Portugal, Spain Players Pay Tribute to Diogo Jota Before Euro 2025 Opener
Both sets of players also wore black armbands for the match. Players and supporters stayed silent for around 20 seconds before the fans started applauding.
Jota and his brother André Silva were killed in a car crash shortly after midnight in northwestern Spain when the Lamborghini they were traveling in veered off a road and burst into flames, Spanish police said earlier.
Their deaths prompted an outpouring of grief from fans, players and officials across both women's and men's soccer.
Some Portugal fans displayed banners in tribute to Jota before their team's Euro 2025 opener. "Thank you for everything," was written on one. "Rest in peace," said another.
"Today, for them," Portugal forward Francisca (Kika) Nazareth had said on Instagram some hours before the match.
"One of our own," teammate and fellow forward Jéssica Silva wrote, "Diogo wasn't just a star. He was one of the good ones, the loyal ones, the attentive ones, the easy-going ones... one of those who don't need noise to make their mark. Thank you, Diego. Thank you, André. Football has become poorer... and so have we. You will never be forgotten."
Reporting by The Associated Press.
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Gruesome images of crash emerge as cause of Diogo Jota tragedy is clarified
Content warning: images of car wreckage. The mourning over the tragic deaths of Liverpool and Portugal star Diogo Jota, and brother and Penafiel player Andre Silva, continues on Thursday afternoon, as tributes pour in from around the world. The pair passed away in the early hours of Thursday morning after a car crash. Jota, 28, and Silva, 26, were driving in the vicinity of Sanabria, Zamora, in the North-West of Spain, when their car came off the road, and burst into flames. The pair were driving a Lamborghini, and vehicle was a collection of scraps by the time the fire was put out. The fire brigade in the locality were called to the incident on Thursday morning, and confirmed that Jota and Silva had passed away. Image via Diario AS Advertisement Wheel may have caused crash Cadena SER report that Spanish police believe the early indication is that the crash was due to an issue with one of the wheels. The car was overtaking another vehicle at around 00:30 CEST, and suffered a flat tire, causing the car to skid off the road. Image via LOZ. Tributes to Diogo Jota pour in Jota was married to the wife of his three children Rute Cardoso, all of which are under five, less than two weeks ago at a ceremony in Porto, his home town. The incident has sent shockwaves through the world of football, with tributes pouring in from around the globe. Particularly heartfelt were the words of former Liverpool manager Jurgen Klopp, who signed Jota in 2020 from Wolves, and worked with him for four years. Portugal, international teammate Cristiano Ronaldo and all of his former clubs, including Atletico Madrid, led the tributes to Jota and Silva, while fans in Liverpool have begun laying wreaths at the Hillsborough Memorial in memory of their forward.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Wales women's football - a 50-year ban to Euro 2025
Women in Wales were banned from playing football for almost 50 years until 1970 [Reuters] Wales are days away from playing at their first major tournament - the Women's Euro 2025. Thousands of fans have flown out to Switzerland to rally around them as they play their opening game against the Netherlands on Saturday. Advertisement But their road to success is perhaps even more impressive when you widen the lens and look back at the women whose shoulders the players stand upon, and what they went through to get there. Women's football in Wales dates to the late 19th Century before momentum picked up during World War One - but an almost 50-year ban followed, relegating its players to the sidelines. Formed in 1895, the touring British Ladies Football Club first made its mark in Wales as one of the earliest women's teams in the world. Based in London, they visited Wales several times, drawing in large crowds and interest in the sport. Advertisement Enthusiasm grew during the World War One as women stepped into jobs typically carried out by men and began forming football teams to compete against one another. Several matches, often staged to raise money for the war effort, were played at Wrexham's Racecourse Ground. One of the most notable matches was that of the munition factory team Dick, Kerr Ladies FC from Preston, who brought in a crowd of 53,000 to Everton's Goodison Park on Boxing Day in 1920. The Wales team before their game against Greece in the 1996-97 season [FAW] Momentum soon halted in 1922 when the Football Association of Wales (FAW) imposed a ban on women's football, prohibiting matches from being played at any FAW-affiliated grounds. Advertisement It followed the lead of the English Football Association, which claimed the game was "quite unsuitable for females and ought not to be encouraged". But some have suspected the reason to be discomfort among the male administrators at how quickly the sport was gaining popularity. Women's football was pushed to the sidelines for decades, with the ban remaining in place in Wales until 1970. Wales' very first game at association level was not until 1973, against Ireland. Former player Michele Adams was just 15 when she made her debut at the match, and recalled the team borrowing a kit from the Swansea men's team. Advertisement "They used to play in red in those days," she said. "It was absolutely pelting it down... as the pitch got heavier and the rain came down, the kit just grew on us." Michele recalled having their own kit by the next game against England, which they received sponsorship for. "Travel was adhoc, we spent three days on a bus to Italy for one match," she said. "It was the enthusiasm of the coach and the manager at the time which determined how well we did." Michele went on to play for Wales for 23 years and earned 28 caps. She was involved in lobbying for recognition of the women's game in Wales alongside fellow former internationals Karen Jones and Laura McAllister, which led to the first official Wales women's team affiliated with the FAW being introduced in 1993. Advertisement Their first qualifying match against Switzerland for Euro 1995 was played at Cwmbran Stadium, and attracted a crowd of just 345. Former player Michele Adams was behind the first official Wales' women's team affiliated with the FAW [BBC] Former Wales international Kathryn Morgan, 49, said she was rejected from every boys club in Merthyr and the very first time she played an 11-a-side game was at the age of 17. She was chosen to play for Wales at the age of 18, something she said she was beyond proud of, but looking back described it as "completely amateur". "We had the minimum. At the start you don't really care about that, but we dealt with everything else." "You tell your parents I will be rich and famous, I will buy you a mansion. They are still in the same terraced house, still waiting," she laughed. Advertisement Morgan said as time went on the team started comparing their investment to other national teams like Scotland, who despite being the same size had more funding. "We started pestering the FAW, asking questions, why can't we have that... but we were swiftly told that you need to be grateful and there is no room, really, for giving your opinion." "Some people unfortunately lost their place in the national team because of that," Morgan added. "I felt that at that time, if they only invested in the players they had, we would now be 10 years on than where we are now. "The more investment we've had, the reality is that is what gets us over the line. Investment creates success, and that's a story in itself." McAllister says women are still playing catch up from the ban imposed over a century ago [FAW] Former Wales captain Laura McAllister has been a driving force in helping shape women's football in Wales. Advertisement In 2023 she made history as the first Welsh person elected to the Uefa executive committee and subsequently became the first and only female vice-president. Despite her success, she recalled her interest in football being seen as unusual growing up as "you were regarded as an anomaly in the 80s and 90s". "Like lots of girls in my generation, you were seen as an oddity," she said. There were no female footballers in the limelight when she was growing up, McAllister added, so all of her idols were Cardiff city players on the men's team. "I was part of a football family, my grandfather was a Cardiff City fan, so it was normal to me, I remember going to games as just a toddler." Advertisement Growing up in Bridgend, McAllister said she played football with boys as she was a good player, but she believes it wouldn't have been the case for those who weren't considered good enough. At the age of 12 she stopped playing formally as there just weren't clubs for girls, an issue which she says persists today. While women's football is a much different picture today, McAllister believes women are still playing catch up for the ban imposed over a century ago. "No-one could be happier than me to see Wales on the global stage, but let's not think battles are over, there is more work to do. Advertisement "Qualification doesn't fix the nationwide deficit," she said. "It doesn't make up for the lack of investment and abandonment." Wales are the lowest ranked team in the Women's Euro 2025, but McAllister says women's football would be a very different place if the ban was never enforced. "You just have to look at Scandinavian countries and their success, where they have embraced women players as the norm. "No cultural differences, no cultural rejection or opposition to them playing. "Women still don't have equality in the game. The sign of success will be when an average girl or woman can have access to grassroots football like the average boy or man. Advertisement "We have just as much to give as men." There is no taking away from the magnitude of Wales' historic Euro 2025 qualification. But to solidify equality in women's football over the next 50 years, it seems there is plenty more to be done.
Yahoo
an hour ago
- Yahoo
Oasis pay poignant tribute to late Liverpool star Diogo Jota during Live Forever in huge reunion gig
Oasis paid a poignant tribute to Liverpool star Diogo Jota during their first reunion gig. The Portuguese footballer and his brother Andre Silva were both tragically killed in a car crash in Spain in the early hours of Thursday. As the Mancunian band played Live Forever, during the first of their reformation gigs in Cardiff tonight, an image of Jota's number 20 Liverpool shirt flashed onto the big screen. Our reporter Dianne Bourne is in the Principality Stadium for the gig and described it as a 'beautifully poignant tribute to Diogo Jota as his LFC shirt flashed on to screen'. READ MORE: Oasis pay tribute to victims of Manchester Arena attack at first gig since 2009 READ MORE: Hand in hand, the Gallagher brothers show Oasis are back Jota's funeral is set to take place tomorrow. Liverpool FC, as well as fans and football as a whole, are in mourning after the 28-year-old's death. Stay connected with our City Life newsletter here Mohamed Salah, one of the last players to share his grief on social media, admitted he was dreading returning to the club in the wake of Jota's shock death. Some players were due back on Friday to begin the preliminaries of pre-season testing, but the first tranche of a phased return was postponed as everyone at the club continues to try to come to terms with the tragedy. Live Forever and a beautifully poignant tribute to Diogo Jota as his LFC shirt flashed on to screen @oasis — Dianne Bourne (@diannebourne) July 4, 2025 'I am truly lost for words. Until yesterday, I never thought there would be something that would frighten me of going back to Liverpool after the break,' Salah wrote on social media. 'Team-mates come and go but not like this. It's going to be extremely difficult to accept that Diogo won't be there when we go back. 'My thoughts are with his wife, his children, and of course his parents who suddenly lost their children. 'Those close to Diogo and his brother Andre need all the support they can get. They will never be forgotten.' It is believed a flight to Portugal has been chartered by the club. Reports in Portugal say the players, most of whom are still on summer holiday, are expected to attend, but Liverpool have yet to confirm arrangements. Join our Oasis WhatsApp group HERE Mourners gathered for a wake at the Sao Cosme Chapel, the Capela da Ressurreicao, in the town of Gondomar near Porto on Friday, ahead of the brothers' funeral at the Igreja Matriz de Gondomar in Sao Cosme at 10am on Saturday. Initially held in private for family – Jota leaves a newly-married wife Rute and three young children – it was later opened up to the public, with hundreds queuing outside the chapel. Liverpool sporting director Richard Hughes was among a number of club staff to attend the chapel, along with Manchester United's Portugal international Diogo Dalot.
