Gondomar Sport Club
Tributes for Diogo Jota outside the Gondomar Sport Club near Porto
05 July 2025 9:09am
9:09AM
Mourners have began arriving at a church in Diogo Jota’s hometown for his funeral service this morning.
Hundreds of residents of Gondomar have begun gathering outside the Igreja Matriz church in the town’s centre.
A small number of guests in black ties and suits have arrived at the 17th century church for today’s joint service in memory of Jota,28, and his brother Andre Silva, 25.
Jota’s heartbroken wife Rute Cardoso was seen outside the church earlier this morning.
9:07AM
Rute Cardoso arrives
Rute Cardoso arrives for funeral ceremony of her late husband Liverpool’s Portuguese soccer player Diogo Jota and his brother Andre Silva
he grandfather of Diogo Jota and Andre Silva arrives
The grandfather (centre) of Diogo Jota and Andre Silva arrives
8:56AM
Good morning and welcome to coverage of the funeral of Diogo Jota, who died with his younger brother in a car crash in Spain.
The brothers were driving to a ferry to travel to Britain when their Lamborghini veered off the road and burst into flames after midnight on Thursday, having suffered a tyre blowout while overtaking in the Spanish province of Zamora.
Jota’s Liverpool team-mates and manager Arne Slot arrived in the small Portuguese town of Gondomar on Friday and will pay their respects to the forward and his brother, Andre Silva.
They are expected to join the grieving family and hundreds of residents of Gondomar, where Jota grew up, for the funeral at the Igreja Matriz church.
Rute Cardoso, who married Jota just weeks ago, is expected to be accompanied by the couple’s three young children.
Cardoso, who had described their wedding as a “dream come true”, was consoled by other family members while close friends were seen hugging and crying after leaving the wake.
Luis Montenegro, the Prime Minister of Portugal, attended the wake. So did Jorge Mendes, the super agent who represented Jota, and former Chelsea manager Andre Villas-Boas, as well as Manchester United defender Diogo Dalot.
Liverpool’s head coach Slot has said everyone associated with the club owed it to Jota to “stand together and be there for one another”. “For us, as a club, the sense of shock is absolute,” he said. “Diogo was not just our player. He was a loved one to all of us. He was a team-mate, a colleague, a workmate and in all of those roles he was very special.
“We need everyone at the club to stand together and to be there for one another. We owe this to Diogo, to Andre Silva, to their wider family and to ourselves.”