Diogo Jota, the celebrated Portuguese soccer star who recently won the English Premier League with Liverpool Football Club, has been killed in a car crash, authorities said Thursday.
The club said in a statement that it was “devastated by the tragic passing of Diogo Jota.”
The Guardia Civil confirmed in a statement that the 28-year-old star and his brother, André Silva, 29, also a professional soccer player, died after a car crash in the Zamora region at 12:30 a.m.
“In the absence of a conclusion of the experts evidence, everything points that a car left the road, due to a tire blowout while overtaking,” the police said. The car set on fire and both vehicle occupants were killed by the accident, the statement added.
The Portuguese national team paid tribute to Jota in a statement on X.
“Far beyond being an exceptional player, with nearly 50 caps for the national team, Diogo Jota was an extraordinary person, respected by all teammates and opponents, someone with a contagious joy and a reference within his own community,” it said.
The Provincial Council of Zamora said in a statement on X — which didn’t name Jota — that a 28-year-old and a 26-year-old were killed in an accident early Thursday.
According to Jota’s social media accounts, he got married to his long-term girlfriend, Rute Cardoso, just 10 days ago. The couple had three children together.
Social media was flooded with tributes from Liverpool fans who expressed support for his wife and children.
Born in 1996 with the full name Diogo José Teixeira da Silva, Jota was a talented player who made 182 total appearances and scored 65 goals for Liverpool, becoming a key part of the championship-winning team of 2024-25. He also played 49 times for the Portuguese national team.
“We have lost two champions. The passing of Diogo and André Silva represents irreparable losses for Portuguese Football, and we will do everything to honor their legacy daily,” the Portuguese national team’s statement said.
A skillful forward blessed with pace, great balance and dribbling ability, Jota was sought by a number of top European teams when he moved from England’s Wolverhampton Wanderers to Liverpool for a total fee of 45 million pounds ($61.5 million) in 2020.
Jota played for Portuguese team Paços de Ferreira and Spain’s Atletico Madrid before leaving for the English Premier League. One of this former teams, FC Porto, said it was in mourning.
Former Liverpool stars, including Jamie Carragher and Stan Collymore, paid tribute to Jota.
“I’m sure like many in the football family there’s just a profound sense of shock, sadness and disbelief at the news of Diogo Jota’s death at the unfathomably young age of 28. Newly married too,” Collymore said on X.
