Eduardo da Silva, Brazilian footballer
Eduardo Alves da Silva (Brazilian Portuguese: [eduˈaɾdu dɐ ˈsiwvɐ], Croatian pronunciation: [eduâːrdo da‿sǐlʋa]; born 25 February 1983), commonly known as Eduardo and sometimes nicknamed Dudu, is a former professional footballer. Capable of playing any forward position, he started as a striker, but was deployed mostly as a winger or second striker during the last few years of his career.
He began his career with his hometown club in Brazil, Bangu Atlético Clube. He later joined Dinamo Zagreb's youth team. He spent a period on loan at Inter Zaprešić, scoring ten goals in 15 matches. His prolific scoring at Dinamo Zagreb, where he scored 73 times in 109 league appearances, attracted the interest of Arsenal who signed him for a fee of £7.5 million in 2007. A serious leg injury hampered his time with Arsenal and, after three seasons with the club, he moved to Shakhtar Donetsk in 2010.
Eduardo took up Croatian citizenship in 2002 and made his international debut for the Croatia national team as a second-half substitute in a friendly match against Ireland on 16 November 2004 at the age of 21. He was selected by the national team's coach Slaven Bilić for the UEFA Euro 2012 tournament and again by Niko Kovač for the 2014 FIFA World Cup. With 29 goals scored for Croatia, Eduardo is the team's third most prolific striker on record, behind Mario Mandžukić (33 goals) and Davor Šuker (45 goals).