 Edu in 2006 | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Personal information | ||||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Eduardo César Daud Gaspar[1] | |||||||||||||||||||
| Date of birth | (1978-05-15)15 May 1978 (age 47)[2] | |||||||||||||||||||
| Place of birth | São Paulo, Brazil[3] | |||||||||||||||||||
| Height | 1.89 m (6 ft 2 in)[4] | |||||||||||||||||||
| Position(s) | Attacking midfielder,central midfielder | |||||||||||||||||||
| Senior career* | ||||||||||||||||||||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) | |||||||||||||||||
| 1998–2001 | Corinthians | 23 | (0) | |||||||||||||||||
| 2001–2005 | Arsenal | 79 | (7) | |||||||||||||||||
| 2005–2009 | Valencia | 50 | (1) | |||||||||||||||||
| 2009–2010 | Corinthians | 15 | (0) | |||||||||||||||||
| Total | 167 | (8) | ||||||||||||||||||
| International career | ||||||||||||||||||||
| 2004–2005 | Brazil | 15 | (0) | |||||||||||||||||
Medal record
| ||||||||||||||||||||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | ||||||||||||||||||||
Eduardo César Daud Gaspar (born 15 May 1978), known asEdu orEdu Gaspar, is a Brazilian former professionalfootballer and currently the Global Head of Football atPremier League clubNottingham Forest. As a player, he was anattacking andcentral midfielder, and played forCorinthians in Brazil, Arsenal in England, andValencia in Spain across a twelve-year career.
Edu played for theBrazil national team from 2004 to 2005, making fifteen appearances.
Edu started his career inSérie A withCorinthians. While with Corinthians, Edu won the 1998 and 1999 Brasileiro championships, and the2000 FIFA Club World Championship.[5]
After initially planning to joinArsenal 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 aEuropean Union (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.[6]
His Arsenal debut came in 2001 in a goalless draw tarnished by an injury after 15 minutes againstLeicester City.[7] He had replacedFreddie Ljungberg at half time only to be replaced byDennis 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 toMiddlesbrough in which he contributed an own goal.[8] His first goal for the club came against Grimsby in the League Cup on 27 November 2001.[9] He went on to make a substitute appearance in the2002 FA Cup Final as Arsenal emerged victorious. He also contributed 14 league appearances, and a goal againstAston Villa,[10] as Arsenal won the2001–02 Premier League, with Edu becoming the first Brazilian to win thePremier League.[11][12]
In 2002–03 Edu made 18 appearances in the Premier League and featured heavily as Arsenal reached the FA Cup final for the third year running.[13] Edu scored in Arsenal's fifth round win againstManchester United atOld Trafford,[14] however injury issues in the latter part of the season meant he was left out of the squad for thefinal.[15]
2003–04 season in midfield for Arsenal was seen as his finest season so far in football, he was part of the team which went49 games unbeaten, (the whole2003–04 Premier League season without defeat). He appeared in 30 League games and scored 2 goals, both againstChelsea, he scored the fourth of Arsenal's 5 in a 5–1 historic win againstInter Milan in theUEFA Champions League 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 atWhite Hart Lane on 25 April 2004.[16] During the season, he made his 100th appearance for Arsenal.[citation needed]
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 withValencia of Spain in January 2005 failed as theMestalla outfit were not able to pay the fee Arsenal demanded.[citation needed]
Edu only scored two goals for Arsenal in 2004–05, both coming in May – one was a fine chip in the 2–0 away win atWest Bromwich Albion, and the other a penalty kick in a 7–0 win overEverton. He did however come on as an extra time substitute as Arsenal won the2005 FA Cup Final.[17]
In May 2005, it was confirmed that he would leave Arsenal in the summer on aBosman ruling free transfer. Valencia,Juventus, Inter Milan, andBarcelona 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 overCádiz. On 3 July 2009, the Brazilian midfielder left Valencia through contractual termination.[citation needed]
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.[18] After playing four matches during the 2010 season, his contract was terminated by mutual consent, and Edu announced his retirement from professional football.[citation needed]
Edu initially considered playing for theEngland national team upon gaining a British passport as he did not think he would be picked forBrazil.[19] He finally got a call-up to the Brazil national team in 2004 and made his debut on 28 April 2004 in a friendly match againstHungary. He played for them in the2004 Copa América and2005 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 defeatedArgentina.[20]
On 17 March 2011, Corinthians announced that Edu would take over from William Machado as the club's director of football.[21] He also assistedCarlos Queiroz'sIranian national team during the2014 FIFA World Cup.[22] From 2016 to 2019, he was the general coordinator of the Brazil national team.[23]
On 9 July 2019, it was announced that Edu had become Arsenal's first-ever technical director.[24] 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."[23] On 18 November 2022, Edu was appointed as Arsenal's first-eversporting director.[25] On November 4, 2024 it was reported that he was to leave his position at Arsenal to join and have a senior role at the network of clubs (Nottingham Forest, Olympiacos, Rio Ave FC) spearheaded by Greek businessmanEvangelos Marinakis.[26] His appointment as Global Head of Football was confirmed byNottingham Forest on 7 July 2025.[27]
Edu was involved in theAmazon Original sportsdocuseriesAll 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 their2021–22 season.[28][29] He was also involved inAll or Nothing: Brazil National Team.
| Club | Season | League | Cup[a] | Continental[b] | Total | |||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Corinthians | 1999 | Série A | – | – | 1 | 0 | 1 | 0 | ||
| 2000 | – | – | 17 | 0 | 17 | 0 | ||||
| Total | – | – | – | – | 18 | 0 | 18 | 0 | ||
| Arsenal | 2000–01 | Premier League | 5 | 0 | – | – | 5 | 0 | ||
| 2001–02 | 14 | 1 | 8 | 2 | 5 | 0 | 27 | 3 | ||
| 2002–03 | 18 | 2 | 7 | 1 | 4 | 0 | 29 | 3 | ||
| 2003–04 | 30 | 2 | 10 | 2 | 8 | 3 | 48 | 7 | ||
| 2004–05 | 12 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 18 | 2 | ||
| Total | 79 | 7 | 27 | 5 | 21 | 3 | 127 | 15 | ||
| Valencia | 2005–06 | La Liga | 6 | 0 | – | 4 | 0 | 10 | 0 | |
| 2006–07 | 10 | 0 | – | 5 | 0 | 15 | 0 | |||
| 2007–08 | 13 | 0 | 4 | 0 | 1 | 0 | 18 | 0 | ||
| 2008–09 | 21 | 1 | 5 | 0 | 3 | 0 | 29 | 1 | ||
| Total | 50 | 1 | 9 | 0 | 13 | 0 | 72 | 1 | ||
| Corinthians | 2009 | Série A | 11 | 0 | – | – | 11 | 0 | ||
| 2010 | 4 | 0 | – | 1 | 0 | 5 | 0 | |||
| Total | 15 | 0 | – | – | 1 | 0 | 16 | 0 | ||
| Career total | 144 | 8 | 36 | 5 | 53 | 3 | 233 | 16 | ||
Corinthians
Arsenal
Valencia
Brazil
Individual
Brazil squads | |||||||||||||
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