Details are scant at the moment, but defending Premier League champions Liverpool FC say they will in some way immortalize the kit of a player who died in a car crash this week.
Liverpool forward Diogo Jota and his brother, Andre Silva, were killed in the crash in Zamora, northwestern Spain, early in the morning of Thursday, July 3. Jota was only 28 years old.
In a tribute on their website, Liverpool say that his No. 20 shirt will be “rightly immortalized” in the future, though they don’t say exactly what that will look like just yet.
The No.20 will be rightly immortalised for his contributions as part of Liverpool’s 2024-25 title-winners – the club’s 20th – with his trademark shimmy and strike in front of the Kop to seal victory in April’s Merseyside derby a poignant last goal of his life.
Aside from winning the Premier League title with Liverpool in 2024-25, Jota had just won the UEFA Nations League with his Portugal teammates earlier this summer. He signed for Liverpool in September 2020 following spells at Atlético de Madrid, Porto FC and Wolverhampton Wanderers. In June 2025, he married his long-time partner, with whom he had three children. Jota’s brother played for Futebol Clube de Penafiel in the Liga Portugal 2.
This is not solely a response to tragedy. It is also a reaction to the goodness of the people involved and the respect that so many have for the boys as individuals and for the family as a whole.
For us as a club, the sense of shock is absolute. Diogo was not just our player. He was a loved one to all of us. He was a teammate, a colleague, a workmate and in all of those roles he was very special.
— Arne Slot, Liverpool manager
Spain’s Guardia Civil said that the crash was caused by a “burst tire while overtaking,” with the vehicle Jota and Silva were in leaving the road and catching fire. It’s not known which brother was driving at the time.
