Here are some facts you need to know about Diogo Jota
Diogo Jota (Full Name – Diogo José Teixeira da Silva) is a Portuguese winger born on 4 December 1996 in Porto, Portugal. His father’s name is Joaquim Silva and mother is Isabel Silva. He has a brother – Andre Silva.
Childhood
Diogo Jota’s parents were football lover themselves. Hence, they supported both their son’s passion for football.
His passion for football saw him entering Gondomar Sports Club at the young age of nine. He quickly made an impression on his coaches and soon moved up the ranks to play with senior players.
Career
After playing at Gondomar, Diogo Jota joined the Portuguese Primera Liga side, F.C. Paços de Ferreira’s youth setup, in 2013.
He made his senior debut in the 2014-2015 season when he was promoted to the main squad and played against Atletico S.C at Taça de Portugal. He scored his first professional goal in 2015, against Académica de Coimbra.
Jota played two seasons for Paços de Ferreira and ended up scoring 15 goals in 45 games in all competitions for the Primera Liga. In 2016, he signed a contract with Atlético Madrid. He was back in Portugal again after he was loaned for a year to FC Porto.
During his single season – 2016-2017 – with the FC Porto, he scored 9 goals in a total of 37 matches across all competitions. This included his first experience playing in the UEFA Champions League.
In 2017, Diogo joined Wolves on a season long loan. He scored 17 league goals and played a crucial role in Wolves first promotion to Premier League after 6 seasons (since 2012).
His season long loan became a permanent transfer in 2018. In 2018-2019 season, he scored a total of 10 goals while in the 2019-2020 season, he netted 16 goals. In total, he scored 44 goals in 131 games during his 3 seasons.
With his hat-trick against Leicester City, he became the second Portuguese player—after Cristiano Ronaldo, to score a hat-trick in the Premier League.
In September 2020, he was signed up by Liverpool for a £41 million, on a five-year contract. In his first 10 games, he scored 7 goals and became the first Liverpool player ever since Robbie Fowler in 1993 to achieve this feat.
He scored a goal against FC Midtjylland in the UCL which became the 10,000th goal in the club’s history. Later, he set a record by becoming the first Liverpool player to score a goal in each of his first four home matches in the Premier League.
Jota has also played for Portuguese national youth football team and represented the country at under-19, under-21 and under-23 levels. For the youth team, he scored a total of 14 goals in 30 matches.
In 2019, he was included the senior side of the Portugal national team for the first time. Though he did not play in the tournament, he was a part of the team that won the 2019 UEFA Nations League.
In November 2019, he made his international debut against Lithuania in a UEFA Euro 2020 qualifier. He scored his first international goal against Croatia in the UEFA Nations League in September 2020.
Awards & Achievements
- 1X NATIONAL LEAGUE
Personal Life
Diogo Jota has been in relationship with Rute Cardoso, a model, since 2013. The couple welcomed their first child, a baby boy, in February 2021.
