{"id":35490,"date":"2025-07-03T14:19:12","date_gmt":"2025-07-03T14:19:12","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/35490\/"},"modified":"2025-07-03T14:19:12","modified_gmt":"2025-07-03T14:19:12","slug":"diogo-jota-and-his-brother-die-in-car-accident-police-say","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/35490\/","title":{"rendered":"Diogo Jota and his brother die in car accident, police say"},"content":{"rendered":"

MADRID (AP) \u2014 Liverpool player<\/a> Diogo Jota and his brother were killed in a car accident in Spain when the Lamborghini they were in veered off a road and burst into flames, police said Thursday.<\/p>\n

The Spanish Civil Guard confirmed to The Associated Press that the 28-year-old Jota and his 25-year-old brother, Andr\u00e9 Silva, were found dead near the northwestern city of Zamora.<\/p>\n

Jota\u2019s death comes weeks after he married Rute Cardoso while on vacation from a long season where he helped Liverpool win the Premier League<\/a> title. On getting married, she wrote in a social media post, \u201cYes to forever.\u201d He leaves behind him three children, the youngest born last year.<\/p>\n

Police were investigating the causes of the accident that occurred past midnight local time. They said there were no other vehicles involved and that the brothers were alone in the car. The bodies were undergoing forensic analysis.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"Liverpool's<\/p>\n

Liverpool\u2019s Diogo Jota in Liverpool, Aug. 21, 2021. (Mike Egerton\/PA via AP, File)<\/p>\n

Liverpool\u2019s Diogo Jota in Liverpool, Aug. 21, 2021. (Mike Egerton\/PA via AP, File)<\/p>\n

Read More<\/p>\n

It wasn\u2019t clear who was driving the car. Police were looking into the hypothesis that the accident happened because of a blown tire while they tried to overtake another vehicle.<\/p>\n

The crash occurred while Jota and Silva, who is also a Portuguese soccer player, were traveling eastward along an isolated stretch of highway about an hour west of Zamora.<\/p>\n

Video images of the aftermath published by Spanish media showed braking tire marks veering off the road toward torn-apart guardrails. The burnt-up car was seen several meters ahead, with some of the vegetation around it destroyed by the fire.<\/p>\n

Jota was taking his summer break from soccer after having helped Portugal win the Nations League. That June 8 final<\/a> against Spain in Munich was his last match.<\/p>\n

Liverpool\u2019s players are due back to start training for next season on Monday. But Jota\u2019s participation in the Nations League could have earned him some extra time off before being called back to Liverpool.<\/p>\n

Liverpool said the club was \u201cdevastated by the tragic passing.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cLiverpool FC will be making no further comment at this time and request the privacy of Diogo and Andre\u2019s family, friends, teammates and club staff is respected as they try to come to terms with an unimaginable loss. We will continue to provide them with our full support.\u201d<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"The<\/p>\n

The site of the car accident in which Liverpool player Diogo Jota and his brother died in the north-western city of Zamora, Spain, Thursday, July 3, 2025. (AP Photo\/Emilio Fraile)<\/p>\n

The site of the car accident in which Liverpool player Diogo Jota and his brother died in the north-western city of Zamora, Spain, Thursday, July 3, 2025. (AP Photo\/Emilio Fraile)<\/p>\n

Read More<\/p>\n

Liverpool fans gathered to place flowers and team scarves outside Anfield Stadium to mourn Jota\u2019s passing when news of his death spread.<\/p>\n

Jota joined Liverpool from Wolves in 2020 and won three major trophies with the Merseyside club.<\/p>\n

Jota was a clinical finisher, scoring 65 goals in 182 games for the Reds. His last goal for the club was the winner in the Merseyside derby against Everton in April, which moved the team closer to the league title.<\/p>\n

His brother Silva played with Portuguese club Penafiel in the lower divisions.<\/p>\n

Portugal mourns loss of brothers<\/p>\n

Portugal\u2019s Prime Minister Lu\u00eds Montenegro commented on the \u201cunexpected and tragic\u201d deaths. He said Jota was \u201can athlete who greatly honored Portugal\u2019s name.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI extend my deepest condolences to their family,\u201d he said. \u201cIt is a sad day for soccer and for national and international sports.\u201d<\/p>\n

Born in Porto in 1996, Jota made his professional debut with Portuguese club Pa\u00e7os de Ferreira.<\/p>\n

The Portuguese soccer federation released a statement lamenting the deaths. Federation president Pedro Proen\u00e7a said Portuguese soccer was \u201ccompletely devastated.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cMore than a fantastic player, with almost 50 appearances for the national team, Diogo Jota was an extraordinary person, respected by all his colleagues and opponents. He had a contagious joy and was a reference in his community,\u201d Proen\u00e7a said in the statement.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\"People<\/p>\n

People lay flowers as tributes in memory of Liverpool player Diogo Jota, at Anfield Stadium, home of Liverpool, Thursday July 3, 2025. (Peter Byrne\/PA via AP)<\/p>\n

People lay flowers as tributes in memory of Liverpool player Diogo Jota, at Anfield Stadium, home of Liverpool, Thursday July 3, 2025. (Peter Byrne\/PA via AP)<\/p>\n

Read More<\/p>\n

The Portuguese federation said it has requested a minute of silence before Thursday\u2019s match between Portugal and Spain at the Women\u2019s European Championship being played in Switzerland. <\/p>\n

\u201cWe lost two champions,\u201d Proen\u00e7a said. \u201cTheir deaths represent an irreparable loss for Portuguese soccer and we will all do our best to honor their legacy daily.\u201d<\/p>\n

Sports world reacts<\/p>\n

Reaction also started pouring in from across the world, including from non-soccer players such as NBA star Lebron James \u2014 a minority owner at Liverpool \u2014 and tennis legend Rafael Nadal.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt doesn\u2019t make any sense,\u201d Jota\u2019s Portugal teammate Cristiano Ronaldo said. \u201cJust now we were together in the national team, just now you had gotten married. My condolences to your family, to your wife and to your children. I wish them all the strength in the world. I know that you will always be with them. Rest in peace, Diogo and Andr\u00e9. We will all miss you.\u201d<\/p>\n

Former club Porto and former teammates lamented the deaths and sent condolences, as did other clubs, federations and leagues.<\/p>\n

The Premier League said it was \u201cshocked and devastated.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cOur sincerest condolences go to Diogo\u2019s family, friends, Liverpool FC, and all their supporters at this heartbreaking time,\u201d it said. \u201cFootball has lost a champion who will be forever missed. We will continue to support our friends and colleagues at the club.\u201d<\/p>\n

UEFA said its thoughts were with relatives, friends and teammates affected \u201cby this heartbreaking loss.\u201d It said a moment of silence will be observed at Euro 2025 matches on Thursday and Friday.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

Wilson reported from Barcelona, Spain. AP Soccer Writer James Robson contributed to this report.<\/p>\n

___<\/p>\n

AP soccer: https:\/\/apnews.com\/hub\/soccer<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"MADRID (AP) \u2014 Liverpool player Diogo Jota and his brother were killed in a car accident in Spain…\n","protected":false},"author":3,"featured_media":35491,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[2],"tags":[29223,16354,29222,57,51,3363,1836,50,29225,124,3886,221,128,62,29224,52,107],"class_list":{"0":"post-35490","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-news","8":"tag-andr-silva","9":"tag-cristiano-ronaldo","10":"tag-diogo-jota","11":"tag-general-news","12":"tag-headlines","13":"tag-lebron-james","14":"tag-liverpool-fc","15":"tag-news","16":"tag-pedro-proena","17":"tag-portugal","18":"tag-rafael-nadal","19":"tag-soccer","20":"tag-spain","21":"tag-sports","22":"tag-sports-europe","23":"tag-top-stories","24":"tag-world-news"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35490","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/3"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=35490"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/35490\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/35491"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=35490"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=35490"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=35490"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}