Diogo Jota funeral latest: Wife and family join Liverpool stars to pay tribute to footballer and brother
The father-of-three died alongside his brother, Andre Silva, after their Lamborghini burst into flames following a tyre blowout in the early hours of Thursday morning.
The mood was sombre as dozens of stars from the Liverpool and Portugal national teams arrived at the Capela da Ressurreicao, where just 11 days ago Jota had married his wife, Rute Cardoso.
Liverpool captain Virgil van Dijk and left-back Andy Robertson carried football shirt-shaped wreaths with Jota's Number 20 on the back, followed closely by manager Arne Slot and other players from the club.
Bruno Fernandes of Manchester United, Joao Felix of Chelsea, and Ruben Dias and Bernardo Silva of Manchester City, were among the other footballing stars, legends, agents and media figures also pictured.
As the funeral bells rang out, family and friends carried and followed the two coffins into the Capela da Ressurreicao in heart-rending scenes.
Diogo Jota's wife Rute Cardoso, who he married just weeks ago. She was held closely by another woman as she followed behind her husband's coffin, one hand rested on top.
The funeral began at 10am and the sound is being broadcast to the hundreds of reporters and mourners outside the church.
Watch: Portugal manager Roberto Martinez pays tribute to Diogo Jota at funeral
Alex Croft5 July 2025 13:20
In pictures: Footballers mourn loss of two of their own
Alex Croft5 July 2025 13:02
'We are all one football family', says Roberto Martinez
Portuguese national football team coach has said it has been proven that Diogo Jota and Andre Silva's friends are a 'very large and close family'.
Here is what he told reporters after the funeral:
They are really sad days, as you can imagine, but today we have shown we are a very large, but close family.
We are Portugal, and it was essential for us that (with) Andre Silva and Diogo Jota, we are together and we will always be together and their spirit will be with us forever.
Thank you very much for your messages, for your support, and everything that we receive all over the world. It means a lot, and today we are all one football family.
Alex Croft5 July 2025 12:44
Watch: Liverpool stars arrive at funeral for Diogo Jota and his brother carrying wreaths
Alex Croft5 July 2025 12:21
In pictures: Liverpool fans pay respects outside Anfield
Alex Croft5 July 2025 11:59
Jota's teammate and close friend Ruben Neves acts as pallbearer
Among the pallbearers at Diogo Jota and Andre Silva's funeral today was Ruben Neves, one of his teammates for both club and country.
Neves flew to Portugal from Florida overnight, where he played a Club World Cup match for Al Hilal. Along with his Portuguese teammate Joao Cancelo he was seen sobbing during a moment's silence before the game.
Jota and Neves played together since they were young, both representing the Portugal national team at youth level.
They joined Wolves at the same time in 2017, both establishing themselves as exciting young players in the Premier League, and developing a close bond during the three years they played together.
'You know what you mean to me as much as I know what I mean to you,' Neves wrote in his tribute to Jota on Friday. 'More than a friendship, we're family, and we won't stop being that just because you've decided to sign a contract a little further away from us.'
He said he would 'make sure that your loved ones never lack anything while you're there, far away but thinking of us, waiting for us'.
5 July 2025 11:35
Funeral comes to an end as Jota's weeping wife helps carry coffin
The funeral mass of Diogo Jota and Andre Silva has come to a close.
Ave Maria is being played out on the loudspeakers as funeralgoers embrace, many in tears.
As the church bells again begin to ring out, the coffins are carried out of the church, with photos of the brothers leading in front.
Andre Silva's coffin comes first, with family members in tears behind.
Next comes Diogo Jota's coffin. Ruben Neves, Jota's Portugal and former Wolves teammate - and one of his best friends - is one of the pallbearers.
Rute Cardoso, his wife who he married just 11 days ago, is helping to carry the coffin. She sobs as she rests her head on the coffin while walking.
It is unclear where they will now be taken.
Alex Croft5 July 2025 11:11
Jota 'absolutely adored' his brother Andre
Aaron Barton, a Portuguese football expert from Liverpool, has been speaking to the BBC about Andre Silva's career - and his relationship with brother Diogo Jota.
Silva was a 'talented' player, Mr Barton said, a versatile attacker who could play across the front three.
'He was someone that Diogo absolutely adored,' Mr Barton added. 'On multiple occasions in interviews, Diogo Jota was asked who his favourite footballer is.
'And he would always answer: Andre Silva. He would say Cristian Ronaldo was his idol, but his favourite player to watch was his brother, Andre SIlva.
'I think that really hit home how close the bond between the two brothers was. They did everything together, they travelled together, and they'd frequently watch each other play when they could.'
Alex Croft5 July 2025 11:03
Family and friends follow as coffin brought into church
Alex Croft5 July 2025 10:36
Funeral service begins after coffins carried into church
The coffins holding Diogo Jota and Andrew Silva have entered the church, where the funeral service is now underway.
As the funeral bells rang out, family and friends carried and followed the two coffins into the Capela da Ressurreicao in truly heart-rending scenes.
They were followed by distraught family members, including Diogo Jota's wife Rute Cardoso, who he married just weeks ago. She was held closely by another woman as she followed behind her husband's coffin, one hand rested on top.
The attendees are now inside the church, with some gathered outside as the crowd spills outside the church.
The service has begun and the sound is being broadcast outside the church.
Alex Croft
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Liverpool begin pre-season on Tuesday and in the dressing room at the AXA Training Centre there will be an empty seat between Harvey Elliott and Kostas Tsimikas. Missing will be not a friend to two people but a friend to everyone. His name is Diogo. Conor Bradley will not have the big brother who helped him settle when he arrived from the academy, who played the Fifa video game with him and went with him to Cheltenham races. Alexis Mac Allister will be without the smile he loved, Darwin Núñez the companion. Luis Díaz won't have the guy who, in his hour of need, when his dad was in danger, scored a goal and held up a 'Díaz' shirt. For Tsimikas the pal who joined the club the same summer, back in 2020, won't be there. They had their own banter. 'You cross, I score,' Diogo would joke — and gloriously at Nottingham Forest that's exactly what happened moments after they both came on as substitutes. For Andrew Robertson, missing is maybe his best mate in the whole squad. Robbo was at Cheltenham with him too, and the darts, and at his wedding only two weeks ago. He was that type of friend, Robbo posted, who makes your life better and their goodbye is too soon and hurts so much. Someone who worked with Diogo Jota says he was 'one of the last truly selfless players' and Michael Caulfield, Brentford's psychologist, thinks it's always worth keeping in mind that 'even the older footballers are young'. And they are. Liverpool's squad, from fresh-faced Bradley to seasoned Mohamed Salah, are all young men dealing with a type of loss no one should face at a young stage of life. 'They'll want each other,' Caulfield says, 'they'll want the sanctum of the dressing room.' They will also not want to be regarded as a priority. To a man, in heartfelt social media messages such as Robertson's, they have reminded us the most important people at this time are Jota's family. But those players need looking after and both Liverpool's performance psychologist, Lee Richardson, and club chaplain, Bill Bygroves, are former footballers and relatable types with a light-touch approach. Every two or three weeks Richardson, 56, asks players to complete a questionnaire about their mental health as a low-key way of prompting reflection and getting them to 'check in with themselves'. He believes psychologists should 'not work on but work with' those who use them and seeks to create a 'safe circle' for players that wasn't there when he was a pro. In October, Liverpool made a 25-minute film for World Mental Health Day, which involved Richardson and a squad member speaking about the importance of airing feelings. The player who volunteered to take part was Jota and watching it is poignant now. Jota spoke about the importance of talking and the desire to be a strength for his kids but mostly he listened to what Richardson had to say. 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When Thursday's unimaginable news broke that Jota, 28, and his brother, André Silva, 26 — who is being mourned at Liverpool too — died after a car accident in Spain, many will have thought of Jimmy Davis, the former Manchester United and Watford forward, killed after a collision on the M40 aged 21 in 2003. By all accounts he was a similar character to Jota: a down-to-earth, warm, family-focused person whose positive company left others smiling. One who fitted Arne Slot's description of Jota as 'a friend not to two people but a friend to everyone'. Danny Webber came through the United ranks with Davis and was at Watford when Davis joined a month before his death. They were very close mates. Webber is not sure how he would have got through the bereavement without the compassion of Watford's manager, Ray Lewington, and director of football, Terry Byrne, and the support the players gave each other. 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'I remember being on the massage table and they'd spoken to Wayne, the masseur, and Wayne took it on himself to help in terms of relieving the stress. That's really important. I didn't identify where I was really struggling. I tried to do a lot of things to honour Jimmy, like wore a vest with his name on, but everything comes with weight because of the emotion attached to the person, you know? 'So I just think one of your biggest helps is the footballing community. You realise the magnitude of the person from the people who turn up and there was such an array of people at Jota's funeral [on Saturday] and Jimmy was the same — David Beckham flew back from Real Madrid, the whole Man United team turned up, the Swindon team [where Davis spent three months on loan].' With his own family in Manchester, Webber found the dressing room a nurturing and necessary refuge. 'I was down there by myself. So if I went home, I was in my own head, I was in my own thoughts. Sometimes I'd lose six, seven, eight hours and not realise where I'd gone. 'I only realise on reflection how important the dressing room was. Everybody came together. Everybody cried together, laughed together, smiled together, talked together. Talked about it. 'Sometimes it was as simple as, 'Are you OK?' And some days you'd want to talk, some days you wouldn't, and then there's also that ability, within a football dressing room, to shut off and go in and physically exhaust yourself and get rid of some of the angst you might be feeling.' Webber says Lewington and Byrne demonstrated great emotional intelligence. 'I was — how can I put it? — carrying ten rucksacks with weights on my back while playing football and once we got safe Ray just said to me, 'Go home and be with your family.' It was two, three weeks before the end of the season and exactly what I needed. Being back in Manchester helped and then I went to Vegas and blew off some steam.' 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We nearly got relegated but, in terms of remembering, what I do know is that Jimmy's family hold dear that they're still invited to things. 'The overwhelming thing, as I say, is how the football community was very warm in checking in on Jimmy's family and making sure they were looked after. To this day United still check in and I still speak to Jimmy's mum, sister, brother and best mate. I feel so deeply for his family, I can't even tell you. It's something that never leaves you.' Fifteen years ago Swansea City suffered the loss of Besian Idrizaj, a former Liverpool player, who died in his sleep of a suspected heart attack at home in Austria aged 22. The 2009-10 season had just ended. Garry Monk was club captain and a pillar of strength, as was the experienced forward Shefki Kuqi, who had a close bond with Idrizaj because of their Kosovan heritage. Kuqi flew to be with Idrizaj's family and help his father with the Kosovan press and Monk rang round players while liaising with the club. 'I remember having to communicate a lot with Shefki because he was incredibly upset and you go into organisation mode, speaking to the players, speaking to Kevin Johns, our club chaplain,' Monk says. 'Kev played a real big role. Privately, with the players, he led some prayers and then had a service with fans. The main thing was making sure Besian's family were respected.' Idrizaj was in players' minds all season and a constant motivation. Monk often spoke about him in team talks, reminding everyone how lucky they were and to seize what moments they had on the pitch. Swansea retired Idrizaj's shirt number of 40 and won their first game without him 4-0, scoring in the 40th minute after fans held up a '40' mosaic. After winning the Championship play-off final nine months later at Wembley, the team lifted the trophy wearing T-shirts in tribute to him. 'I made sure, along with Sue, the kit lady, we had T-shirts printed with his name and picture because we knew his family would be watching and wanted them to know, in that moment of success, we were thinking of something more important — we were thinking about Besian,' Monk said. Honouring a person, looking out for their family and just talking was Leyton Orient's route to dealing with the sudden death of their manager, Justin Edinburgh, shortly after he steered them back to the Football League in 2019. Martin Ling was, and remains, their director of football. Being the close season, he had to inform the players via a difficult, emotional group video call. Once they were in training, looking out for them was easier. 'We let them know there's places to go if you need to go through any type of grief [counselling] and one of the biggest things I remember is, I don't go on the training pitch every day but just felt it was really, really quiet around the place. I went out and said, 'Justin is gone but if he was here today, what would he expect of you?' and you could hear the level of conversation start to go up a bit,' Ling says. 'You need to help people get things off their chest. You're never going to bring it straight back to normal so it's just about making it as normal as you can. When the lads are out playing football and the ball's running around, that's probably the time they're thinking about it least.' There is no manual for grief; everyone has to make their own way, Ling reflects. He was helped enormously by the League Managers Association and tried to use previous experience of dealing with personal mental health issues to help players. He's proud to work out of an office in what is now the Justin Edinburgh Stand at Brisbane Road and, as Orient continue on an upward trajectory, continually reminds people 'this all started with Justin'. Thinking of Liverpool's players, he says: 'I just think they need support. They need people to allow them to grieve, they need time to understand. 'I can't dress it up or say it any other way — time does heal. It allows you to understand and cope. In the way Justin has been with us since he passed six years ago, I think they will carry Jota. Liverpool will always carry Jota.' A colleague (from outside the sports section) haughtily speculated football people wouldn't know what to do faced with tragedy like Jota. I think it's the very opposite. Football is a world where facing and feeling and sharing emotion is unavoidable. In dressing rooms people are, to use two words that recurred in Liverpool players' posts about Jota, companions and brothers. No office is like that. 'Football is the harshest environment in life. But it's also the kindest place to be in life. In moments like these you find football at its most giving. Deep down players share a bond — they all come from remarkable backgrounds, have been through remarkable challenges to get here and understand how precious it all is,' Caulfield says. 'And this is Liverpool. Look how Sir Kenny Dalglish handled Hillsborough. He had zero training but it was the greatest act of compassion I've ever seen.' You won't find a business leader capable of the kind of message Slot posted about Jota, or speaking with the raw power the manager Chris Wilder did after the passing of the former Sheffield United defender George Baldock in October. Wilder wanted to honour Baldock as a 'culture carrier' and empathise with what Baldock's former team-mates were going through. Baldock was described by Wilder as a culture carrier and emblematic of what he wants the club to look like MATT WEST/SHUTTERSTOCK 'Players see more of each other than possibly their families because they're in at eight o'clock, leave at four o'clock and do that five days a week and travel together and have match day. George represented me, and what I wanted our club to look like. His journey was amazing, from MK Dons to the Premier League and becoming an international player, and he was the lad who cared about the whole group and the wider club,' Wilder says. That seems to have been Jota too. At his funeral in Gondomar his best friend, the Portugal midfielder Ruben Neves, helped carry his coffin and players from Wolves, Manchester City and Manchester United attended. Virgil van Dijk carried flowers in the shape of a red shirt bearing Jota's number, 20, Robertson carried one bearing Silva's number, 30, and behind them, in line, walked Liverpool staff and present and former players. Walk on. That's all the bereaved can do.
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