FOOTBALL MOURNS: Portuguese President, Prime Minister, Galaxy of Football Stars Gather to Pay Last Respect As Soccer Star Diogo Jota, His Brother, André Silva Were Laid to Rest at Gondomar

By: Olufemi Orunsola 

A global galaxy of football stars have joined the aged grand father, father and other family members and friends at the funeral of Liverpool and Portugal forward Diogo Jota and his brother, André Silva who were laid to rest on Saturday in their hometown, three days after the duo died in a fatal car crash that shocked the world of Soccer. 

OPEN TELEVISION NAIJA (OTN) News recalls that Diogo Jota, 28, and André Silva, 25, were killed on Thursday after their vehicle veered off a motorway in northwestern Spain and became engulfed in flames, a week after the Portugal forward got married.

OTN News further reports as gathered from Portuguese and UK media that Jota was driving to the northern Spanish port of Santander to take a ferry to England where Liverpool were due to start training on Friday, avoiding a flight based on  medical advisory after his recent lung operation.

A few hours before the accident, Jota had posted a video of his June 22 wedding to his long-term partner, Rute Cardoso, with whom he shared three children.

The galaxy of football stars joined family and friends at the funeral in his hometown of Gondomar, near Porto, where the bishop of Porto conducted the funeral. 

A number of teammates from the national side, including Bernardo Silva, Bruno Fernandes, Danilo Pereira and Joao Felix, as well as coach Roberto Martinez attended, though the national skipper was not present.

OTN News gathered that Portuguese football players Danilo Pereira, Bruno Fendrich and Andre Horta all attended the funeral ceremony of Liverpool’s Portuguese forward Diogo Jota and his brother, André Silva.

Liverpool Virgil van Dijk bore a garlanded wreath of red flowers in the form of a Liverpool shirt bearing Jota’s jessey number  zm- 20.

Earlier on Friday evening, Van Dijk, several players including Liverpool’s Uruguay international Darwin Nunez and Liverpool coach Arne Slot meet with Jota’s family and attended a wake for the deceased brothers.

Liverpool’s Dutch defender Virgil van Dijk and Liverpool’s Scottish defender Andy Robertson also graced the funerals of Liverpool’s Portuguese forward Diogo Jota and his brother Andre Silva at the Mother Church of Gondomar, on the outskirts of Porto, on July 5, 2025.

Others who turned up to offer their condolences were a childhood friend, Portuguese President Marcelo Rebelo de Sousa, Prime Minister Luis Montenegro, Jota’s agent Jorge Mendes and Porto club president Andre Villas-Boas.

In his own tributes, football federation chief Pedro Proenca said, "Football is truly in mourning. Diogo was an icon of the talent Portuguese football represents."

Friends, family,  including the parents, paid their respects at Friday’s wake first, with the grandfather aided by two others to help him enter the chapel.

On Friday night, British rock band, Oasis played their song “Live Forever” in tribute to Jota at a concert in Cardiff marking a return to touring after 16 years.

OTN News furtywr reoorts that Mourners arrived carrying wreaths of flowers, some sobbing audibly, before the wake was opened to members of the public.

The death of the Portugal international and his brother has triggered an outpouring of emotion in football, and beyond.

Liverpool opened a book of condolences and lowered flags to half-mast, with dozens of supporters laying a sea of flowers, balloons, Jota shirts, and scarves with the message “Rest in peace Diogo Jota”, outside Anfield.

Manchester City’s Portuguese midfielder Bernardo Silva also graced the funerals of Liverpool’s Portuguese forward Diogo Jota and his brother Andre Silva at the Mother Church of Gondomar, on the outskirts of Porto, on July 5, 2025.

Similarly, at the Diogo Jota football academy, close to Gondomar SC where the ex-Porto and Atletico Madrid player took his first steps in the game, well-wishers created a memorial with flowers, scarves, candles and shirts.

One of the most remarkable tributes for Jota came from a child who wrote a tarse but significant handwritten message that simple says, “Thank you, Diogo Jota."

Pedro Neves, who was friends with Jota at school in Gondomar, said he “will remember him as someone who was very friendly, very courteous, who loved everyone, who always had a smile on his face”.

“He left us too young, it’s not fair. But that’s how life is sometimes,” Neves, 31, told AFP.

Former Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp, who brought Jota to the Reds in 2020, has said he was “heartbroken” while the club spoke of an “unimaginable loss”.

Slot, who succeeded Klopp last year at Anfield, said everyone associated with the club owed it to Jota to “stand together and be there for one another”.

Also, Portugal’s national football team coach Spanish Roberto Martinez (L) waves as he arrives for the funerals of Liverpool’s Portuguese forward Diogo Jota and his brother Andre Silva at the Mother Church of Gondomar, on the outskirts of Porto, on July 5, 2025.  

Jota was remembered at the Club World Cup in the United States on Friday, with a one-minute silence held at the quarter-final between Brazil’s Fluminense and Saudi Arabia’s Al Hilal in Orlando.

A minute’s silence was similarly held at women’s Euro 25 matches.

Meanwhile, Liverpool’s Egyptian striker Mohamed Salah said the death of his teammate had left him “frightened” to return to the club as the Premier League champions postponed the return of some players for pre-season training.

OTN News observes that the soccer star, Diogo Jota, who shares three children with his long time partner, only enjoyed his wedding for 11 days, sparking conversations in some quarters, about the ugly coincidence of the football star's death with the peak period of his love affairs.