‘Forever our number 20’ – Michael Edwards pays touching tribute as Jota’s shirt number retired | OneFootball

Liverpool FC have retired the number 20 shirt in memory of Diogo Jota, following consultation with his wife and family.

The club confirmed the decision on its official website and social media channels at 8:20pm on Friday night (20:20) in recognition of his ‘immeasurable contribution’ at Anfield and the ‘profound personal impact he had on his teammates, colleagues and supporters and the everlasting connections he built with them’.

The shirt number will be retired throughout all teams at LFC, including women’s and youth sides, and it’s the first time that such an honour has been officially bestowed by the club.

Michael Edwards pays tribute to Jota as Liverpool retire number 20

Michael Edwards, currently CEO of Football with FSG and Liverpool’s sporting director when Jota was signed in 2020, paid a touching tribute to Diogo when reflecting on the decision to retire the number 20.

He said (via liverpoolfc.com): “As a club, we were all acutely aware of the sentiment of our supporters, and we felt exactly the same way. It was vitally important to us to involve Diogo’s wife, Rute, and his family in the decision and to ensure they were the first to know of our intention.

“I believe this is the first time in Liverpool Football Club’s history that such an honour has been bestowed upon an individual. Therefore, we can say this is a unique tribute to a uniquely wonderful person. By retiring this squad number, we are making it eternal – and therefore never to be forgotten.

“Diogo joined us in 2020, he won us number 20, and he wore – with honour, distinction and affection – the number 20. As far as Liverpool Football Club is concerned, he will be forever our number 20.”

(Photo by Lewis Storey/Getty Images)

Billy Hogan, John Henry, Tom Werner and Mike Gordon added in a collective statement: “The fact that in the long and storied history of our club this honour has never previously been bestowed shows the significance of Diogo to Liverpool Football Club.”

Diogo Jota – forever our number 20

Thanks to this fitting gesture by Liverpool, the number 20 will now be forever associated with Diogo Jota, who’d already made it his own even before the tragic events in Zamora on 3 July.

It was in 2020 that the Portuguese forward signed for the Reds, and in the final year of his short life, he was a  vital contributor towards the club winning a record-equalling 20th league title.

From the enormous volume of tributes left outside Anfield to the global re-enactment of his trademark goal celebration in recent days, and the commencement of work on a memorial mural on Merseyside, it’s been clear just how much of an impact he made on people’s lives as a footballer and as a person.

Further tributes will be paid on Sunday when Liverpool play for the first time since Diogo’s death in what’ll be a hugely emotional afternoon at Deepdale for the friendly against Preston.

We hope that the scale and warmth of the respects which have been paid to the 28-year-old and his brother Andre Silva will provide their heartbroken family with a source of comfort amid the heartbreak of tragically losing two people they loved so dearly at such a young age.