Diogo Jota’s legacy, and his No. 20, will live on in Liverpool.
Liverpool FC announced Friday that the club will posthumously retire Jota’s number across the organization, one week after the Portuguese forward died in a car crash. The number will also be retired for the Liverpool women’s and youth academy teams.
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In a statement, the club said the decision was made after consulting with Jota’s wife, Rute Cardoso, and his family. Jota and Cardoso, who have three children together, had gotten married just two weeks before the forward’s death.
Jota will be the first individual to have his jersey retired in the club’s history. Per the statement, Liverpool plans to retire the jersey to honor “the profound personal impact he had on his teammates, colleagues and supporters and the everlasting connections he built with them.”
Club CEO Michael Edwards said in the statement that Jota wore the No. 20 “with honour, distinction and affection.”
“This is a unique tribute to a uniquely wonderful person,” Edwards said. “By retiring this squad number, we are making it eternal — and therefore never to be forgotten … As far as Liverpool Football Club is concerned, he will be forever our number 20.”
Jota and his brother, André Silva, were killed in Spain on July 3 after their car blew a tire. Spanish police believe they were going above the speed limit at the time.
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In the days since their death, there has been an outpouring of support and tributes from the soccer community. Several teams, including Portugal, held a moment of silence at the women’s Euro 2025 competition. Mexico striker Raúl Jiménez, a former teammate of Jota’s at Wolverhampton, honored the forward after scoring in the Gold Cup. Jota was even honored by Oasis in concert.
Jota’s death led to a poignant moment of silence at the Club World Cup match between Fluminense and Al-Hilal last week, as Al-Hilal defenders Rúben Neves and João Cancelo — two of Jota’s Portugal teammates — became emotional. The next day, Neves and Cancelo flew back to Portugal for Jota’s funeral, in which Neves served as a pallbearer.
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Now, Jota’s squad number at Liverpool will become part of that legacy as well.
