The terrible news of the death of Diogo Jota in a car accident on a Spanish road has shocked the world of football, especially Liverpool fans, who filled the surroundings of Anfield stadium with flowers, scarves, and messages in honor of the Portuguese player.
The “Reds” fans also started a campaign on social media and in statements to the media for the club, one of the two most important in England alongside Manchester United, to retire the number 20 that Diogo Jota used.
Can Liverpool retire Diogo Jota’s number?
Unlike sports in the United States, in association football it is not common to retire numbers in honor of certain players, since until the early 90s in many leagues it was mandatory to line up players consecutively from number 1 to 11.
The abolition of said rule has allowed some clubs to stop using certain numbers in honor of their legends.
It is the case of Napoli from Italy, which does not use the number “10” to remember Diego Maradona long before the death of the player who is considered the best in history, or of the English West Ham United that retired the number “6” shirt that identified Bobby Moore.
Others have taken some jerseys out of circulation due to unexpected deaths, such as Manchester City not using “23” in honor of Cameroonian Marc-Vivien Foé, who died during a Confederations Cup semifinal match in 2023.
At the national team level, the measure is prohibited by FIFA, and it was made clear to Argentina when they requested to retire Maradona’s number 10.
What will Liverpool do?
In a statement published late on Thursday, Liverpool did not speak of “retiring” Diogo Jota’s number 20 shirt but of “immortalizing” his number, without providing further details.
“The number 20 will be immortalized with justice for his contributions as part of Liverpool’s title winners in the 2024-2025 campaign with his characteristic movement and grit to seal the victory in the April Merseyside derby, a moving last goal of his life,” Liverpool posted.
There is another important fact to highlight: the owners of Liverpool are Americans, who are much more accustomed than the English to honoring players by retiring their jersey.
The main controller of the team is Fenway Sports Group, founded by John W. Henry and Tom Werner, who are also owners of the Boston Red Sox in Major League Baseball and the Pittsburgh Penguins in the NHL.
Furthermore, one of the minority shareholders of the “Reds” is the famous basketball player LeBron James.