EA Sports and EA FC pay tribute to Diogo Jota
8 July 2025
In the past few days, the football world has been in mourning after the sudden and shocking passing of Diogo Jota and his brother in a car crash on Thursday, July 3rd. As the Portuguese attacker was playing for Liverpool in the Premier League since 2020, the horrific news also had a big impact on the Premier League, on English football and by extension, on the world of esports in UK. Underlining that impact is the recent decision by EA Sports to remove the Jota’s cards from all Ultimate Team packs in EA FC (formerly known as FIFA) and to price lock all of his FC25 Ultimate Team cards.
EA Sports
Unfortunately, Diogo Jota is not the first professional football player with an avatar in FIFA / EA FC to pass away tragically at a far too young age. Arsenal’s José Antonio Reyes and Cardiff-player-to-be Emiliano Sala are recent examples of such tragedies. In those moments, EA Sports, the studio behind the hugely popular FIFA franchise that has now become EA FC, has always adopted an identical approach.
Out of respect for the player, the company removes the Ultimate Team items related to the player from all packs. Besides that, EA Sports also price lock the price ranges of the Ultimate Team items related to the player, like his cards. This means that their price is fixed at current value, which is what happened with Diogo Jota’s cards in FC 25 (the newest EA FC instalment at the time of writing) as well.
Avid gamer
The case of Diogo Jota is slightly more than that though, because the former Wolves, Atletico Madrid and FC Porto player was an avid gamer as well. He was not only known for his qualities on the pitch, but also for his FIFA (and later EA FC) skills. Jota was actually the number one ranking player in FUT champions for a period of time. This was also referenced by some of the many friends, colleagues and fans who paid tribute to the Portugal international in one way or another.
“We are heartbroken by the news of Diogo Jota’s passing”, EA Sports wrote on the official EA Sports FC X account, “Diogo was not only an exceptional footballer, but also a true friend and talented member of the FC family whose abilities were renowned amongst the community. Our thoughts are with his family, his teammates, and all who knew him. Rest in peace, Diogo.”
Luna Esports
As a matter of fact, Jota was the owner of his own esports team, called Luna Esports. This organisation is the result of a merger between his first venture in the world of esports, Diogo Jota Esports, and Galaxy Racer. It was actually one of the players from his team who managed to crown himself Esports World Cup EA FC 24 champion last year. You can count on many players around the world paying tribute to Jota in the coming season by imitating his now iconic gamer celebration, in which he acts like he is playing Playstation after scoring a goal.