Eduardo César Daud Gaspar (born 16 May 1978), known as Edu, is a Brazilian former 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, rugby ...

who is the

sporting director A sporting director, or director of sport, is an executive management position in a sports club. The role is well known as a manager role for European football clubs, which are sometime also "sports clubs", offering many types of sports. The sport ...

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

club Arsenal. As a player, he was an attacking and

central midfielder A midfielder is an 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 central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

, and played for

Corinthians The First Epistle to the Corinthians ( grc, Α΄ ᾽Επιστολὴ πρὸς Κορινθίους) is one of the Pauline epistles, part of the New Testament of the Christian Bible. The epistle is attributed to Paul the Apostle and a co-aut ...

in Brazil, Arsenal in England, and

Valencia Valencia ( va, València) is the capital of the autonomous community of Valencia and the third-most populated municipality in Spain, with 791,413 inhabitants. It is also the capital of the province of the same name. The wider urban area al ...

in Spain across a twelve-year career. Edu played for the Brazil national team from 2004 to 2005, making fifteen appearances.

Club career

Early career

Edu started his career in Série A with

. While with Corinthians, Edu won the 1998 and 1999 Brasileiro championships, and the

2000 FIFA Club World Championship The 2000 FIFA Club World Championship was the inaugural FIFA Club World Cup, the world club championship for men's club association football teams. It took place in Brazil from 5 January to 14 January 2000. FIFA as football's international gover ...

Arsenal

After initially planning to join Arsenal in 2000, his transfer was put on hold after it was realised that he was in possession of a fake Portuguese passport. Months later, after qualifying for a

European Union The European Union (EU) is a supranational political and economic union of member states that are located primarily in Europe. The union has a total area of and an estimated total population of about 447million. The EU has often been de ...

(EU) passport (aided by Italian lineage on his father's side), he signed for Arsenal on 16 January 2001 for £6 million. He had a turbulent time early on as his sister was killed in a car accident. His Arsenal debut came in 2001 in a goalless draw tarnished by an injury after 15 minutes against

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

. He had replaced

Freddie Ljungberg Karl Fredrik "Freddie" Ljungberg (; born 16 April 1977) is a Swedish former professional footballer and manager who played as a winger. He was most recently a former assistant coach, and interim head coach of Arsenal. He began his career at Hal ...

at half time only to be replaced by Dennis Bergkamp minutes later. It was an unfortunate start and he only managed to play in four more matches for the club during that season, one of which was a 0–3 defeat at home to

Middlesbrough Middlesbrough ( ) is a town on the southern bank of the River Tees in North Yorkshire, England. It is near the North York Moors national park. It is the namesake and main town of its local borough council area. Until the early 1800s, the a ...

in which he contributed an own goal. His first goal for the club came against Grimsby in the League Cup on 27 November 2001. He went on to make a substitute appearance in the

2002 FA Cup Final The 2002 FA Cup Final was a football match between Arsenal and Chelsea on 4 May 2002 at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff. It was the final match of the 2001–02 FA Cup, the 120th season of the world's oldest football knockout competition, the ...

as Arsenal emerged victorious. He also contributed 14 league appearances, and a goal against Aston Villa, as Arsenal won the 2001–02 Premier League, with Edu becoming the first Brazilian to win the

. In 2002–03 Edu made 18 appearances in the Premier League and featured heavily as Arsenal got to the FA Cup final for the third year running. Edu scored in Arsenal's fifth round win against Manchester United at Old Trafford, however injury issues in the latter part of the season meant he was left out of the squad for the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: * Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

. 2003–04 season in midfield for Arsenal was seen as his finest season so far in football, he was part of the team which went 49 games unbeaten, (the whole 2003–04 Premier League season without defeat). He appeared in 30 League games and scored 2 goals, both against

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

, he scored the fourth of Arsenal's 5 in a 5–1 historic win against

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 is ...

in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

in November 2003, he made a career high 48 appearances and 7 goals for Arsenal in all competitions. Edu was on the pitch as Arsenal clinched the 2003–04 Premier League title at

White Hart Lane White Hart Lane was a football stadium in Tottenham, North London and the home of Tottenham Hotspur Football Club from 1899 to 2017. Its capacity varied over the years; when changed to all-seater it had a capacity of 36,284 before demolition. ...

on 25 April 2004. During the season, he made his 100th appearance for Arsenal. Edu enjoyed mixed fortunes in the 2004–05 season. He missed the start of the season because he was away with Brazil at the Copa América. This was followed by speculation over his future at the club as he was in the last year of his contract with Arsenal. Talks with

of Spain in January 2005 failed as the

Mestalla Mestalla Stadium ( es, Estadio de Mestalla , ca-valencia, Estadi de Mestalla ) is a football stadium in Valencia, Spain. The stadium is the home of Valencia Club de Fútbol and has a capacity of 48,600 seats, making it the 8th-largest stadium i ...

outfit were not able to pay the fee Arsenal demanded. Edu only scored two goals for Arsenal in 2004–05 – one was a fine chip in the 2–0 away win at

West Bromwich Albion West Bromwich Albion Football Club () is an English professional football club based in West Bromwich, West Midlands, England. They compete in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. The club was formed in 1878 and has pl ...

in May 2005, and the other a penalty kick in a 7–0 win over Everton in 2005. He did however come on as an extra time substitute as Arsenal won the

2005 FA Cup Final The 2005 FA Cup Final was a football match played between Arsenal and Manchester United on 21 May 2005 at the Millennium Stadium, Cardiff. It was the final match of the 2004–05 FA Cup, the 124th season of English football's primary cup compet ...

Valencia

In May 2005, it was confirmed that he would leave Arsenal in the summer on a Bosman ruling free transfer. Valencia, Juventus, Inter Milan, and

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

were hot favourites to secure the signature of Edu, and on 30 May, Valencia announced it had signed him to a five-year deal. Shortly after signing, Edu suffered a pre-season injury that ruled him out of first-team action until 4 April 2006, when he made his debut in the 5–3 victory over

Cádiz Cádiz (, , ) is a city and port in southwestern Spain. It is the capital of the Province of Cádiz, one of eight that make up the autonomous community of Andalusia. Cádiz, one of the oldest continuously inhabited cities in Western Europe, ...

. On 3 July 2009, the Brazilian midfielder left Valencia through contractual termination.

Corinthians

After being released in Spain, Edu signed a contract with his former club Corinthians on 6 August 2009, which was to last until 31 December 2011. After playing four matches during the 2010 season, his contract was terminated by mutual consent, and Edu announced his retirement from professional football.

International career

Edu initially considered playing for the England national team upon gaining a British passport as he did not think he would be picked for

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

. He finally got a call-up to the Brazilian national team in 2004 and made his debut on 28 April 2004 in a friendly match against

Hungary Hungary ( hu, Magyarország ) is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Spanning of the Pannonian Basin, Carpathian Basin, it is bordered by Slovakia to the north, Ukraine to the northeast, Romania to the east and southeast, Serbia to the ...

. He played for them in the

2004 Copa América The 2004 Copa América was the 41st edition of the Copa América, the South-American championship for international association football teams. The competition was organized by CONMEBOL, South America's football governing body, and was held i ...

and 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup, which were both won by Brazil. In the final of the Copa América 2004 he scored one of the penalties in the shootout as Brazil defeated

Argentina Argentina (), officially the Argentine Republic ( es, link=no, República Argentina), is a country in the southern half of South America. Argentina covers an area of , making it the second-largest country in South America after Brazil, th ...

Post-playing career

On 17 March 2011, Corinthians announced that Edu would take over from William Machado as the club's director of football. He also assisted

Carlos Queiroz Carlos Manuel Brito Leal de Queiroz (; born 1 March 1953) is a Portuguese football coach who currently is the head coach of the Iran national team. He has served as the manager of his native Portugal's national team, the United Arab Emirat ...

's Iranian national team during the 2014 FIFA World Cup. From 2016 to 2019, he was the general coordinator of the Brazilian national team. On 9 July 2019, it was announced that Edu had become Arsenal's first ever technical director. The club's director of football, Raul Sanllehi said: "We're very excited that Edu is joining the team. He has great experience and technical football knowledge and most importantly is a true Arsenal man. He understands the club and what we stand for to our millions of fans around the world." On 18 November 2022, Edu was appointed as Arsenal's first-ever

Media

Edu was involved in the Amazon Original sports

docuseries Television documentaries are televised media productions that screen documentaries. Television documentaries exist either as a television documentary series or as a television documentary film. *Television documentary series, sometimes called d ...

'' All or Nothing: Arsenal'', which documented the club by spending time with the coaching staff and players behind the scenes both on and off the field throughout their 2021–22 season. He was also involved in '' All or Nothing: Brazil National Team''.

Honours

Corinthians * Campeonato Brasileiro Série A:

1998 1998 was designated as the ''International Year of the Ocean''. Events January * January 6 – The ''Lunar Prospector'' spacecraft is launched into orbit around the Moon, and later finds evidence for frozen water, in soil in permanently s ...

1999 File:1999 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: The funeral procession of King Hussein of Jordan in Amman; the 1999 İzmit earthquake kills over 17,000 people in Turkey; the Columbine High School massacre, one of the first major school shoot ...

FIFA Club World Championship The FIFA Club World Cup is an international men's association football competition organised by the ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The competition was first contested in 200 ...

2000 File:2000 Events Collage.png, From left, clockwise: Protests against Bush v. Gore after the 2000 United States presidential election; Heads of state meet for the Millennium Summit; The International Space Station in its infant form as seen from S ...

Arsenal *

: 2001–02, 2003–04 *

FA Cup The Football Association Challenge Cup, more commonly known as the FA Cup, is an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic English football. First played during the 1871–72 season, it is the oldest national football competi ...

: 2001–02, 2004–05 * FA Community Shield: 2002 Valencia *

Copa del Rey The Campeonato de España–Copa de Su Majestad el Rey, commonly known as Copa del Rey or simply La Copa and formerly known as Copa del Presidente de la República (1932–36) and Copa del Generalísimo (1939–76), is an annual knockout footb ...

: 2007–08 Brazil * Copa América: 2004 * FIFA Confederations Cup: 2005 Individual *

Premier League Player of the Month The Premier League Player of the Month is an association football award that recognises the best adjudged Premier League player each month of the season. The winner is chosen by a combination of an online public vote, which contributes to 10 ...

: February 2004

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Edu 1978 births Living people Footballers from São Paulo Brazilian footballers Brazil international footballers Association football midfielders Sport Club Corinthians Paulista players Arsenal F.C. players Valencia CF players Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Premier League players La Liga players 2004 Copa América players 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup players Copa América-winning players FIFA Confederations Cup-winning players Brazilian expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Spain Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in England Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Spain Arsenal F.C. non-playing staff FA Cup Final players