SOCCER MOURNS

Liverpool Soccer Star, 28, Killed in Car Crash 2 Weeks After Wedding

Diogo Jota and his brother were killed in the incident.

Liverpool soccer player Diogo Jota and his brother died in a car crash in Spain, authorities said Thursday.

Jota, who played for the English Premier League champions—owned by Fenway Sports Group (FSG), which also owns the Boston Red Sox—as well as the Portuguese national team, died just two weeks after he married his childhood sweetheart.

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The dad-of-three was traveling with his 26-year-old brother, André Silva, also a professional soccer player with Portuguese team Penafiel, when their vehicle crashed and caught fire on a motorway in Spain early hours of Thursday morning.

Jota’s car, a Lamborghini, went off the road due to a tire blow-out while overtaking another vehicle in Zamora, Spain’s Civil Guard told the BBC. The car then set on fire.

The tragedy comes barely a fortnight after Jota wed his childhood sweetheart, Rute Cardoso, mother of their three children, on June 22.

In an interview released this week, the forward called himself “the luckiest man in the world.” In a post shared on the couple’s social media, the pair wrote: “Yes, forever.” On Wednesday, he posted an Instagram video of the happy day, which he said they would “never forget.”

Liverpool released a brief statement confirming the news on its website Thursday.

Titled Diogo Jota: 1996-2025, it said: “Liverpool Football Club are devastated by the tragic passing of Diogo Jota.

“The club have been informed the 28-year-old has passed away following a road traffic accident in Spain along with his brother, André.”

The team added it would not make any additional comment yet and requested that the privacy of Jota’s family, friends, and colleagues be respected “as they try to come to terms with an unimaginable loss.”

Emergency officials for the Castilla y León region said multiple callers alerted the 1-1-2 operations room to “a vehicle accident at Km. 65 of the A-52, in the municipality of Cernadilla, Zamora.

“A car was reported to have been involved in an accident and the vehicle was on fire,” per a statement from the emergency services.

“1-1-2 notified the Zamora Traffic Police, the Zamora Provincial Council Fire Brigade, and the Sacyl Emergency Coordination Center (CCU) of this accident.”

The A-52, a key route for drivers leaving northern Portugal, remained partially closed for several hours as investigators examined wreckage.

Jota’s death was announced by Portuguese Football Federation president Pedro Proença, which said the sport is “completely devastated by the deaths of Diogo Jota and André Silva this morning in Spain.”

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Proença hailed Jota—capped nearly 50 times for Portugal—as “an extraordinary person, respected by teammates and opponents alike,” and conveyed condolences to the family, Liverpool FC, and FC Penafiel.

The federation has asked UEFA to hold a minute’s silence before Portugal’s women’s European Championship match against Spain on Thursday.

Having been signed by FSG from Wolverhampton Wanderers for $61.5 million in September 2020, Jota’s energy and instinctive finishing made him a fan favorite at Liverpool.

The club lifted the Premier League trophy in May, and he then won the UEFA Nations League with Portugal on June 8. He would have been likely to star at next year’s World Cup in America, Mexico, and Canada.

Jota’s death has left people in the English city, where the sport is like a religion, in shock.

It is the second major tragedy to befall the fanbase in the brief weeks following its record-breaking 20th top-flight title, after more than 100 people were injured when a car ploughed into fans celebrating during an open-top bus parade in the city.

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