Diogo Costa
Diogo Meireles da Costa is a Portuguese professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Primeira Liga club Porto, which he captains. Born in Switzerland, he plays for the Portugal national team.
Coming through Porto's youth system, Costa won the UEFA Youth League in 2019. He was promoted from the reserve side to the first-team in 2019, winning a domestic double of the Primeira Liga and the Taça de Portugal in his first season. He broke into the starting line-up in 2021, aged 22, helping Porto to a second domestic double and being named in the Primeira Liga Team of the Year in 2022, 2023 and 2025.
Costa represented Portugal at various youth levels, being part of the under-17 team that won the 2016 European Championship, the under-19 team that won the 2018 European Championship and the under-21 team that finished as runners-up at the 2021 European Championship. He made his senior international debut in 2021, representing Portugal at the 2022 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2024. He won the UEFA Nations League in 2025.
Club career
Early career
Born in Rothrist, Canton of Aargau, Switzerland to Portuguese parents, Costa relocated to Santo Tirso in Portugal at the age of 7 due to his father gaining employment at the local Toilet Duck factory there. In his childhood, he played football with his cousin Vitor, with their idol being FC Porto legend Vítor Baía, whom they looked to emulate. He started playing football at a local academy, AMCH Ringe, and later began going through some training sessions with Benfica, being integrated into one of their feeder club, Póvoa de Lanhoso, where he stayed for two years, standing out alongside future teammate Vitinha, before joining FC Porto's academy in 2011, following the consent of his parents.Porto
2017–2021: Youth career and reserves
Costa made his senior debut with the reserve team on 6 August 2017, in a 1–2 home loss against Gil Vicente for the LigaPro. He finished the season with a further 31 appearances, helping to a seventh-place finish, and on 15 May he renewed his contract until June 2022. In September, he was named the club's Newcomer of the Year; late in the same year, Spanish goalkeeper Iker Casillas – who started for the first team – heaped praise upon him, regarding him as his "successor".Costa won the 2018–19 UEFA Youth League with Porto, defeating Chelsea 3–1 in the final in Nyon, Switzerland on 29 April. Days later, after Casillas suffered a heart attack, Vaná replaced him as starting goalkeeper and Costa was called up to the bench for the final three games of the season, starting with a 4–0 win at Desportivo das Aves on 4 May.
On 25 September 2019, Costa made his first-team debut in the opening group match of the Taça da Liga, keeping a clean sheet in a 1–0 home victory over Santa Clara. His first Primeira Liga appearance took place on 10 November in a 1–0 away defeat of Boavista, as the habitual starter Agustín Marchesín was suspended internally after a breach of discipline. He made a further two until the end of the campaign for the eventual champions, as well as all seven Taça de Portugal matches as they secured the double.
At the start of the 2020–21 season, Costa inherited Porto's 99 shirt, made famous by goalkeeper and club legend Vítor Baía. He remained Marchesín's backup, only appearing in one league game, and made his Champions League debut on 9 December 2020; he kept a clean sheet in a 2–0 group stage win at Olympiacos.
2021–2023: First-choice goalkeeper and second league title
At the start of the 2021–22 season, Costa had a run as first-choice goalkeeper when Marchesín was sidelined with an injury. He was September 2021's Goalkeeper of the Month, receiving 25% of the votes while Benfica's Odysseas Vlachodimos received 22%. On 16 October, he agreed to a contract extension to 2026, increasing his buyout clause from €30 million to €60 million. After helping Porto to an unbeaten run of sixteen consecutive league games, during which he kept eight clean sheets, he was named the league's Goalkeeper of the Month for four consecutive months from December to March 2022.He would then be part of five more victories that would seal Porto a second domestic double of the Primeira Liga and the Taça de Portugal, after keeping a clean sheet in the 1–0 victory of O Clássico against rivals Benfica on 7 May, and 15 days later Porto 3–1 defeating Tondela in the domestic cup final. Despite finishing the season with 15 clean sheets, the second-highest total behind Antonio Adán of Sporting CP, Costa was still named in the Primeira Liga Team of the Year ahead of him. He also named the Primeira Liga Goalkeeper of the Year, having started in 33 of 34 Porto's league matches of the season, having missed only their last match, with the title being already secured.
On 4 October, Costa managed to save a penalty from Patrik Schick, and preserved a clean sheet in a 2–0 home win over Bayer Leverkusen in a Champions League group stage match. In the reverse fixture against them, on 12 October, Costa managed to provide an assist to a goal from Galeno, then saved a penalty from Kerem Demirbay, and preserved a clean sheet in a 3–0 away win against Leverkusen in Germany, becoming the first goalkeeper to achieve that feat in the Champions League. On 26 October, Costa saved another penalty from Noa Lang, as Porto's went on to win the game 4–0 away against Club Brugge, becoming the first goalkeeper to save three consecutive penalties in the competition's history. His form throughout the club's Champions League group stage campaign, saw him help his side qualify to the round of sixteen, as group winners, following a 2–1 home win over Atlético Madrid on 1 November, amassing 43 saves, and a man of the match award, during the group stage.
On 28 January 2023, Costa kept a clean sheet in the 2–0 final win over Sporting CP, helping Porto win their first Taça da Liga in Leiria. On 22 February, in the first leg of Champions League round-of-16, Costa proved to crucial for Porto, making several crucial saves as they lost 1–0 away in the first leg, to eventual tournament runners-up Inter Milan. On 14 March, in the second leg, despite keeping a clean sheet at home, in his 100th appearance for Porto, producing several decisive saves, a 0–0 draw prevented him from advancing to the quarter-finals. On 4 June, his team won the 2023 Taça de Portugal final 2–0 against Braga, with Costa keeping another clean sheet. In the league, Porto finished as runners-up, with Costa reaching 16 clean sheets goals in 33 games, contributing decisively for the club's second-best defensive record in the competition, being named for the second consecutive season the Primeira Liga Goalkeeper of the Year.
2023–Present: Primeira Liga's most clean sheets and Club captain
Over the course of the 2023 summer transfer window, there was much speculation that Costa would leave Porto with Chelsea, and Manchester United all heavily linked with the player. Porto were adamant he would not be sold for less than his €75 million release clause, leading both clubs to pull out of the deal, due to the overall cost of the transfer with United signing André Onana instead. He was also linked to a move to Bayern Munich and Real Madrid, following an injury to their starting goalkeepers, but a move never materialised, and he ended up staying at Porto for the upcoming season.In the 2023–24 season, despite a third-place finish from Porto in the Primeira Liga, he ended the season with 14 clean sheets out of 34 league matches, the highest in the season. Costa also featured in the entirety of Porto's Taça de Portugal final victory over Sporting CP on 26 May, which ended 2–1. Shortly after, he was linked with a move to Saudi Arabia, with three clubs in the Saudi Pro League interested in him, as well as Manchester City as potencial replacement for Ederson, who was linked to a move to Saudi Pro League side Al-Ittihad. However, on 2 July, Porto's President André Villas-Boas confirmed that the club was not willing to sell him, as he was "one of their biggest assets".
On 12 July, it was announced that Costa would become the new club captain following Pepe's retirement and Iván Marcano long-term injury, with new vice-captains being Cláudio Ramos and Fábio Cardoso. On 3 August, he captained his side in the first competitive match of the season as Porto won the 2024 Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira by defeating Sporting CP with a 4–3 victory, despite being down by three goals. On 29 September, in a 4–0 league win against Arouca, Costa kept his 100th career clean sheet, at age of 25, in his 161st appearance for the club. Despite a difficult start to the season for Porto defensively, after keeping three clean sheets in five league matches, he was named the Primeira Liga's Goalkeeper of the Month for September and October. He would finish the season with the most clean sheets in the league at 16, despite Porto finishing third in the Primeira Liga. His performances saw him being named the league's Goalkeeper of the Season, and saw Costa being included in the season's best XI.
On 23 December 2025, Costa extended his contract with Porto until June 2030, which saw his release clause decrease to €60 million.
International career
Youth
Costa started all of Portugal's matches in the 2016 UEFA European Under-17 Championship. In the final against Spain, he saved Manu Morlanes' spot kick in a 5–4 penalty shoot-out victory after a 1–1 draw, helping his team win the tournament for the sixth time. With the under-19s, he participated in the 2017 European Championship, playing four out of five matches as they lost in the final to England. He represented the nation at the 2017 FIFA U-20 World Cup, starting in all the matches in a quarter-final exit.In July 2018, Costa played four matches out of five at the UEFA European Under-19 Championship in Finland, helping Portugal win the tournament for the first time, but missed the final due to a muscle injury. Previously, on 25 May, the 18-year-old won his first cap for the under-21 side, coming on as a second-half substitute in a 3–2 friendly win over Italy. In March 2021, Costa played all of Portugal's matches in the 2021 UEFA European Under-21 Championship, as Portugal finished the tournament as runners-up, losing the final 1–0 to Germany.