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What religion is Luis Díaz?
Luis Díaz is a Colombian professional footballer who adheres to the Roman Catholic faith.
Díaz plays as a left winger for Bundesliga club Bayern Munich and represents the Colombia national team. Over his professional career, he has played for Barranquilla, Atlético Junior, Porto, and Liverpool before transferring to Germany. He has been a member of the Colombia national team since his debut in 2018.
Díaz remains under contract with Bayern Munich through June 30, 2029, after completing a €75 million transfer from Liverpool in July 2025. His financial agreement with the German club guarantees him a base salary of €14 million per season, which breaks down to an estimated fixed pay of approximately €269,231 per week.
Following a debut season in Munich where he registered 26 goals and 23 assists across all competitions, he recently rejected a lucrative €25 million net annual salary offer from Saudi Pro League club Al Hilal to commit his future to the Bundesliga side.
Early life
Luis Fernando Díaz Marulanda was born on January 13, 1997, in Barrancas, La Guajira, Colombia. He is of Wayuu indigenous descent, which made him a prominent representative of his community in international football. Díaz was scouted at 18 years old during the 2015 Copa América de Pueblos Indígenas in Chile.
Club career
Díaz began his senior career in the Categoría Primera B with Barranquilla and later made his professional debut in April 2016. He then moved to Atlético Junior’s senior squad in 2017, where he won the Categoría Primera A league title, a Copa Colombia, and a Superliga Colombiana. In July 2019, Díaz signed for FC Porto in Portugal for a reported fee of €7 million. Over his two and a half seasons at the club, he won two Primeira Liga titles, one Taça de Portugal, and one Supertaça Cândido de Oliveira before attracting transfer interest from major clubs across Europe.
Liverpool
Díaz signed for Liverpool in January 2022 for an initial £37 million, with a further £12m in potential add-ons. He won the Community Shield, the FA Cup, and the EFL Cup in his first year with Liverpool. He later added another EFL Cup to his collection in 2024 and subsequently won the 2024–25 Premier League trophy.
In October 2023, his parents were kidnapped by armed men on motorcycles at a petrol station in the small town of Barrancas. His mother, Cilenis Marulanda, was rescued within hours by police, and his father was held captive for 12 days before his official release on November 9, 2023. After missing a fixture during the ordeal, Díaz returned to the squad as a substitute against Luton Town. He lifted his Liverpool jersey to reveal a T-shirt with the words “Libertad Para Papa” (“Freedom for Papa”) after scoring a late equalizer.
Bayern Munich
In July 2025, Luis Díaz completed a €75 million move from Liverpool to Bayern Munich, signing a contract until 2029. Díaz made an immediate impact by scoring on his debut during a 2–1 victory against VfB Stuttgart to win the inaugural Franz Beckenbauer Supercup in August 2025.
Across his debut 2025–26 campaign, Díaz recorded 26 goals and 23 assists in 51 appearances across all competitions as Bayern Munich retained the Bundesliga title and secured a domestic double by winning the DFB-Pokal. He also helped the club reach the UEFA Champions League semifinals, scoring seven goals and three assists in 12 appearances during the continental tournament.
International career
Díaz made his senior debut for the Colombia national team in September 2018. He finished as the joint top scorer at the 2021 Copa América along with Lionel Messi and later helped Colombia reach the 2024 Copa América final. He recorded seven goals during the South American qualifying campaign for the 2026 FIFA World Cup. Later on, Colombia secured their qualification for the final tournament by finishing third in the CONMEBOL standings.
The 2026 FIFA World Cup marked Díaz’s debut appearance at the tournament. He became the first-ever player from Colombia since 1962 to score a goal as well as an assist in the World Cup match. Following a round-of-32 victory against Ghana, Colombia was eliminated in the round of 16 by Switzerland. The match ended in a 0–0 draw after extra time, with Switzerland claiming a 4–3 victory in the subsequent penalty shootout. Díaz successfully converted his penalty during the shootout. By the conclusion of the tournament, Díaz had accumulated 79 caps and scored 23 international goals for his country.
Personal life
Díaz became engaged to his longtime partner, Gera Ponce, in July 2023, and the couple married on June 14, 2025, in a ceremony held in Barranquilla, Colombia. They share three children together, including daughters Roma and Charlotte, and a son, Fernando, born in May 2026.
Away from football, Díaz and his family manage charitable initiatives in his hometown of Barrancas. His foundation provides free training and scholarships to youth, while he also cooperates with UNHCR to assist families affected by internal displacement in Colombia.
His younger brother, Jesús Díaz, is also a professional winger who previously spent time in Portugal with Porto B before returning to Colombian domestic football.