Jorge Costa, former Porto skipper passes away aged 53 following a a cardiac arrest at the club’s training centre.
Following a heart attack at the team’s training facility, former Porto captain Jorge Costa passed away at the age of 53.
The defender earned 50 caps for Portugal and guided the Portuguese team to Champions League success in 2004 under manager Jose Mourinho.
Costa retired from football in 2006 after spending a season on loan at Charlton in the Premier League in 2001–02.
Before accepting the position of director of professional football at Porto last season, the centre-back transitioned into management and worked for 16 different clubs.
“Throughout his life, both on and off the pitch, Jorge Costa embodied the values that define FC Porto: dedication, leadership, passion and an unshakeable spirit of conquest,” the club said. “He left his mark on generations of fans.”
After the untimely deaths of former loanee Diogo Jota and his brother Andre Silva in July, who played for Porto for six years, this is the third untimely death of a former player this summer.
Mourinho, the manager of Fenerbahce, who oversaw Costa at Porto from 2002 to 2004, held back tears and honoured his former captain during a press conference prior to Wednesday’s Champions League third-round matchup with Feyenoord.
“If he could speak with me now he would say ‘do your press conference, tomorrow play the game mister and win the game – forget about me’,” Mourinho said.
“I’m going to try and do my job today and tomorrow, and then I’ll cry after.”
After stints in the dugout in Portugal with Braga, Olhanense and Academica, Costa managed teams in Romania, Cyprus, Tunisia, India and Gabon.