7 October: Diego Costa, the Brazilian who chose Spain

Diego Costa

Loan after loan

He left Brazil for Portugal almost without going through an academy, and in 2007 Atlético Madrid signed him and for years did not know what to do with him. They loaned him to Celta, Albacete, Valladolid and Rayo Vallecano. At Rayo, in 2012, he started scoring for real and Simeone decided to keep him.

The 2014 title

2013-14 was his season. He scored 27 league goals and Atlético won the title on the final day, with a draw at the Camp Nou. He went into the Champions League final in Lisbon with a muscle injury, forced himself to play and had to come off after nine minutes.

That same year he played for Spain at the World Cup in Brazil, his birth country, with the crowd whistling him. At Russia 2018 he scored three goals, two of them in the 3-3 against Portugal.

Chelsea and back again

With Mourinho's and then Conte's Chelsea he won two Premier League titles. He went back to Atlético in 2018. He was as awkward a striker as you will find: fighting for every ball, winding up centre-backs, and scoring. He finished his career in Brazil, at Botafogo and Grêmio.

Also born on 7 October

Paulino Alcántara, the Net-breaker

🎂 would have turned 130

Born in 1896 in Iloilo, in the Philippines, the son of a Spanish soldier. He made his debut for Barcelona in 1912 aged fifteen and scored three goals in that game. He was the club's all-time top scorer until Leo Messi overtook him in 2014.

They called him the Net-breaker because of a shot against France in 1922 that, according to witnesses, went through the goal net. He retired young to practise as a doctor.

Born7 October 1896

Died13 February 1964

CountrySpain

Positionforward

Clubs

• Fútbol Club Barcelona 1912-1916 · 40 goals
• Bohemian Sporting Club 1916-1918 · 24 goals
• Fútbol Club Barcelona 1918-1927 · 102 goals

National teamSelección de fútbol de Cataluña, Selección de fútbol de Filipinas, selección de fútbol de España

↻ Dates, clubs and individual awards come from Wikidata and update themselves

Trent Alexander-Arnold, the corner at Anfield

🎂 turns 28

A full-back from Liverpool's academy with a midfielder's long pass. In the 2019 Champions League semi-final against Barcelona, with Liverpool 3-0 up, he took a quick corner while the Barça defence was still setting up and Origi scored the fourth goal of the comeback. That year he won the Champions League. In 2025 he joined Real Madrid.

Born7 October 1998

CountryEngland

Positionmidfielder, full-back

Clubs

• Liverpool Fútbol Club 2016-2025 · 18 goals
• Real Madrid Club de Fútbol since 2025

National teamselección de fútbol de Inglaterra

↻ Dates, clubs and individual awards come from Wikidata and update themselves

🔴⚪ Sporting Gijón players born this day

They played for Sporting Gijón and were born on this same day. There is only their data here: we would rather name them than leave them out, and rather give the bare facts than invent a story.

Another 42 internationally known footballers were born on this day. We do not list them for the sake of it: only those with a story to tell make it here.

Dates, clubs, individual awards and photos come from Wikidata and Wikimedia Commons, under free licences, and update themselves. Ages are not written anywhere: they are calculated the moment you open the page, so this page always shows the right age, this year and twenty years from now. If any of these players signs for another club or wins an award, their profile picks it up on its own. What is written by hand is the story and the judgement: who the day belongs to, and why.