Diogo Costa has decided to keep the number 99 and turn down André Villas-Boas's public challenge to take FC Porto's historic number 2 next season. It is a small choice on paper, but at Porto it carries a clear symbolic meaning after the club's national title win.
Villas-Boas had made the request a few days after the championship was secured, saying he wanted the goalkeeper to accept a challenge and wear the number 2 shirt. For Porto, that number is tied to the club's winning identity and to names such as Jorge Costa and João Pinto, which is why the suggestion was framed as a matter of honour as much as squad planning.
Why the number 2 mattered
Villas-Boas made his intention plain. “Fiz-lhe um desafio que espero que ele aceite: o de, para o próximo ano, envergar a camisola número 2 do FC Porto. Para nós seria uma honra enorme. Queremos todos contar com o Diogo mais uns anos,” he said.
He added that the shirt carries a deeper significance. “A camisola 2 tem um significado histórico importante, de vencedores e, claro está, vinculada ao nosso querido Jorge Costa que nos deixou.”
That is the heart of the issue. Porto were not just asking a player to change numbers; they were asking him to step into a shirt with a strong historical weight. The number 2 is presented as part of the club's identity, and Villas-Boas clearly wanted Diogo Costa to be part of that story.
Diogo Costa stays with what he knows
Diogo Costa has chosen otherwise. He thanked Villas-Boas but decided not to move away from the camisola 99. So for now, Porto are left without a player lined up to take the number 2 this season.
In practical terms, the decision changes nothing about his role on the pitch. Diogo Costa remains one of Porto's key figures, and the shirt on his back does not alter his importance to the team. But in symbolic terms, it keeps the 99 associated with him and preserves the historic number 2 for another day.
For Porto, this is the sort of detail that matters because the club is always conscious of its standards and its history. The title has already been won, but the next chapter is about how those symbols are carried forward. As with other Porto stories now unfolding around the squad, including the club's broader planning such as the discussions reported in Benni Mccarthy Links FC Porto to Oswin Appollis in 4M€ Bid and Porto eye Caleb Yirenkyi as Victor Froholdt replacement, the message is that every decision still feeds into the bigger picture.
For now, though, the answer is simple: Diogo Costa keeps number 99, and FC Porto's historic number 2 stays untouched for the time being.
