Eduardo César Daud Gaspar (born 16 May 1978), known as Edu, is a Brazilian former professional footballer who is the sporting director of Premier League club Arsenal. As a player, he was an attacking and central midfielder, and played for Corinthians in Brazil, Arsenal in England, and Valencia in Spain across a twelve-year career.
Edu played for the Brazil national team from 2004 to 2005, making fifteen appearances.
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. 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 against Hungary. He played for them in the 2004 Copa América 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.
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's Iranian national team during the 2014 FIFA World Cup. From 2016 to 2019, he was the general coordinator of the Brazil 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 sporting director.
Edu was involved in the Amazon Original sports docuseries 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.
1998-2002 |
2002-2005 |
2005-2009 |
2009-2011 |
| Arsenal | Appearances | English Premier League | 2000-2001 | 5 |