculture since Roman times. The comm ...

in January 2006, spending most of his career in the country for clubs such as Empoli, Sampdoria and

Inter Milan Football Club Internazionale Milano, commonly referred to as Internazionale () or simply Inter, and colloquially known as Inter Milan in English-speaking countries, is an Italian professional football club based in Milan, Lombardy. Inter i ...

. In 2018, he moved to China, joining Inter Milan's sister club

Jiangsu Suning Jiangsu Football Club (), later known as Jiangsu Sainty F.C. (2000–2016) and Jiangsu Suning F.C. (2016–2021), was a professional football club that participated in the Chinese Super League since 2009 until its dissolution in 2021. The tea ...

. Following the club's dissolution in 2021, he returned to Brazil, joining

São Paulo São Paulo (, ; Portuguese for ' Saint Paul') is the most populous city in Brazil, and is the capital of the state of São Paulo, the most populous and wealthiest Brazilian state, located in the country's Southeast Region. Listed by the GaW ...

. Éder was born in Brazil, but qualifies to play for Italy through his

Italian passport An Italian passport is issued upon request to an Italian citizen for the purpose of international travel. It is valid for 10, 5 or 3 years, depending on the applicant's age. Its biometric version has been available since 2006. It is ranked as ...

and more than two-years of residency in Italy. He made his international debut for

Italy Italy ( it, Italia ), officially the Italian Republic, ) or the Republic of Italy, is a country in Southern Europe. It is located in the middle of the Mediterranean Sea, and its territory largely coincides with the homonymous geographical ...

in March 2015, and scored two goals in their successful qualification campaign for

UEFA Euro 2016 The 2016 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2016 (stylised as UEFA EURO 2016) or simply Euro 2016, was the 15th UEFA European Championship, the quadrennial international men's football championship of Europe o ...

, also being selected for the final tournament.

Early life

Éder holds dual nationality (Brazilian and Italian) as his great-grandfather, Battista Righetto, was from

Nove Nove is a town and ''comune'' in the province of Vicenza in the region of Veneto, north-eastern Italy, with just over 5,000 inhabitants. It is located on the Brenta river, near Marostica and Bassano del Grappa. The town is home of a local networ ...

in the Province of Vicenza. He was named in tribute to Éder Aleixo de Assis, striker of the Brazil national team during the

1982 FIFA World Cup The 1982 FIFA World Cup was the 12th FIFA World Cup, a quadrennial football tournament for men's senior national teams, and was played in Spain between 13 June and 11 July 1982. The tournament was won by Italy, who defeated West Germany 3–1 ...

Club career

Early years

Born in

Lauro Müller, Santa Catarina Lauro Müller is a city in Santa Catarina, in the Southern Region of Brazil. History Despite its German German(s) may refer to: * Germany (of or related to) **Germania (historical use) * Germans, citizens of Germany, people of German ances ...

state, Éder started his career at

Criciúma Esporte Clube Criciúma Esporte Clube, commonly referred to as Criciúma, is a Brazilian professional club based in Criciúma, Santa Catarina founded on 13 May 1947. Criciúma is the most successful team from Santa Catarina, having won the 1991 Copa do Br ...

. He made his first team – and

Campeonato Brasileiro Série A The Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (; English: "Brazilian Championship A Series"), commonly referred to as the Brasileirão (; English: "Big Brazilian"), and also known as Brasileirão Assaí due to sponsorship with Assaí Atacadista, is a Br ...

– debut on 19 December 2004, coming on as a second-half substitute in a 3–3 home draw against

Coritiba Coritiba Foot Ball Club, commonly known as Coritiba and colloquially referred to as "Coxa-Branca" or "Coxa", is a Brazilian football club from Curitiba, capital city of the Brazilian state of Paraná. Founded in 1909, it is the oldest f ...

, with his side being already relegated. Éder was definitely promoted to the first team ahead of the 2005 season, and scored his first goal on 30 January of that year, but in a 3–2

Campeonato Catarinense The Campeonato Catarinense de Futebol, known as Campeonato Catarinense or simply Catarinense, is the main competition of association football from state of Santa Catarina, in Brazil. History The Campeonato Catarinense top level has had several ...

home loss against

Joinville Joinville () is the largest city in Santa Catarina, in the Southern Region of Brazil. It is the third largest municipality in the southern region of Brazil, after the much larger state capitals of Curitiba and Porto Alegre. Joinville is also a ...

. He finished the tournament with three goals in ten appearances, and scored in his

Campeonato Brasileiro Série B The Campeonato Brasileiro Série B is commonly referred to as the Brasileirão Série B (Série B), and until 2022 was officially called Brasileirão Sportingbet by sponsorship reasons. It is the second tier of the Brazilian football league syst ...

debut against São Raimundo-AM on 26 April, finishing a 2–0 home success. At the age of 19 and with five goals in 19 league appearances during the year, Éder was signed by Italian club

Frosinone

Éder signed with

Frosinone Frosinone (, local dialect: ) is a town and ''comune'' in Lazio, central Italy, the administrative seat of the province of Frosinone. It is located about south-east of Rome close to the Rome-Naples A1 Motorway. The city is the main city of the ...

in a co-ownership deal for a fee of €600,000Empoli F.C. SpA ''bilancio'' (financial report and accounts) on 30 June 2009
PDF purchased from Italian CCIAA
/ref> in June 2008 following a loan spell during the second half of the

2007–08 Serie B The 2007–08 Serie B regular season is the seventy-sixth since its establishment. It started on August 25, 2007, and ended with the promotion playoff final on June 15, 2008. At the end of the year, three teams were promoted to Serie A, the fir ...

season.

Return to Empoli

Empoli bought Éder back from Frosinone in June 2009 for €2.42 million following an impressive Serie B season by the striker. He scored four goals in one Serie B game on 13 April 2010, two of which were penalties, in a 5–2 victory for Empoli over

Salernitana Unione Sportiva Salernitana 1919, commonly referred to as Salernitana, is an Italian football club based in Salerno, Campania. The original club was founded in 1919 and has been reconstituted three times in the course of its history, most recentl ...

. He finished the

2009–10 Serie B The 2009–10 Serie B season is the seventy-eighth edition since its establishment in 1929. Serie B is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It is contested by 22 teams and organized by the Leg ...

season as top scorer, with 27 goals.

Loans to Brescia & Cesena

On 20 August 2010, Éder signed a 1+4 year contract with

Serie A The Serie A (), also called Serie A TIM for national sponsorship with TIM, is a professional league competition for football clubs located at the top of the Italian football league system and the winner is awarded the Scudetto and the Cop ...

newcomers

Brescia Brescia (, locally ; lmo, link=no, label= Lombard, Brèsa ; lat, Brixia; vec, Bressa) is a city and '' comune'' in the region of Lombardy, Northern Italy. It is situated at the foot of the Alps, a few kilometers from the lakes Garda and Iseo ...

, meaning that Éder would join Brescia on loan for the first year. Brescia later revealed in its financial report that the loan fee was €1.8 million. Éder scored just six goals for the club and on 13 July 2011 was transferred to

Cesena Cesena (; rgn, Cisêna) is a city and '' comune'' in the Emilia-Romagna region of Italy, served by Autostrada A14, and located near the Apennine Mountains, about from the Adriatic Sea. The total population is 97,137. History Cesena was ...

from Empoli in a temporary deal for €2.2 million (which later compensate by the loan fee from Sampdoria).A.C. Cesena S.p.A. ''bilancio'' (financial report and accounts) on 30 June 2012 (in Italian)
PDF purchased from Italian C.C.I.A.A.
/ref>

Sampdoria

On 24 January 2012, Éder moved to Sampdoria on a loan deal for €1.1 million fee to Cesena. He scored his first goal for the club on 21 April 2012 in a 1–1 draw with

Vicenza Vicenza ( , ; ) is a city in northeastern Italy. It is in the Veneto region at the northern base of the ''Monte Berico'', where it straddles the Bacchiglione River. Vicenza is approximately west of Venice and east of Milan. Vicenza is a thr ...

. On 3 July 2012, Sampdoria signed Éder outright for €3 million on a five-year contract from Empoli, making Eder had cost Sampdoria €4.1 million in total, while on Empoli side, the club received €7 million fee from 2010 to 2012.

Internazionale

On 29 January 2016, Éder joined

Inter Inter may refer to: Association football clubs * Inter Milan, an Italian club * SC Internacional, a Brazilian club * Inter Miami CF, an American club * FC Inter Sibiu, a Romanian club * FC Inter Turku, a Finnish club * FK Inter Bratislava, a form ...

on a 1½-year loan deal for €1.2 million which could be made permanent upon the fulfillment of certain conditions. He signed a contract that could keep him at Inter until 2020, and is receiving a wage of reported €1.5 million per year. He was presented to the media on the very same day, where he was assigned the number 23, saying that he did not think twice about signing with Inter. He made his debut for the club on 31 January, in a 3–0 defeat to cross-city rivals

Milan Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city ...

in the ''

Derby della Madonnina The Derby della Madonnina, also known as the Derby di Milano (Milan Derby, in English), is a derby football match between the two prominent Milanese clubs, Internazionale and A.C. Milan. It is called ''Derby della Madonnina'' in honour of one of ...

''. After making his first friendly appearance for Inter of the 2016–17 season on 14 August, the obligation to purchase him in a definitive deal was activated.page 2 of ''Relazione sulla gestione'' (Management Report) of 2015–16 Consolidated financial report (''bilancio consolidato'') of Inter Milan Group (Gruppo F.C. Internazionale Milano S.p.A.), PDF purchased from C.C.I.A.A. (in Italian) On 28 January of the following year, Éder celebrated his 200th

appearance by scoring in a 3–0 home win over

Pescara Pescara (; nap, label= Abruzzese, Pescàrë; nap, label= Pescarese, Piscàrë) is the capital city of the Province of Pescara, in the Abruzzo region of Italy. It is the most populated city in Abruzzo, with 119,217 (2018) residents (and approxim ...

. On 14 May 2017, Éder came off the bench to scoring his team's only goal in the 1–2 home defeat to

Sassuolo Sassuolo (; egl, label=Modenese dialect, Modenese, Sasól ) is an Italian town, ''comune'', and industrial centre of the Province of Modena in Emilia-Romagna. Standing on the right bank of the river Secchia some southwest of Modena, the town ...

, before profiting from

Mauro Icardi Mauro Emanuel Icardi Rivero (; born 19 February 1993) is an Argentine professional Association football, footballer who plays as a Striker (association football), striker for Süper Lig club Galatasaray S.K. (football), Galatasaray, on loan fro ...

's injury to start in the last two league matches, scoring against

Lazio it, Laziale , population_note = , population_blank1_title = , population_blank1 = , demographics_type1 = , demographics1_footnotes = , demographics1_title1 = , demographics1_info1 = , demographics1_title2 ...

and a brace against

Udinese Udinese Calcio, commonly referred to as Udinese, is a professional Italian football club based in Udine, Friuli-Venezia Giulia, that currently plays in Serie A. It was founded on 30 November 1896 as a sports club, and on 5 July 1911 as a fo ...

, taking his tally up to 8 league goals. It was also the first time that Éder had scored in three Serie A matches in a row as an Inter player, and first time since November 2015. He finished his first full season with Inter by making 40 appearances in all competitions, including 33 in Serie A and 6 in Europa League, scoring 10 goals in the process, 8 of which came in Serie A and 2 in the Europa League. On 2 November 2017, Éder signed a contract extension, penning a new deal until June 2021. Only three days later, he came off the bench to score his first 2017–18 season goal in the 1–1 draw against

Torino Turin ( , Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital from 1861 to 1865. T ...

to help Inter remain undefeated. Éder made his first starts of the 2017–18 season later in February 2018, profiting from Icardi's injury; the first was in the 1–1 draw versus

Crotone Crotone (, ; nap, label= Crotonese, Cutrone or ) is a city and ''comune'' in Calabria, Italy. Founded as the Achaean colony of Kroton ( grc, Κρότων or ; la, Crotona) in Magna Graecia, it was known as Cotrone from the Middle Ages until ...

where he netted a header in the first half and the second was versus

Bologna Bologna (, , ; egl, label= Emilian, Bulåggna ; lat, Bononia) is the capital and largest city of the Emilia-Romagna region in Northern Italy. It is the seventh most populous city in Italy with about 400,000 inhabitants and 150 different nat ...

where he scored inside 90 seconds to lead Inter into a 2–1 home win, the first after eight league matches.

Jiangsu Suning

On 13 July 2018, Éder signed with Chinese club

for a reported €5.5 million. On 12 November 2020, Éder scored in the second-leg of the Chinese Super League finals against

Guangzhou Evergrande Guangzhou Football Club, formerly known as Guangzhou Evergrande Taobao Football Club, is a professional Chinese football club that participates in the Chinese Super League under the license of the Chinese Football Association. The team is based ...

. Jiangsu Suning won the match 2–1, with an aggregate victory of the same scoreline, securing the club's first league title in their history.

São Paulo

On 26 March 2021, Éder joined

São Paulo FC São Paulo Futebol Clube (), commonly referred to as São Paulo, is a professional football club in the Morumbi district of São Paulo, Brazil, founded in 1930. It plays in the Campeonato Paulista (the State of São Paulo's premier state leag ...

on a deal running until December 2022.

International career

Éder, as a dual citizen of Italy and Brazil, was eligible to play for both nations. He qualified for the Italy national team through his

Italian citizenship Italian nationality law is the law of Italy governing the acquisition, transmission and loss of Italian citizenship. Like many continental European countries it is largely based on '' jus sanguinis''. It also incorporates many elements that are ...

as well as more than 2-year of residence in Italy; he qualified to Italian citizenship through his Italian great-grandfather Battista Righetto, who came from

Veneto Veneto (, ; vec, Vèneto ) or Venetia is one of the 20 regions of Italy. Its population is about five million, ranking fourth in Italy. The region's capital is Venice while the biggest city is Verona. Veneto was part of the Roman Empire unt ...

. He was previously included in Brazil's preliminary squad for the 2008 Summer Olympics, however, he did not get a place in the final squad list by coach Dunga. Éder began to be considered for the

Italian national team The Italy national football team ( it, Nazionale di calcio dell'Italia) has represented Italy in international football since its first match in 1910. The national team is controlled by the Italian Football Federation (FIGC), the governing bo ...

by head coach

Antonio Conte Antonio Conte (; born 31 July 1969) is an Italian professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of Premier League club Tottenham Hotspur. Playing as a midfielder, Conte began his career at local club Lecce and later b ...

due to his good form in the 2014–15 season with Sampdoria. There was controversy surrounding

's call-up for Éder and

Franco Vázquez Franco Damián Vázquez (; born 22 February 1989) is an Argentine professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder for Serie B club Parma and the Argentina national team. Beginning his career with Argentine club Belgrano in 2007, V� ...

, respectively born in Brazil and Argentina. Speaking at a Serie A meeting on 23 March 2015, Inter manager

Roberto Mancini Roberto Mancini (; born 27 November 1964) is an Italian football manager and former player. He is currently the manager of the Italy national team. As a player, Mancini operated as a deep-lying forward, and was best known for his time at Samp ...

stated, "The Italian national team should be Italian. An Italian player deserves to play for the national team while someone who wasn't born in Italy, even if they have relatives, I don't think they deserve to." Conte's response to the use of overseas-born players was: "If

Mauro Camoranesi Mauro Germán Camoranesi Serra (, ; born 4 October 1976) is an Italian football manager and former player who played as a right midfielder or right winger. Camoranesi began his career in Argentina in 1995, where he played for Aldosivi and Ba ...

ho was born in Argentinawas allowed to help Italy win the

2006 World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...

, then why can't Éder and Franco Vázquez lead the Azzurri to glory in next year's European Championship?" On 28 March 2015, Éder made his debut for Italy, coming on as a 58th-minute substitute for

Simone Zaza Simone Zaza (born 25 June 1991) is an Italian professional footballer who plays as a striker, most recently for club Torino. Zaza began his professional club career with Atalanta in 2008, where he remained for two seasons. In 2010, he moved t ...

in a Euro 2016 qualifier against

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedon ...

and scoring the equaliser in a 2–2 draw in the 84th minute. He made his first start three days later against

England England is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It shares land borders with Wales to its west and Scotland to its north. The Irish Sea lies northwest and the Celtic Sea to the southwest. It is separated from continental Europe b ...

in a 1–1 draw in

Turin Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...

, making way for fellow ''

oriundo The term oriundo (; Italian plural ''oriundi'') is an Italian, Spanish, and Portuguese noun describing an immigrant in a country, whose ancestry is from that same country. It comes from the Latin verb ''oriri'' (''orior''), "be born", and is et ...

'' Vázquez after 61 minutes. On 10 October 2015, Éder opened the scoring in a 3–1 away win over

Azerbaijan Azerbaijan (, ; az, Azərbaycan ), officially the Republic of Azerbaijan, , also sometimes officially called the Azerbaijan Republic is a transcontinental country located at the boundary of Eastern Europe and Western Asia. It is a part of th ...

, which sealed Italy's qualification for

. On 31 May 2016, he was named to Conte's 23-man Italy squad for Euro 2016. On 17 June, he scored the only goal against

Sweden Sweden, formally the Kingdom of Sweden,The United Nations Group of Experts on Geographical Names states that the country's formal name is the Kingdom of SwedenUNGEGN World Geographical Names, Sweden./ref> is a Nordic country located on ...

in the 88th minute during the second group game, which qualified Italy to the Round of 16; he was named ''Man of the Match'' by

UEFA Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

Style of play

Éder is a quick, strong, and tenacious forward with an accurate shot, who usually plays in a

central Central is an adjective usually referring to being in the center of some place or (mathematical) object. Central may also refer to: Directions and generalised locations * Central Africa, a region in the centre of Africa continent, also known as ...

role as a main striker, due to his pace, positional sense, attacking movement, tactical intelligence, and eye for goal, which make him particularly effective during counter-attacks. A versatile, hard-working, and technically gifted player, with good vision, he is also effective as a

second striker Forwards (also known as attackers) are outfield positions in an association football team who play the furthest up the pitch and are therefore most responsible for scoring goals as well as assisting them. As with any attacking player, the role ...

, as a left winger, or even as an

attacking midfielder A midfielder is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As #Cent ...

, positions which allow him to provide depth to his team and participate in build-up plays, play off of his teammates, hold up the ball, and provide assists. Possessing substantial physical strength, despite his relatively small stature, he can also be effective in the air, as well as from set-pieces and

penalties Penalty or The Penalty may refer to: Sports * Penalty (golf) * Penalty (gridiron football) * Penalty (ice hockey) * Penalty (rugby) * Penalty (rugby union) * Penalty kick (association football) * Penalty shoot-out (association football) * Penalty ...

. In addition to his offensive and creative abilities, Éder has also stood out for his stamina and defensive work-rate, which make him extremely useful when his team are not in possession.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Italy score listed first, score column indicates score after each Éder goal.''

Honours

Jiangsu Suning *

Chinese Super League The Chinese Football Association Super League, commonly known as Chinese Super League or CSL, currently known as the China Ping An Chinese Football Association Super League for sponsorship reasons, is the highest tier of professional football in ...

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global Social impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, social and Economic impact of the COVID-19 pandemic, economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, COVID- ...

São Paulo *

Campeonato Paulista The Campeonato Paulista Série A1, commonly known as Campeonato Paulista, nicknamed Paulistão, is the top-flight professional association football, football league in the Brazilian States of Brazil, state of São Paulo (state), São Paulo. Run b ...

2021 File:2021 collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: the James Webb Space Telescope was launched in 2021; Protesters in Yangon, Myanmar following the 2021 Myanmar coup d'état, coup d'état; A civil demonstration against the October–November 2021 ...

Criciúma *

2023 Events Predicted and scheduled events * January 1 ** In the United States, books, films, and other works published in 1927 will enter the public domain, assuming there are no changes made to copyright law. ** Croatia will adopt the eu ...

Individual *

Serie B The Serie B (), currently named Serie Balkrishna Industries, BKT for sponsorship reasons, is the second-highest division in the Italian football league system after the Serie A. It has been operating for over ninety years since the 1929–30 ...

top scorer: 2009–10 (27 goals)

References

External links

Criciúma official profile

Éder
–

competition record
AIC profile

FIGC profile
* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Eder 1986 births Living people Italian men's footballers Brazilian men's footballers Footballers from Santa Catarina (state) People of Venetian descent Brazilian people of Italian descent Italian people of Brazilian descent Men's association football forwards Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Campeonato Brasileiro Série B players Serie A players Serie B players Chinese Super League players Criciúma Esporte Clube players Empoli FC players Frosinone Calcio players Brescia Calcio players AC Cesena players UC Sampdoria players Inter Milan players Jiangsu F.C. players São Paulo FC players UEFA Euro 2016 players Italy men's international footballers Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's footballers in Italy Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Italy Expatriate men's footballers in China Italian expatriate sportspeople in China Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in China People from Lauro Müller, Santa Catarina