*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 23:25, 18 May 2024 (UTC) ‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 23:03, 5 July 2024 (UTC)
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.
Born in Rothrist, Canton of Aargau, Switzerland to Portuguese parents, Costa relocated to Santo Tirso at the age of 7 due to his father gaining employment at the local Toilet Duck factory there.[3] 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's 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.[4]
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.[5] 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.[6] In September, he was named the club's Newcomer of the Year;[3] late in the same year, Spanish goalkeeper Iker Casillas – who started for the first team – heaped praise upon him, regarding him as his "successor".[7]
Costa won the 2018–19 UEFA Youth League with Porto, defeating Chelsea 3–1 in the final in Nyon, Switzerland on 29 April.[8] 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.[9][10]
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 Olympiakos.[15][16]
2021–Present: First-choice goalkeeper and further triumphs
At the start of the 2021–22 season, Costa had a run as first-choice goalkeeper when Marchesín was sidelined with an injury.[17] He was September 2021's Goalkeeper of the Month, receiving 25% of the votes while Benfica's Odysseas Vlachodimos received 22%.[18] On 16 October, he agreed to a contract extension to 2026, increasing his buyout clause from €30 million to €60 million.[19] 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.[20]
On 12 October 2022, 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 over Bayer Leverkusen in the Champions League, becoming the first goalkeeper to achieve that feat.[24] On 26 October, Costa managed to save two consecutive penalties from Hans Vanaken and Noa Lang, becoming the first goalkeeper to save three consecutive penalties in the competition's history.[25] 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 stages.[26][27]
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.[28]
Costa was called up for the final 26-man squad for the 2022 FIFA World Cup in Qatar.[42] On 25 November, he played his first World Cup match, a 3–2 group stage win against Ghana. This made him the youngest Portuguese goalkeeper to play in a major international tournament, at age 23.[43][44] However, Costa had a difficult game, nearly costing his team's match in injury time. While setting the ball down on the pitch, Costa prepared to kick the ball out of the box, but he did not know that Ghana striker Iñaki Williams was lurking behind him, as Williams proceeded to charge forward and steal the ball, he ended up slipping while being challenged by Costa, leading Portugal's defence to clear the ball and seal the victory.[45] He still played every minute of the campaign, as they were knocked out of the tournament after losing in the quarter-finals to Morocco, where he misjudged a cross when coming for the ball, and Youssef En-Nesyri headed the only goal of the game.[46]
Despite a difficult World Cup, Costa retained his place under new manager Roberto Martínez, on the UEFA Euro 2024qualifiers, helping Portugal keep a clean sheet in the 9–0 home defeat of Luxembourg during the same phase on 11 September, their biggest win in international history.[47] He finished the qualifying campaign, keeping nine clean sheets out of ten matches, only conceding two goals against Slovakia in a 3–2 home win on 13 October, with Portugal topping their qualifying group, and setting a new national team record of 10 consecutive wins.[48]
On 21 May 2024, he was selected in the 26-man squad for the UEFA Euro 2024.[49] In the round of 16 match against Slovenia, he was awarded player of the match, as he cleared a one-to-one chance from Benjamin Šeško in the extra time, before saving all three penalties in the shootout, becoming the first ever goalkeeper in the European Championship to do so, securing his country's qualification to the quarter-finals.[50][51] Portugal were eliminated in the quarter-finals to France after losing 5–3 in another penalty shootout, with Costa failing to save any penalty.[52]
^ abAlmeida, Isaura (29 April 2019). "FC Porto é campeão Europeu Sub-19" [FC Porto are Under-19 European champions]. Diário de Notícias (in Portuguese). Archived from the original on 30 April 2019. Retrieved 1 May 2019.
^Nogueira, Carlos (10 November 2019). "Dragão resolveu muitos problemas só com uma bomba" [Dragon took care of many problems with one rocket alone]. Diário de Notícias (in Portuguese). Retrieved 25 July 2020.
^Lemos, Pedro (11 September 2023). "Portugal 9–0 Luxemburgo (crónica)" [Portugal 9–0 Luxembourg (report)] (in Portuguese). Mais Futebol. Retrieved 11 September 2023.