Eduardo

Eduardo Alves da Silva (Brazilian Portuguese: [eduˈaɾdu dɐ ˈsiwvɐ], Croatian pronunciation: [eduaːrdo da‿silʋa]; born 25 February 1983), commonly known as Eduardo and sometimes nicknamed Dudu, is a Croatian 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 Atletico Clube. He later joined Dinamo Zagreb's youth team. He spent a period on loan at Inter Zapresic, 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 Bilic for the UEFA Euro 2012 tournament and again by Niko Kovac 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 Mandzukic (33 goals) and Davor Suker (45 goals).

Club Career

Early career

Eduardo grew up in the Rio de Janeiro neighbourhood of Bangu and made his first steps in club football with CBF Nova Kennedy and Bangu Atletico Clube, although he did not play regularly in the youth categories. He was later noticed by Dinamo Zagreb's scouts and joined the club's youth squad in September 1999. Eduardo stayed at Dinamo on trial until December 1999 and returned to the club in February 2000, starting to play regularly for their under-17 squad.

This page also has a version in other languages :  Эдуардо да Силва (russian)