Unveiling Jorge Costa: The Captain Behind Mourinho’s Champions League Triumph with FC Porto

Jorge Costa, the captain of Jose Mourinho’s Porto Champions League-winning team, has tragically died of a cardiac arrest at the age of 53. He collapsed at Porto’s training centre in Olival on Tuesday. Known to his former teammates as “Tanque” (Tank), due to his aggressive style of defending, Costa was taken to São João hospital but was later pronounced dead.

Costa started his football career at Porto in 1990, coming up through the club’s youth system. He was part of the team for almost 15 years, except for three loan periods at Penafiel, Maritimo and Charlton Athletic. He parted ways with Porto in 2005 and played his final season at Standard Liège the following season.

After retiring from playing, Costa took on coaching roles at various clubs across different countries. He was associated with teams like Braga, Olhanense, Académica, CFR Cluj, AEL Limassol, Anorthosis, Paços Ferreira, Sfaxien, Arouca, Mumbai City and AVS. He also served as the manager of the Gabon national team for two years.

He was appointed as the head coach of Mumbai City FC in 2020. In addition to his club career, Costa featured in the Portugal national football team, scoring two goals in 50 appearances. He rejoined Porto in 2024 as the director of football.

One of the major highlights of Costa’s career was captaining Mourinho’s Porto to Champions League glory in 2004. He also won several league titles, the Uefa Cup, the Intercontinental Cup and five Taca de Portugal trophies.