Diogo Jota: Career, Honours, Death and Official Findings
Diogo José Teixeira da Silva, known as Diogo Jota, was a Portuguese forward who played for Paços de Ferreira, Porto (on loan), Wolverhampton Wanderers and Liverpool, and won 49 caps for Portugal. He died in a road accident in Spain on 3 July 2025, aged 28, together with his brother André Silva, weeks after helping Liverpool win the Premier League and Portugal win the Nations League. This profile is a factual summary of his career, his death and the official findings, using Liverpool FC, BBC Sport, Wikipedia and Spanish court reporting.
Quick Facts
| Detail | Information and source |
|---|---|
| Full name | Diogo José Teixeira da Silva (Wikipedia) |
| Born | 4 December 1996, Massarelos, Porto, Portugal; grew up in Gondomar |
| Died | 3 July 2025, near Cernadilla, Zamora, Spain, aged 28 |
| Position | Forward and winger |
| Clubs | Paços de Ferreira, Atlético Madrid (never played), Porto (loan), Wolves, Liverpool |
| Liverpool record | 65 goals in 182 appearances (BBC Sport) |
| Wolves record | 44 goals in 131 appearances (BBC Sport) |
| Portugal | 49 caps, 14 goals; Nations League winner 2019 and 2025 |
| Marriage | Married Rute Cardoso on 22 June 2025; three children (BBC Sport) |
Early life and Paços de Ferreira
Jota was born in the Massarelos parish of Porto and grew up in Gondomar, where he played for Gondomar S.C. from the age of nine to seventeen. The club’s academy was named after him in 2022. According to Wikipedia, larger clubs rejected him because of his small frame, and he joined Paços de Ferreira’s youth setup in 2013. He made his senior debut in October 2014 and had a month away from training that season after being diagnosed with a heart condition, which Wikipedia mentions without further detail. In May 2015 he scored twice against Académica de Coimbra and became the youngest player to score for the club in the Portuguese top flight. His manager at the time, Jorge Simão, compared him to Cristiano Ronaldo, a comparison that stunned the young player, according to the same source.
His surname on the shirt was a choice: his actual surname was Silva, and he picked “Jota” (the Portuguese pronunciation of the letter J) to distinguish himself from other players called Diogo and Silva at the academy.
Atlético Madrid, Porto and Wolves
In March 2016 Jota agreed to a five-year deal with Atlético Madrid, but he was loaned straight back to Porto, where he scored a hat-trick against Nacional in October 2016. In July 2017 he joined Wolves on loan. The move became permanent for a reported €14 million, and he scored 17 league goals in his first season as Wolves won the Championship and went up to the Premier League. Over three seasons he made 131 appearances and scored 44 goals. Highlights listed by Wikipedia include a hat-trick against Leicester City in January 2019 and an FA Cup quarter-final winner against Manchester United in March 2019. Former Wolves defender Conor Coady told BBC Sport that he remembered Jota for his selflessness and said he helped create a new culture when the Portuguese players arrived.
Liverpool, 2020 to 2025
Liverpool signed Jota in September 2020 for a reported £41 million, rising to £45 million with add-ons. He scored on his Premier League debut for the club against Arsenal and completed a Champions League hat-trick at Atalanta in November 2020. Over five seasons he made 182 appearances and scored 65 goals, according to BBC Sport. His honours with the club were the FA Cup and EFL Cup in 2021-22, the EFL Cup in 2023-24 and the Premier League in 2024-25, while Liverpool lost the 2022 Champions League final. He won Premier League Player of the Month in January 2024.
Portugal
Jota represented Portugal at under-19, under-21 and under-23 levels before making his senior debut in November 2019. BBC Sport reports that he replaced Cristiano Ronaldo in a 6-0 win over Lithuania in his first match. He played in the 2020 and 2024 European Championships, missed the 2022 World Cup through injury, and won the UEFA Nations League in 2019 and 2025. His last match for his country was on 8 June 2025, when Portugal beat Spain on penalties in the Nations League final.
Beyond football
Wikipedia notes that Jota was an enthusiastic gamer. He was ranked first in the world in FIFA 21’s Champions Leaderboard in February 2021, owned an esports team and streamed on Twitch. During the Covid-19 lockdown he beat Liverpool teammate Trent Alexander-Arnold in the final of a Premier League invitational series. On the first anniversary of his death, EA Sports renamed its Pro Championship trophy in his honour. Former teammate Caoimhin Kelleher told BBC Sport he was also fond of darts, snooker and horse racing, and remembered him in a Peaky Blinders cap and three-piece suit.
Marriage and family
BBC Sport reports that Jota married Rute Cardoso, his long-term partner, 11 days before he died; the couple had three children. In keeping with family privacy we do not name the children or give their ages.
Death and official findings
Jota had recently undergone minor lung surgery and, on medical advice not to fly, planned to travel from Spain to England by ferry from Santander to rejoin Liverpool for pre-season. At about 00:30 to 00:40 local time on 3 July 2025, he and his brother André Silva were travelling on the A-52 motorway in Zamora province when their Lamborghini left the road and caught fire. Emergency services confirmed that both died at the scene. André Silva, a player for Penafiel in Portugal’s second division, was 25.
The Spanish Civil Guard said soon after that the evidence indicated Jota was driving and that the car significantly exceeded the speed limit, according to Wikipedia. In April 2026 the Athletic and Liverpool.com reported on the conclusion of the court process. The Court of First Instance in Puebla de Sanabria dismissed the case in November 2025 after reviewing the documentary evidence and the Civil Guard Traffic Unit’s expert reports. The reports concluded that the car suffered a high-speed tyre blowout while overtaking, hit the central reservation and caught fire. Sources close to the Castilla y León High Court told The Athletic that no criminal liability was found. They also said that the dismissal does not prevent affected parties from bringing a civil action. We could not read the court documents themselves.
Remembrance
A wake was held in Gondomar on 4 July 2025 and the funeral took place the next day. Liverpool retired the number 20 shirt across all of its teams, as the club confirmed, and added a permanent memorial in the brothers’ honour on 97 Avenue outside Anfield, unveiled around the first anniversary. BBC Sport reported tributes on 3 July 2026. Liverpool supporters began a chant in the 20th minute of each match, and the club’s website lists Jota under a banner reading “Forever”, according to Wikipedia and Liverpool.com. His former manager Arne Slot told BBC Sport that he asked players to honour Jota by “trying to be a little like him”.
What we could not verify
- The full text of the Spanish court decision. We rely on The Athletic’s reporting as repeated by Liverpool.com.
- Whether any civil claims have been filed.
- Any Celtic ancestry: an earlier version of this page implied one, and we found no source.
- The children’s names and ages, which we deliberately omit.
- The reported transfer fees, which are reported figures and not official club confirmations.
- Details of the heart condition mentioned in 2014-15; Wikipedia gives no further information.
- The exact date the Anfield memorial was unveiled; Liverpool says it was unveiled by the first anniversary and Reuters dated an announcement to May 2026, but we could not open the Reuters page.
Sources
- Wikipedia
- BBC Sport
- Liverpool FC
- Liverpool.com
- The Athletic
- Reuters
Last reviewed October 2026. See our corrections policy to report an error.
