Diogo Jota and his love for video games

Diogo Jota celebrates a goal with Liverpool simulating to play video games.

Photo: Yahoo

Diogo was born in Porto, Portugal on December 4, 1996, he was just 28 years old. He was raised with his younger brother Andre in the middle of a family with humble roots. Both began to play football on land of the Gondomar neighborhood, in the metropolitan area of Porto, a city that has always had a clinical eye for the talented.

At 17 he had already become a professional footballer by the hand of Paços de Ferreira, a Portuguese club who after three years enjoying him to Atlético de Madrid. However, it was not yet the time to leave his native country and was ceded to Porto, a team accustomed to playing the UEFA Champions League and hire Colombians such as Radamel Falcao García, James Rodríguez, Freddy Guarín, Juan Fernando Quintero, Jackson Martínez and many others.

In 2017 he made the leap to English football with the Wolverhampton Wanderers (Wolves) and three years later, Liverpool put his eyes on him and took him to the shore of the Mersey River in exchange for 45 million pounds sterling. There, next to Luis Díaz, he won two glasses of the League, a FA Cup, a Community Shield and a Premier League. He was ready to start the 2025/2026 season with the Reds, but a road accident with his brother Andre truncated his life.

In the early hours of July 3, 2025, the world rose with the news that Andre and Diogo had lost their lives after being injured in the municipality of Cernadilla in Zamora, Spain. Some players attended their funeral in Portugal, but others had to move forward with their sports commitments.

That was the case of Raúl Jiménez, with the Mexican team during the Gold Cup, and Ousmane Dembélé with Paris Saint-Germain in the Club World Cup. But why did these players celebrate their goals simulating that they play video games? It is a tribute to Diogo, who had a fervent gaming hobby, which always proudly led to each stadium in which he played.

Why did Diogo Jota celebrate his goals like this?

It seems that video games and football will always have a strong relationship and the late footballer is another sample of that. The 28 -year -old Portuguese sat in the grass and pretended to be playing in front of a television because from a very young age he had been a staunch gaming lover.

Specifically of sports simulators such as Pro Evolution Soccer (PES) which he enjoyed in his playstation 1 when he was a child. Later in his life he intensified much more that intertwood between him and the video games, at the same level of passion he felt for football.

Already as a teenager, it was the popular “FIFA” who accompanied him in his afternoons after training and matches. Even during the confinement of 2020 Diogo became the undefeated champion of the Epremier League invitational, an eSports championship (virtual football) in which he represented his club, Liverpool.

Well with the ball at the feet and also with the control in the hands

However, this case was not isolated, much less product of the Covid-19 pandemic. In it FIFA 21he achieved 30 wire victories in the online multiplayer of Fut Champions. In addition, he spent several weeks among the 20 best players in FIFA of the world.

His fondness for video games that EA Sports, a developer study of the title was so authentic, chose it several times as the face of his advertising campaigns and eSports tournaments. For FIFA 22he played in the name of Europe in the global Qualifier series in which he crossed with the 320 best football gamers on the planet.

From one of those online games is that its popular celebration arises. On November 27, 2021, Jota had to communicate to his virtual opponent who had to leave the game, because he had to play a real party with Liverpool. A little more than 30 minutes after starting the match had already scored two goals and the first one celebrated it in that particular way.

Diogo Jota and his own eSports team

The Portuguese founded his own eSports team which, after an alliance with an international organization, called Luna Galaxy. The squad participated in the Esports World Cup in Saudi Arabia and Diogo himself attended the event to encourage his team and give lectures.

Every time he had the opportunity, Jota called to support development and investment in electronic sports. A hobby that many reduce to play video games, but that must be understood as a way of living and more than anything else, of staying alive.

“There are more important things than football. He was a very close friend illuminated every corner,” said Trent -Alxander Arnold to Dazn after Borussia Dortmund – Real Madrid of the 2025 Club World Cup. Diogo Jota died only six days after marrying Cardoso Rute, with whom he held a relationship since 2012 and had three children.

Liverpool withdrew the number 20 in his honor and the Porto designed an allusive shirt to him and his fondness for video games for the club's eSports team. Unfortunately, Diogo died, but the memories will remain on and off the court, both the real and the virtual; And something is safe, only who is forgotten and Jota will continue to have a very important place in football, in video games and in the life of those who knew and loved him.