Jorge Costa and Diogo Jota honoured at the Cidade do Futebol | OneFootball

Jorge Costa and Diogo Jota received the Honor Necklace for Sporting Merit and the insignia of the Order of Merit in a ceremony held this Tuesday at the City of Football, in Oeiras.

In the presence of family, friends, national team colleagues and the board of FC Porto, the President of the Republic, the Prime Minister and the president of the Portuguese Football Federation (FPF) evoked two "men who loved football, the country and the national team" and who "defended with courage and dedication the colors of the flag".

In a moment that united two tributes and two distinct but converging memories in emotion, Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa stated that "the meeting that came to have two tributes and two evocations so different, but so equal in the passion for life, in the joy of living, in the reason for being, in the ability to dream, to live, to hope and to fight" and that "both will live in eternity", adding that "the decorations represent what they represented for everyone infinitely".

Luís Montenegro, leaving "a word of deep recognition and solidarity from the Government of Portugal", referred to several "memories of moments of overcoming" of these two athletes, considered "symbols of excellence and overcoming with humility, tenacity, spirit of sacrifice and team", and stressed that those present "have every reason to be proud of them having made a very small core of athletes who represent a whole community".

Pedro Proença announced the creation of the "Square of Immortal Heroes, those who represent Portuguese-ness", intended to celebrate "the performances of those who have magnified Portuguese football, so that everyone pays due homage". "We inaugurate this space as a tribute to Diogo Jota, André Silva and Jorge Costa", he said, assuring that "We will never allow them to be forgotten".

The national team jerseys with numbers 2 and 21, immortalized in tribute to Jorge Costa and Diogo Jota by national, European and world fields, are now part of the Square of Heroes, at the FPF Arena Portugal.

This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇵🇹 here.