Diogo Jota

Diogo José Teixeira da Silva was born on 4 December 1996 in the parish of Massarelos in Porto, Portugal, and grew up in Gondomar, a town in the Porto metropolitan area. He played for local club Gondomar S.C. between the ages of 9 and 17. In 2022 the club named its academy after him.

His real surname was Silva. He chose to be called Jota, the Portuguese name for the letter J (short for José), to tell himself apart from the many other boys named Diogo and Silva in the academy. His younger brother André Silva followed the same path through Gondomar and the Paços de Ferreira youth teams.

Larger clubs rejected Jota as a boy because of his small frame, so in 2013 he joined the youth setup at Paços de Ferreira. When he reached the first team he still lived in a club dormitory, an arrangement designed to keep him free of distractions while he learned foreign languages in preparation for a possible move abroad. During his early senior career he spent a month away from training after being diagnosed with a heart condition, before returning to play.

Jota made his senior debut for Paços de Ferreira on 19 October 2014 in the Taça de Portugal and his Primeira Liga debut on 20 February 2015. On 17 May 2015 he scored twice against Académica, becoming the youngest player to score for the club in the top flight.

In March 2016 he signed a five-year deal with Atlético Madrid, who loaned him to Porto. He scored a first-half hat-trick at Nacional and his first Champions League goal against Leicester City.

In July 2017 he joined Wolverhampton Wanderers on loan and scored 17 league goals as Wolves won the Championship. The move became permanent for a reported 14 million euros. In the Premier League he scored a hat-trick against Leicester in January 2019, the winner against Manchester United in the FA Cup quarter-final, and Europa League hat-tricks against Besiktas and Espanyol. He made 131 appearances and scored 44 goals for Wolves.

Liverpool signed him on 19 September 2020 for a reported 41 million pounds. He won the EFL Cup and FA Cup in 2022, played in the 2022 Champions League final, won a second League Cup in 2024, and was Premier League Player of the Month in January 2024. In 2024 to 2025 he often played as a false nine under Arne Slot, scoring his last goal, the winner against Everton, on 2 April 2025 as Liverpool won the Premier League. He scored 65 goals in 182 games for the club.

For Portugal he won 49 senior caps and scored 14 goals, debuting against Lithuania in November 2019. He played at Euro 2020 and Euro 2024, missed the 2022 World Cup through injury, and won the UEFA Nations League in 2019 and 2025.

Jota was a versatile attacker who played as a centre forward, out-and-out striker, winger, false nine and inside forward. Although naturally right-footed, he was strong with both feet. He was known for clinical finishing, explosive pace, dribbling, positional sense, movement and close control, which made him dangerous on the counter-attack, and for an unusually high defensive work rate for a forward.

Jota married his long-time partner Rute Cardoso on 22 June 2025, eleven days before his death. The couple had three children.

He was a keen gamer. In February 2021 he was ranked world number one on the FIFA 21 Champions leaderboard, he owned an esports team, Luna Galaxy (formerly Diogo Jota eSports), and he streamed on Twitch. During the COVID-19 lockdown he won the Premier League's invitational FIFA series, beating Trent Alexander-Arnold in the final. On the first anniversary of his death, EA Sports announced that its Pro Championship Trophy would be renamed in his honour.

On 11 July 2025 Liverpool retired the number 20 shirt at all levels of the club, and the club website continues to list him with the squad under a banner reading Forever. Liverpool said it would pay the rest of his contract to his family. Wolves added him to their Hall of Fame, Gondomar's academy carries his name, and Portugal named him an honorary member of their 2026 World Cup squad, with a tribute shown before their opening match against DR Congo on 17 June 2026. A tribute was also paid to him and his brother at the 2025 Ballon d'Or ceremony in Paris.

With Wolverhampton Wanderers: EFL Championship 2017 to 2018.

With Liverpool: Premier League 2024 to 2025; FA Cup 2021 to 2022; EFL Cup 2021 to 2022 and 2023 to 2024 (runner-up 2024 to 2025); UEFA Champions League runner-up 2021 to 2022.

With Portugal: UEFA Nations League 2018 to 2019 and 2024 to 2025.

Individual: Premier League Player of the Month (January 2024); PFA Fans' Player of the Month (November 2021); UEFA Champions League Breakthrough XI (2020); SJPF Young Player of the Month (October and November 2015); Primeira Liga Goal of the Month (February 2016); Wolverhampton Wanderers Hall of Fame; number 20 retired by Liverpool (posthumous).

Icelandic singer Laufey performed You'll Never Walk Alone in his memory at her Liverpool concert on 3 July 2025. Oasis showed an image of Jota in his Liverpool kit during Live Forever at the first show of their reunion tour in Cardiff on 4 July, and their support act Cast dedicated Walkaway to him. Guitarist Nuno Bettencourt wore Jota's number 20 shirt at the Back to the Beginning concert at Villa Park on 5 July. Liverpool supporters' song Oh his name is Diogo remained a fixture at Anfield.

On 30 September 2023 Jota was sent off 24 minutes after coming on against Tottenham, leaving Liverpool with nine men, and pundits including Gary Neville and Stephen Warnock criticised him. After his death, the Spanish Civil Guard said the evidence indicated he was driving and that the car significantly exceeded the motorway speed limit. The final expert report was to be submitted to the court in Puebla de Sanabria.

Jota had recently undergone minor lung surgery in Porto and was advised not to fly, so he planned to return to England for Liverpool's pre-season by ferry from Santander. In the early hours of 3 July 2025, between about 00:30 and 00:40 local time, he and his brother André Silva were driving on the A-52 motorway when, according to the Spanish Civil Guard, their Lamborghini Huracán suffered a tyre blowout while overtaking, left the road near kilometre 64 in the municipality of Cernadilla, Zamora, and caught fire. Both men died at the scene. Jota was 28 and André was 25.

A wake was held in Gondomar on 4 July, attended by President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa and Prime Minister Luís Montenegro. The funeral took place the next morning at the Igreja Paroquial de Gondomar, with Bishop Manuel Linda of Porto presiding. Virgil van Dijk and Andy Robertson carried floral tributes and Rúben Neves was a pallbearer. The brothers were buried side by side in the cemetery beside the church.