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.

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.

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.

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.

[8][9] The initial work permit application was turned down by the Home Office, but the appeal hearing on 2 August reversed the decision.

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.

[12] Gilberto Silva was the only person in the vicinity who spoke both Portuguese and English and was able to translate communication between Eduardo and the medical team.

Eduardo's injury was so graphic that Sky Sports, which was broadcasting the game live, decided not to show replays of the incident.

[17][18] 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.

[23] On 28 August, Eduardo was charged by UEFA with "deceiving the referee"[24] over the penalty incident[25] and subsequently punished with a two-match European ban,[26] However, the ruling was overturned on appeal with Arsenal producing video evidence showing the claim of simulation was inconclusive and testimony supporting the appeal also coming from Manuel Enrique Mejuto González, who had awarded the penalty.

Eduardo headed the winner in a 2–1 win over West Ham United to put Arsenal in the fourth round of the FA Cup on 3 January 2010.

[32] 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.

[35] 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.

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.

[42] In January 2018, Eduardo da Silva signed a one-year contract with Polish Ekstraklasa club Legia Warsaw.

After two games of the following season, he was removed from the list of players registered for the Ekstraklasa, in order to free a spot for newly signed André Martins.

He made his international debut at senior level as a second-half substitute in the team's friendly match against the Republic of Ireland on 16 November 2004 at the age of 21.

In the following qualifier, away to Israel on 15 November 2006, Eduardo netted a hat-trick to help Croatia to drive home a narrow 4–3 victory over the strong Israeli side.

At Croatia's opening game of Euro 2008 against Austria, banners were shown in the crowd in support of Eduardo due to his injury.

[47] After recovering from the leg injury, Eduardo made his first international appearance in just over a year, coming on as a substitute to replace Ivica Olić in the final 30 minutes of the friendly match against Romania on 11 February 2009, which saw Croatia recording a 2–1 away win.

At the finals, however, he only appeared as a late substitute in all of Croatia's three matches as they were eliminated in the group stage at the expense of eventual finalists Spain and Italy.

After making seven appearances and scoring two goals in the qualifying campaign, Eduardo was selected to be part of Croatia's squad for the 2014 FIFA World Cup finals in his native Brazil.