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Jorge Costa, Champions League winning captain of Porto, dies at 53

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Jorge Costa, Champions League winning captain of Porto, dies at 53
Sport

Sport

Jorge Costa, Champions League winning captain of Porto, dies at 53

2025-08-06 03:28 Last Updated At:03:30

PORTO, Portugal (AP) — Jorge Costa, who captained Porto to the 2004 Champions League title, died Tuesday of cardiac arrest, the club said. He was 53.

Costa, a central defender who made 50 international appearances for Portugal, was Porto’s director of football at the time of his death.

The club's said in its announcement that Costa embodied Porto's values: “dedication, leadership, passion, and an unwavering spirit of conquest.”

Portuguese media reported that Costa sustained cardiac arrest at the club's training center and was transported to São João Hospital.

Costa's finest achievement in his playing career was as captain of Jose Mourinho's Porto team that was a surprise winner of the Champions League in 2004. A year earlier, he lifted the second-tier UEFA Cup.

Costa also helped Porto win eight Portuguese league titles.

Portuguese Prime Minister Luis Montenegro offered his condolences and praised Costa's “dedication and commitment” to both Porto and the national team.

Mourinho posted a tribute that said “your legacy will stay with us.” The Fenerbahce coach wrote that he could imagine what Costa would be telling him: “'Mister, stop crying, tomorrow you have a match and your boys need you ready and strong.’”

Costa spent a short period on loan at English team Charlton in the 2001-02 season.

“To hear of a life taken at 53 is never nice to hear, but he’s a former teammate who had such a great standing in the game and captained a Champions League winning side,” said Steve Brown, chair of Charlton's ex-players’ association. “He was loved at Charlton, a man mountain of a player and a great guy too.”

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FILE - Paris Saint Germain's Fabrice Pancrate, left, goes for the ball with FC Porto's Jorge Costa during their Champions League group H match Tuesday, Nov. 2 2004 in Porto, northern Portugal. (AP Photo/Armando Franca, File)

FILE - Paris Saint Germain's Fabrice Pancrate, left, goes for the ball with FC Porto's Jorge Costa during their Champions League group H match Tuesday, Nov. 2 2004 in Porto, northern Portugal. (AP Photo/Armando Franca, File)

FILE - Olhanense's coach Jorge Costa reacts, during a Portuguese League soccer match against FC Porto at Porto's Dragon Stadium in Porto, Portugal, Saturday, March 6, 2010. (AP Photo/Paulo Duarte, File)

FILE - Olhanense's coach Jorge Costa reacts, during a Portuguese League soccer match against FC Porto at Porto's Dragon Stadium in Porto, Portugal, Saturday, March 6, 2010. (AP Photo/Paulo Duarte, File)

FILE - Porto's Jorge Costa celebrates after scoring against Inter Milan during the Champions League soccer match at the San Siro stadium in Milan, Italy, Tuesday, March 15, 2005. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno, File)

FILE - Porto's Jorge Costa celebrates after scoring against Inter Milan during the Champions League soccer match at the San Siro stadium in Milan, Italy, Tuesday, March 15, 2005. (AP Photo/Luca Bruno, File)

WASHINGTON (AP) — The U.S. military pressed ahead Saturday in a frantic search for a missing pilot after Iran shot down an American warplane, as Iran called on people to turn the pilot in, promising a reward.

The plane, identified by Iran as a U.S. F-15E Strike Eagle, was one of two attacked on Friday, with one service member rescued and at least one missing. It was the first time the United States lost aircraft in Iranian territory during the war, now in its sixth week, and could mark a new turning point in the campaign.

The conflict, launched by the U.S. and Israel on Feb. 28, has rippled across the region. It has so far killed thousands, upended global markets, cut off key shipping routes, spiked fuel prices and shows no signs of slowing as Iran responds to U.S. and Israeli airstrikes with attacks across the region. Missile and drone strikes continued Saturday with an apparent Iranian drone damaging the headquarters of the U.S. tech giant Oracle in Dubai.

The downing of the military planes came just two days after President Donald Trump said in a national address that the U.S. has “beaten and completely decimated Iran” and was “going to finish the job, and we’re going to finish it very fast.” The U.S. and Israel had boasted recently that Iran's air defenses were decimated.

Neither the White House nor the Pentagon released public information about the downed planes.

In an email from the Pentagon obtained by The Associated Press, meanwhile, the military said it received notification of “an aircraft being shot down” in the Middle East, without providing more details.

A U.S. crew member from that plane was rescued. But the Pentagon also notified the House Armed Services Committee that the status of a second service member on the fighter jet was not known. A U.S. military search-and-rescue operation continued Saturday.

In a brief telephone interview with NBC News, Trump declined to discuss the search-and-rescue efforts but said what happened would not affect negotiations with Iran.

Separately, Iranian state media said a U.S. A-10 attack aircraft crashed in the Persian Gulf after being struck by Iranian defense forces.

A U.S. official who spoke on condition of anonymity to discuss a sensitive military situation said it was not clear if the aircraft crashed or was shot down or whether Iran was involved. Neither the status of the crew nor exactly where it went down was immediately known.

An anchor on a TV channel affiliated with Iranian state television urged residents to hand over any “enemy pilot” to the police.

Throughout the war, Iran has made a series of claims about shooting down piloted enemy aircraft that turned out not to be true. Friday was the first time the Iranian public was urged to look for a downed pilot.

Iranian state media said in a post on the social platform X its military shot down a U.S. F-15E Strike Eagle. The aircraft is a variation of the Air Force fighter jet that carries a pilot and a weapons system officer.

An apparent Iranian drone damaged the Dubai headquarters of the American tech giant Oracle on Saturday after Iran’s paramilitary Revolutionary Guard threatened the firm.

The attack targeted the headquarters, which sits along Dubai’s main Sheikh Zayed Road highway. Footage obtained by The Associated Press from outside the United Arab Emirates showed damage to the building. A large hole could be seen in the building’s southwestern corner, with the “e” in “Oracle” on a neon sign damaged.

The sheikhdom’s Dubai Media Office, which speaks for its government, said a “minor incident caused by debris from an aerial interception that fell on the facade of the Oracle building in Dubai Internet City," adding there were no injuries.

Oracle, based in Austin, Texas, did not immediately respond to a request for comment.

The Guard has accused some of America’s largest tech companies of being involved in “terrorist espionage” operations against the Islamic Republic and said they were legitimate targets.

Earlier Iranian drone strikes hit Amazon Web Services facilities in both the UAE and Bahrain.

World leaders, meanwhile, have struggled to end Iran’s stranglehold on the waterway, which has had far-reaching consequences for the global economy and has proved to be its greatest strategic advantage in the war.

The U.N. Security Council is expected to take up the matter Saturday.

Trump has vacillated on America’s role in the strait, alternately threatening Iran if it does not open the strait and telling other nations to “go get your own oil.” On Friday, he said in a post on social media: “With a little more time, we can easily OPEN THE HORMUZ STRAIT, TAKE THE OIL, & MAKE A FORTUNE.”

More than 1,900 people have been killed in Iran since the war began. In a review released Friday, the Armed Conflict Location and Event Data, a U.S.-based group, said it found that civilian casualties were clustered around strikes on security and state-linked sites “rather than indiscriminate bombardment” of urban areas.

More than two dozen people have died in Gulf Arab states and the occupied West Bank, 19 have been reported dead in Israel and 13 U.S. service members have been killed. In Lebanon, over 1,300 people have been killed and more than 1 million displaced. Ten Israeli soldiers have also died there.

Mednick reported from Tel Aviv, Israel. Associated Press writers Jon Gambrell in Dubai, United Arab Emirates, Sylvie Corbet in Paris, Sarah El Deeb in Beirut, Tong-hyung Kim in Seoul, South Korea, and Will Weissert, Michelle L. Price, Lisa Mascaro and Ben Finley in Washington contributed.

Israeli security forces and rescue teams inspect a site struck by an Iranian missile in Petah Tikva, Israel,Thursday, April 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

Israeli security forces and rescue teams inspect a site struck by an Iranian missile in Petah Tikva, Israel,Thursday, April 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Ohad Zwigenberg)

A boy who fled with his family following Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon sits inside the van they are using as shelter in Sidon, Lebanon, Thursday, April 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

A boy who fled with his family following Israeli strikes in southern Lebanon sits inside the van they are using as shelter in Sidon, Lebanon, Thursday, April 2, 2026. (AP Photo/Emilio Morenatti)

Iraqi women hold a portrait of Iran's late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his son Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, during a protest against U.S. and Israeli attacks on multiple cities across Iran, in the Shi'ite district of Kazimiyah in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

Iraqi women hold a portrait of Iran's late Supreme Leader Ayatollah Ali Khamenei and his son Ayatollah Mojtaba Khamenei, during a protest against U.S. and Israeli attacks on multiple cities across Iran, in the Shi'ite district of Kazimiyah in Baghdad, Iraq, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Hadi Mizban)

A woman checks a destroyed house that was hit in an Israeli airstrike in Saksakiyeh village, south Lebanon, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

A woman checks a destroyed house that was hit in an Israeli airstrike in Saksakiyeh village, south Lebanon, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Hussein Malla)

A bridge struck by U.S. airstrikes on Thursday is seen in the town of Karaj, west of Tehran, Iran, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

A bridge struck by U.S. airstrikes on Thursday is seen in the town of Karaj, west of Tehran, Iran, Friday, April 3, 2026. (AP Photo/Vahid Salemi)

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