One year ago, the football world was left devastated by the death of Liverpool forward Diogo Jota and his brother Andre Silva in a car crash.
Jota, who was 28 at the time of his passing, had lifted the Premier League title with Liverpool just weeks before, capping a remarkable final chapter to his career.
He had also married his long-term partner Rute Cardoso, with whom he had three children, just 11 days before the tragic accident claimed his life.
Across 182 appearances for Liverpool, Jota scored 65 goals and contributed to FA Cup and League Cup glory in 2022, as well as the Premier League title in 2024-25.
His final match came on 8 June 2025, when Portugal beat Spain in the Nations League final on penalties, a fitting send-off for a player who earned 49 caps and scored 14 goals for his country.
Former Liverpool goalkeeper Caoimhin Kelleher was among those to pay tribute, recalling a man who was as warm off the pitch as he was brilliant on it.
“He was a wonderful guy and definitely one of a kind,” Kelleher told BBC Sport, adding: “He didn’t care that he was a super famous footballer. He saw himself as a normal guy and stuck to his morals.”
Kelleher shared fond memories of Jota’s love of British and Irish pastimes, including a trip to Cheltenham races that Jota effectively invited himself on after hearing the plans.
“Jots got wind of it and came over and was like, ‘When are we going to Cheltenham?’,” Kelleher recalled, describing him arriving in a full three-piece suit, Peaky Blinders cap, and even a pocket watch.
Former Liverpool manager Arne Slot reflected on a player who always put the collective before himself, pointing to a telling moment after the Premier League title win.
“Out of all the pictures available, he picked the one with the entire team and staff in front of the Kop singing You’ll Never Walk Alone,” Slot told BBC Sport, adding: “That was Diogo.”
Former Wolves boss Nuno Espirito Santo, who brought Jota to Molineux initially on loan before making the deal permanent, described him as someone who captured the hearts of everyone around him.
“At the risk of sounding like a cliche, it’s simply the truth,” Nuno said. “Everyone loved Diogo, absolutely everyone. Everyone at the club, everyone in the dressing room. Everyone.”
Former Wolves captain Conor Coady spoke emotionally about the impact Jota had both on and off the pitch during their time together, including winning the Championship title in 2018.
“He was an incredible human being with such honesty and humility and someone I will remember forever,” Coady told BBC Sport, calling it “an absolute honour” to have shared a dressing room with him.
Coady recalled a stunning goal Jota scored in an FA Cup quarter-final against Manchester United, where he burst forward from the halfway line, shrugged off Luke Shaw, and smashed the ball in with his weaker left foot.
“That goal was made for Diogo Jota because not many players could score a goal like that,” Coady said, adding that the competitive fire which produced such moments was exactly what made Jota so special to everyone around him.
Paulo Goncalves, technical secretary at boyhood club Pacos de Ferreira, recalled Jota’s professional debut at just 17, when he scored and won man of the match in a 4-0 Portuguese Cup victory over Atletico de Reguengos in October 2014.
“I remember that, after scoring, he ran toward the stands where his parents were sitting and embraced his mother, who was moved to tears by such a special and significant moment,” Goncalves told BBC Sport.
Goncalves also revealed that when Jota signed his first professional contract, the club offered to arrange a house for him, but he declined, preferring to continue living with his youth academy team-mates.
From his earliest days at Pacos de Ferreira to his final moments as a Premier League champion, Diogo Jota left a lasting impression on everyone fortunate enough to know him.
