Eduardo Luís Abonízio de Souza (born 18 May 1981), better known as Edu Dracena, is a Brazilian retired professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...

who played as a

central defender In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

Club career

Guarani

Born in Dracena,

São Paulo São Paulo (; ; Portuguese for 'Paul the Apostle, Saint Paul') is the capital of the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo, as well as the List of cities in Brazil by population, most populous city in Brazil, the List of largest cities in the ...

, Dracena (nickname earned from his birthplace) graduated with Guarani's youth setup. He made his professional debut on 28 February 1999, starting in a 2–1

Campeonato Paulista The Campeonato Paulista Série A1, commonly known as Campeonato Paulista, nicknamed Paulistão, is the top-flight professional state football league in the Brazilian state of São Paulo. Run by the São Paulo State Football Federation (FPF), ...

away loss against Matonense, aged just 17. Dracena made his Série A debut on 8 August 1999, starting in a 1–0 away win over Gama. He scored his first senior goal in the opening match of the 2000 season, netting the opener in a 1–1 away draw against América-SP. Dracena established himself in the club's starting XI in the following years, impressing in 2002.

Loan to Olympiacos

On 2 July 2002, Dracena was loaned to

Olympiacos Olympiacós Sýndesmos Filáthlon Peiraiós (, Olympic Association of Fans of Piraeus) is a major multi-sport club based in Piraeus, Greece. Olympiacos is parent to a number of different competitive departments which participate in football, ...

in a

season A season is a division of the year based on changes in weather, ecology, and the number of daylight hours in a given region. On Earth, seasons are the result of the axial parallelism of Earth's axial tilt, tilted orbit around the Sun. In temperat ...

-long deal. He was a part of the squad which won the

Alpha Ethniki The Super League Greece 1 (), or Stoiximan Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Greece and the highest level of the Greek football league system. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and repla ...

, but only appearing in five matches.

Cruzeiro

Shortly after his return to Guarani, Dracena signed for Cruzeiro on 8 February 2003, as a replacement for

Lyon Lyon (Franco-Provençal: ''Liyon'') is a city in France. It is located at the confluence of the rivers Rhône and Saône, to the northwest of the French Alps, southeast of Paris, north of Marseille, southwest of Geneva, Switzerland, north ...

-bound Cris. He appeared regularly for the club, winning the year's Série A and

Copa do Brasil The Copa do Brasil () is a knockout football competition played by 92 teams, representing all 26 Brazilian states plus the Federal District. It is the Brazilian domestic cup and it is the Brazilian equivalent of the FA Cup, Taça de Portugal, ...

. Dracena fell through the pecking order in 2005, mainly due to an injury which ruled him out for seven months. In 2006, he was appointed Cruzeiro's captain, winning the year's

Campeonato Mineiro The Campeonato Mineiro is the top-flight professional state football league in the Brazilian state of Minas Gerais. It is run by the Minas Gerais Football Federation (FMF). The history of Campeonato Mineiro can be divided into two parts: bef ...

Fenerbahçe

In August 2006, Dracena transferred to Fenerbahçe for a

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists of a stylized letter E (or epsilon), crossed by t ...

5.7 million fee. On 19 May 2007, he scored Fenerbahçe's 500th goal against rivals

Galatasaray Galatasaray Spor Kulübü (, ''Galatasaray Sports Club''), more commonly referred to as simply Galatasaray and familiarly as Cimbom, is a Turkish sports club based on the European side of the city of Istanbul including basketball, wheelchair ...

. Dracena rescinded his link with the club on 24 August 2009, after being mainly used as a backup during the 2008–09 season.

Santos

On 16 September 2009, Dracena signed a three-year deal with

Santos FC Santos Futebol Clube () is a Brazilian sports club based in Vila Belmiro, a ''bairro'' in the city of Santos, São Paulo, Santos. It plays in the Campeonato Paulista, the São Paulo (state), state of São Paulo's premier State football lea ...

, being sidelined during his first year due to a knee injury. Dracena was an important defensive unit for ''Peixe'' in the following years, winning three Paulista titles (2010, 2011 and 2012), one Copa do Brasil (

2010 The year saw a multitude of natural and environmental disasters such as the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the Deepwater Horizon oil spill, and the 2010 Chile earthquake. The 2009 swine flu pandemic, swine flu pandemic which began the previous year ...

, scoring in the final) and one

Copa Libertadores The CONMEBOL Libertadores, also known as Copa Libertadores de América (), is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONMEBOL since 1960. It is the highest level of competition in South American club football. The tournam ...

(

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

). However, he struggled with two serious knee injuries which sidelined him for long periods. On 15 January 2015, after the club's financial trouble, Dracena rescinded his link.

Corinthians

On 21 January 2015, Dracena signed a two-year deal with Santos' fierce rivals Corinthians. On 22 December, after being a backup option, he terminated his contract.

Palmeiras

Shortly after leaving Corinthians, Dracena signed a two-year contract with Palmeiras. He was again a backup for the most of his spell, but still won two Série A titles with the club (

2016 2016 was designated as: * International Year of Pulses by the sixty-eighth session of the United Nations General Assembly. * International Year of Global Understanding (IYGU) by the International Council for Science (ICSU), the Internationa ...

and

2018 Events January * January 1 – Bulgaria takes over the Presidency of the Council of the European Union, after the Estonian presidency. * January 4 – SPLM-IO rebels loyal to Chan Garang Lual start a raid against Juba, capital of ...

). On 4 December 2019, Dracena announced his retirement from professional football at the age of 38.

International career

Dracena represented Brazil at the 2001 U-20 World Cup. In June 2003, he received his first call-up to the Brazilian senior team for the 2003 Confederations Cup, but did not play. Four years later, Dracena was called up to play a friendly match against

United States The United States of America (USA), also known as the United States (U.S.) or America, is a country primarily located in North America. It is a federal republic of 50 U.S. state, states and a federal capital district, Washington, D.C. The 48 ...

and

Mexico Mexico, officially the United Mexican States, is a country in North America. It is the northernmost country in Latin America, and borders the United States to the north, and Guatemala and Belize to the southeast; while having maritime boundar ...

on 9 and 12 September 2007. He came off the bench in the second half against the U.S., followed by a place in the starting lineup against Mexico.

Post-playing career

On 19 December 2019, Dracena was presented as the new technical advisor of Palmeiras, replacing former player Zé Roberto. On 27 October 2021, he returned to Santos after being named the club's football executive. On 7 July 2022, Dracena resigned from his executive role at Santos.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

;Olympiacos *

Greek Super League The Super League Greece 1 (), or Stoiximan Super League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Greece and the highest level of the Greek football league system. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and repla ...

: 2002–03 ;Cruzeiro *

Campeonato Brasileiro Série A The Campeonato Brasileiro Série A (; English: "Brazilian Championship A Series"), commonly referred to as the Brasileirão (; English: "Big Brazilian" or "Great Brazilian"), the Série A or the Brazilian Série A (to distinguish it from the I ...

2003 2003 was designated by the United Nations as the International Year of Fresh water, Freshwater. In 2003, a Multi-National Force – Iraq, United States-led coalition 2003 invasion of Iraq, invaded Iraq, starting the Iraq War. Demographic ...

: 2003, 2004, 2006 ;Fenerbahçe *

Süper Lig The Süper Lig (, ''Super League''), also known as Trendyol Süper Lig for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Turkey and the highest level of the Turkish football league system. In the 2023–2024 season, twen ...

: 2006–07 *

Turkish Super Cup The Turkish Super Cup, known as Turkcell Super Cup () for sponsorship reasons, is a super cup tournament in Turkish football. Founded in 1966 as a two-team competition, the current version has been contested since 2025 by four teams: the winners ...

2007 2007 was designated as the International Heliophysical Year and the International Polar Year. Events January * January 1 **Bulgaria and Romania 2007 enlargement of the European Union, join the European Union, while Slovenia joins the Eur ...

;Santos *

2012 2012 was designated as: *International Year of Cooperatives *International Year of Sustainable Energy for All Events January *January 4 – The Cicada 3301 internet hunt begins. * January 12 – Peaceful protests begin in the R ...

;Corinthians *

2015 2015 was designated by the United Nations as: * International Year of Light * International Year of Soil __TOC__ Events January * January 1 – Lithuania officially adopts the euro as its currency, replacing the litas, and becomes ...

;Palmeiras *

References

External links

*
Biography at fenerbahce.org

Profile at TFF.org
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Dracena, Edu 1981 births Living people People from Dracena Brazilian people of Italian descent Brazilian men's footballers Men's association football defenders Campeonato Brasileiro Série A players Guarani FC players Cruzeiro Esporte Clube players Santos FC players Sport Club Corinthians Paulista players SE Palmeiras players Super League Greece players Olympiacos F.C. players Süper Lig players Copa Libertadores–winning players Fenerbahçe S.K. footballers Brazilian expatriate men's footballers Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Greece Expatriate men's footballers in Greece Brazilian expatriate sportspeople in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Brazil men's under-20 international footballers Brazil men's international footballers 2003 FIFA Confederations Cup players Santos FC non-playing staff Footballers from São Paulo (state) 21st-century Brazilian sportsmen