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 Atlético 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. Eduardo found his way to the first team in the summer of 2001, despite suffering some injuries early in his career. After making his first-team debut with Dinamo in the 2001–02 season, Eduardo was loaned for one season to
Croatian second division side Inker Zaprešić (now
Inter Zaprešić) in 2002–03 to see more first-team action, scoring ten goals in 15 league appearances for the club.
Dinamo Zagreb Coming back from loan at Inter Zaprešić for the 2003–04 season, Eduardo quickly established himself as a regular in Dinamo Zagreb's first team. He was subsequently named the best player of the
Croatian league in 2004 as well as in 2006 and 2007, when he was one of the key players in Dinamo Zagreb's team that won two consecutive titles in the Croatian league as well as one title in the
Croatian Cup. In 2006, he also helped Dinamo winning the
Croatian Supercup, scoring two goals in their 4–1 victory over
Rijeka. In the 2006–07 season, he scored five goals in six matches for Dinamo Zagreb in two qualifying rounds for the
Champions League and in the first round of the
UEFA Cup. After netting a brace in Dinamo Zagreb's 4–1 away win at
Ekranas, he went on to score the first European goal at
Arsenal's new
Emirates Stadium in London on 23 August 2006 as Dinamo Zagreb suffered a 5–1 aggregate defeat in the third qualifying round for the
Champions League. He also scored both goals in Dinamo's 5–2 aggregate defeat to
Auxerre in the first round of the
UEFA Cup on 14 September 2006. Eduardo performed best for Dinamo Zagreb in the Croatian championship, netting 18 goals in 18 matches until the winter break of the 2006–07 season, including three braces and a
hat-trick, and adding another seven assists to his tally. In addition to this, he was the only player who appeared in all of the club's 18 matches before the winter break, also being in the starting lineup in each of the 18 matches. In mid-November 2006, he scored two hat-tricks in two consecutive matches he played for
Croatia and Dinamo Zagreb in a period of four days. In Dinamo's 4–0 derby win over
Zagreb on 12 May 2007, Eduardo scored his 30th and 31st league goals of the 2006–07 season and became the most successful Croatian league goalscorer of all time, breaking a 13-year-old record set by former Dinamo Zagreb striker
Goran Vlaović with 29 goals scored for the club in the 1993–94 season. He finished the league season with 34 goals in 32 appearances. In the final league match of the season on 19 May 2007, he became the first player ever to score a hat-trick in the
Eternal derby between Dinamo Zagreb and
Hajduk Split, netting all three goals as Dinamo won the match 3–0.
Arsenal On 3 July 2007,
Arsenal confirmed that terms had been agreed with Dinamo Zagreb for the transfer of Eduardo for an undisclosed fee, believed to be around £7.5 million, subject to receiving a work permit. The initial work permit application was turned down by the
Home Office, but the appeal hearing on 2 August reversed the decision. Eduardo made his
Premier League debut on 19 August 2007 in Arsenal's 1–1 draw at
Blackburn Rovers. Ten days later, he netted his first competitive goal for the Gunners in their Champions League qualifier against
Sparta Prague, which Arsenal won 3–0. Eduardo scored his first group-stage goal in the Champions League on 19 September 2007 against
Sevilla. While still fighting to find his place as a regular in the Premier League for Arsenal, Eduardo continued to display his goalscoring abilities in the
League Cup, scoring two braces in two consecutive matches for the club, against
Sheffield United and
Blackburn Rovers, and helping them to reach the semi-finals of the competition. Eduardo found more playing time in all competitions due to
Robin van Persie's lengthy injury and found himself partnering
Emmanuel Adebayor more often. Eduardo finally managed to establish his place in Arsenal's starting line-up in the Premier League over Christmas and New Year period, scoring his first two Premier League goals in a 4–1 win at
Everton on 29 December 2007, first leveling the score and then putting Arsenal 2–1 up in the opening 15 minutes of the second half. On New Year's Day 2008, he opened the scoring after only 72 seconds of the match against
West Ham United; Arsenal went on to win 2–0. On the first weekend of the new year, he had a successful
FA Cup debut as Arsenal faced
Championship side
Burnley on the road, first scoring the opening goal early on, and then setting up a second for
Nicklas Bendtner midway through the second half. In the following three matches in January, he set up three more goals, providing two assists and winning a penalty. He went on to help Arsenal to return to the top of the Premier League in early February, scoring a skillful over-the-shoulder flick in a 3–1 away victory over
Manchester City and assisting
Philippe Senderos for an early goal in a 2–0 win over Blackburn Rovers at the
Emirates.
Leg injury On 23 February 2008, Eduardo suffered a broken left
fibula and an open
dislocation of his left ankle in a match against
Birmingham City, following a tackle by
Martin Taylor, for which Taylor was
sent off. Eduardo was immediately taken to
Selly Oak Hospital, where he underwent surgery.
Arsène Wenger initially called for a lifetime ban for Taylor, but retracted his comments later. Taylor claimed to have visited Eduardo in hospital and that an apology was accepted; Eduardo, however, could not remember Taylor's visit or even the tackle. Some cite the incident as a cause of Arsenal failing to maintain their lead in the Premier League title race
that season.
Return to action On 16 February 2009, Eduardo started against
Cardiff City in the
FA Cup, scoring in the 21st minute and converted a penalty in the second half. However, in that game, he suffered a hamstring injury. He returned against
Burnley in the 5th round of the FA Cup, captaining the side and scoring Arsenal's second goal. He made his first appearance in the Premier League after the injury on the opening day of the
2009–10 season against Everton. He scored Arsenal's sixth goal in a 6–1 victory. A week later, Eduardo was accused of
simulation by the
Scottish FA chief executive
Gordon Smith to win a penalty in the 3–1 Champions League win over
Celtic; Smith also demanded a ban for the striker. He made his
Ukrainian Premier League debut on 7 August 2010, playing the first half and netting the second goal in a 5–0 win against
PFC Sevastopol. Shakhtar and Arsenal were both drawn into
Group H in the Champions League, something Eduardo hoped would not happen prior to the draw. Eduardo scored his second goal in an away game against
Volyn Lutsk, coming on as a substitute, to give Shakhtar a 1–0 win. His third goal came in the
Ukrainian Cup against
Kryvbas Kryvyi Rih where, after coming on as a substitute, he scored the fifth goal in a 6–0 win. He then scored in the next match against
Metalist Kharkiv, again coming on as a substitute, to level the game at 1–1, which Shakhtar went on to win 2–1 in a dramatic late fashion. Returning to the
Emirates Stadium on 19 October 2010 for Shakhtar's UEFA Champions League group match with Arsenal, Eduardo came on as a substitute with his new side 3–0 down and received a standing ovation from the Arsenal supporters. He scored a late consolation goal for Shakhtar in a game that Arsenal went on to win 5–1, at which point the Arsenal fans rose again and cheered their former hero. In the rematch, he scored the winning goal in a 2–1 victory and refused to celebrate, showing respect for his former club. Eduardo scored a volley in 2–0 away win against Kryvbas on 6 November. In a game against
FK Partizan in the Champions League, coming on as a substitute, he scored the third goal in a 3–0 Shakhtar win that put then on top of Group H. In the game against Partizan, he got a minor injury, but later came back onto the pitch. On 5 April 2014, Eduardo scored two out of the three goals for Shakhtar Donetsk against
Karpaty Lviv in a League game. The first goal came when teammate and compatriot,
Darijo Srna, crossed the ball in from a corner, Eduardo headed the ball into the centre of the goal. The second goal came when Srna chipped the ball over a player to
Luiz Adriano who chested the ball and fired the ball into the box for Eduardo to slot the ball into the goal once again. Shakhtar Donetsk were 2–0 up at half time and later finished the game 3–0 when Luiz Adriano outmuscled two players to slot the ball into the bottom left corner.
Flamengo It was announced on 17 July 2014 that he had signed for Brazilian side
Flamengo. The forward scored his first goal for the club on 10 August 2014, in a match against Sport.
Return to Shakhtar Donetsk On 10 July 2015, Eduardo signed a one-and-a-half-year contract with his old club
Shakhtar Donetsk.
Back to Brazil In February 2017, Eduardo returned to Brazil to sign for
Atlético Paranaense in
Série A.
Legia Warsaw In January 2018, Eduardo da Silva signed a one-year contract with
Polish Ekstraklasa club
Legia Warsaw. The player played for Legia with the number 9. Eduardo struggled with injuries throughout his time at Legia. His contract was not renewed and he left the club at the end of 2018. Eduardo played a total of 14 games for Legia (11 in the Premier League, two in the Polish Cup and one in the Europa League qualifiers), without scoring a goal. ==International career==