The tragic accident that claimed the life of Diogo Jota has left his wife, who became a bride less than two weeks ago, and three young children facing irreparable loss.

A week after the tragic death of football star Diogo Jota and his brother Andre in a traffic accident in Spain, public opinion is still in shock.

MailOnline recently revealed that Jota’s wife – Rute – could inherit a fortune of up to £35 million (about 1,200 billion VND) to help secure finances for herself and her three children after losing her husband of less than two weeks of marriage.

Diogo Jota, 28, has had an impressive playing career since joining Wolverhampton Wanderers in 2018 on a salary of £38,000/week (about 1 billion VND) before moving to Liverpool and becoming an indispensable pillar in coach Jurgen Klopp’s squad.

In his first two years at Wolverhampton Wanderers, Jota earned a total of £3.952 million (about 140 billion VND).

His big break came when he moved to Liverpool, where his wages rose to £83,000 a week, earning him an additional £8.632 million in just the first two years of his four-year contract.

Thanks to his impressive form and significant contributions to the Merseyside team, Liverpool extended Jota’s contract for another five years in 2022, with a salary increase to £140,000/week (about 4 billion VND). Thus, during this time, he earned an additional £21.84 million (about 775 billion VND) excluding performance bonuses.

In total, Jota scored 65 goals in 182 matches in England, making an important contribution to the team’s success and affirming his personal value both on and off the field.

According to Portuguese media, Liverpool may honour the contract and pay the remaining two years of his salary, equivalent to around £14.5 million (about 514 billion VND) although this has not been officially confirmed. If that happens, Jota’s total income since arriving in the Premier League will amount to around £34.4 million (about 1,220 billion VND).

The entire sum could be inherited by his wife – Rute – and three young children: Dinis (4 years old), Duarte (2 years old) and 8-month-old daughter, Mafalda.

While it is unclear how much of Jota has spent on his earnings, it is reported that he and his wife bought a five-bedroom, four-bathroom mansion in Blundellsands, a luxury suburb north of Liverpool, for £2.125 million at auction in May 2022. The luxury home had been rented out and put up for sale for the previous three years.

Inside the home is a mix of modern and classy amenities: a marble entrance hall, a brass and wrought iron staircase, a Bose sound system, a Gaggenau kitchen with high-end appliances, an eight-seat cinema room, a swimming pool, a sauna, a hot tub, a billiards table and a large entertaining space.

In addition to football, Jota also has income from sponsorship contracts with Nike, EA Sports worth an estimated 3.3 million pounds (117 billion VND) per year. He also founded his own Esports team called Luna Galaxy and owns a luxury car collection worth more than 1 million pounds (about 35 billion VND) including Range Rover Sport, Porsche 911 Turbo S, Ferrari 488, Audi Q7 and Mercedes-Benz G63 AMG.

Financially, Jota founded the image rights company Minute J Ltd in February 2023, which he and his father run together. According to the financial report filed in December 2024, the company recorded a revenue of £186,754 (about 6.6 billion) and is in debt of about £49,786 (about 1.7 billion VND), of which more than £44,000 (1.5 billion VND) is corporate tax.

The Richest commented: “He has left behind a financial legacy that few footballers can achieve at such a young age. Jota’s business thinking coupled with his vision on the pitch creates the perfect blueprint for how an athlete can build a career and fortune beyond the pitch.”

Tragedy after the fairy tale wedding day

What made Jota’s death even more heartbreaking was that just 13 days earlier, he and his childhood sweetheart, Rute, had just held a wedding ceremony. On the big day, Jota emotionally called himself “the luckiest man in the world” for being her husband. Emotional photos and videos of that “dream” wedding were widely shared on social media.

Just over two weeks later, many of the wedding guests had to painfully fly back to Portugal to attend the funeral of Jota and his younger brother Andre. The funeral was held in the same 17th-century Igreja Matriz church, where hundreds of relatives, friends and colleagues came to say goodbye to the brothers.

Funeral of the Jota brothers (Photo: Reuters)

Photo: Getty Images

Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk and Liverpool’s Andrew Robertson paid their respects, carrying bouquets of flowers on the day of the funeral (Photo: Reuters)
The Bishop of Porto, D. Manuel Linda, sent an emotional message of condolences to Jota’s three children: “The people who suffer the most at this time are their mother and grandparents. If the death of one child is a tragedy, then losing two at the same time… is an unspeakable pain.”

Both coffins were carried into the church to the sound of violins and choked applause, with many Liverpool players present, including Virgil van Dijk, Andrew Robertson, along with former captain Jordan Henderson and James Milner. Robertson carried a red wreath in the shape of a football shirt with the number 20, Jota’s number and Andre’s number 30.

Jota and his brother were reportedly on their way from Porto to Santander to take a ferry to England when the accident occurred in Zamora province (Spain). The bodies of the two brothers were buried side by side in a peaceful cemetery, where there were rows of olive trees providing shade.

Portugal’s head coach, Roberto Martinez, could not hide his emotions when sharing after the funeral: “Today is a very sad day and also a moment for us to remember Diogo and Andre together. We are a united block and they will always be with us.”