On August 5, former Portuguese footballer Jorge Costa passed away. Following the incident, several news outlets reported his death. In doing so, one particular image was widely circulated as that of the deceased Jorge Costa. However, the authenticity of the image soon came under question among netizens.

Fact-check

Investigation by the Rumor Scanner team revealed that the image in question does not belong to the late footballer Jorge Costa. In fact, the photo shows Diogo Costa, a footballer who represents Spain at the international level and is still alive.

When relevant keywords about Jorge Costa were searched, a report published on August 5 on the BBC’s official website titled “Former Porto captain Costa dies aged 53” was found. The report stated, “Former Porto captain Jorge Costa died of a heart attack at the club's training center at the age of 53. The defender helped the Portuguese club win the Champions League in 2004 under coach José Mourinho and played 50 international matches for Portugal.” The report included an image of Jorge Costa. A comparison between this authentic image and the one being circulated initially suggests that they are two different individuals.

A reverse image search of the circulated image led to a report published on September 13, 2022, on the UK-based sports platform Sky Sports. The article contained a photo that exactly matches the one falsely claimed to be Jorge Costa. According to the report, the person in the photo is Diogo Costa, who had returned to English Premier League club Wolverhampton Wanderers at the time. He had previously played for Chelsea, winning league titles in 2015 and 2017.

Additionally, a 2022 article published on football-focused news website Goal also contained the same photo and identified the individual as Diogo Costa.

Based on this information, a further search on the football transfer and data platform Transfermarkt confirmed Diogo Costa’s profile. It states that Diogo Costa is 36 years old and still alive. Though born in Brazil, he has represented Spain at the international level.

From the evidence above, it is confirmed that the image circulated with the news of Jorge Costa’s death actually belongs to a different footballer named Diogo Costa.

Therefore, in reporting the death of the former Portuguese footballer Jorge Costa, an image of Diogo Costa—who represents Spain internationally—was mistakenly circulated, which is misleading.

Source: https://rumorscanner.com/fact-check/diego-costa-claimed-as-jorge-costa/164597