Liverpool's Jota mourned by family and local people at hometown wake
Flower tributes are left outside Liverpool's Anfield Stadium after Liverpool's Portuguese soccer player Diogo Jota died in a car crash near Zamora, Spain, in Liverpool, Britain, July 4, 2025. REUTERS/Temilade Adelaja TPX IMAGES OF THE DAY
GONDOMAR, Portugal - undreds of residents of Gondomar in northern Portugal filed past the bodies of former Liverpool footballer Diogo Jota and his brother Andre Silva at a chapel in their hometown on Friday, after their deaths in a car crash in Spain.
At an earlier private wake, Prime Minister Luis Montenegro, FC Porto President Andre Villas-Boas, Portuguese Football Federation President Pedro Proenca and Jota's longtime agent Jorge Mendes joined the brothers' family including Jota's wife Rute Cardoso, who had married the footballer just weeks earlier.
"It is a moment of great pain for the family, who are left anchored to this tragic accident," Proenca said as he left the wake. "Diogo was an icon for the talent that Portuguese football represents and for its ability to generate unity around a person."
The brothers were believed to be driving to a ferry in Spain to travel to the UK when their Lamborghini veered off the road and burst into flames after midnight on Thursday. Police said they suspected a tyre had burst.
Silva was also a footballer, with Penafiel in the Portuguese second division.
Their funeral is expected to take place on Saturday at a nearby church at 10 a.m. local time (0800 GMT), the office of Gondomar's mayor said.
The death of forward Jota at the age of 28 has jolted the world of football, with tributes pouring in from former teammates, clubs, national leaders and fans.
Top stories
Swipe. Select. Stay informed.
Singapore PAP has begun search for new candidates; PM Wong hopes to deploy them earlier ahead of next GE
Singapore 20 retired MPs spoke up on many issues in Parliament, helped successors prepare for new role: PM Wong
Singapore $3b money laundering case: 9 financial institutions handed $27.45m in MAS penalties over breaches
Singapore Banks tighten vigilance and processes following $3b money laundering case
Asia JB petrol station shooting: Dead man with bullet wounds dumped at hospital
Singapore Trilateral work group formed to address allegations of foreigners illegally taking on platform work
Singapore Power distribution system in renewal project may be linked to Bukit Panjang LRT disruption: SMRT
Singapore Rise in number of scam e-mails claiming to be from Cardinal William Goh: Catholic Church
"Diogo was a silent hero for everything he represented on and off the pitch," Villas-Boas said as he left the wake.
"These are tragic days, days for reflection, and may the memory of these two athletes, these two great men, live on," the former Chelsea manager added.
Outside Liverpool's Anfield stadium fans left flowers, scarves and handwritten notes, many from children.
"I never thought there would be something that would frighten me off going back to Liverpool after the (summer) break," Liverpool teammate Mohamed Salah said on Instagram.
"Teammates 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," he added.
Football clubs including Paris St Germain -- who have several Portugal internationals in their squad -- Bayern Munich, Chelsea and Real Madrid observed a moment of silence during training for their matches at the Club World Cup in the United States.
MOURNING HIS FRIEND
Chelsea manager Enzo Maresca said on Thursday that forward Pedro Neto was weighing up whether to play in Friday's quarter-final against Palmeiras, as the Portuguese international mourned the tragic death of his close friend.
Jota's manager at Liverpool, Arne Slot, said in a statement on Thursday that his thoughts were with his family.
"My message to them is very clear – you will never walk alone," Slot said, using the words of the team's anthem.
"For us as a club, the sense of shock is absolute. Diogo was not just our player, he was a loved one to all of us. He was a teammate, a colleague, a workmate and in all of those roles he was very special," the Dutchman added.
In Gondomar, a town of about 160,000 people in the Porto metropolitan area that is known for artisanal gold and filigree jewellery, residents were struggling to come to terms with the sudden death of a local hero.
At the Diogo Jota Academy in Gondomar – whose motto is "It's not important where we come from, but where we are going" – people placed candles and flowers, as well as scarves and shirts from the clubs he played for and from the Portuguese national team in tribute to the player.
Jota opened the academy in 2022 for children aged six to nine at the Gondomar Football Club where he himself played for 10 years as a child.
It was at Gondomar's high school that he met his wife. They began dating aged 15 when in the same class and she became a pillar in his life.
When they were 19, they moved to Madrid together, when Jota was transferred from the small Portuguese club Pacos de Ferreira to Atletico Madrid.
"Besides being his girlfriend and best friend, I'm his number one fan," Cardoso told the newspaper 'A Bola' at the time.
Jota was making his way back to Liverpool by car after he was told he should avoid plane travel for up to six weeks following lung surgery to address a fractured rib, his physiotherapist Miguel Goncalves told broadcaster Now late on Thursday.
Goncalves said Jota was recovering well from the pneumothorax surgery and that he had planned to take a ferry to the UK from Spain. REUTERS
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Straits Times
8 minutes ago
- Straits Times
Australia's Victoria to start anti-hate task force after Melbourne synagogue arson
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox There were no injuries to the 20 people inside the East Melbourne Synagogue, who fled from the fire on the night of July 4. SYDNEY - Australia's Victoria state will set up a anti-hate task force to help frame laws giving police more powers to tackle violent protests, as it probes an alleged arson attack on a Melbourne synagogue when worshippers were inside, it said on July 7. There were no injuries to the 20 people inside the East Melbourne Synagogue, who fled from the fire on the night of July 4 , the latest in a series of incidents targeting the Jewish community. 'Just as the fire came to the front door here of this (synagogue), it was stopped. So too must we put a stop to antisemitism,' Victoria state Premier Jacinta Allan told reporters outside the synagogue. 'Not only does it have no place here in Melbourne and Victoria, it has no place anywhere.' Ms Allan said the task force, which would include the premier, state police minister, Mayor of Melbourne and police personnel, would have its first meeting this week. Jewish community representatives will be invited to attend the meeting. The government is consulting experts while drafting a bill to ban face masks, display of terror symbols and devices used by protesters to attach themselves to objects that makes it difficult for police to remove them, Ms Allan said. Counterterrorism detectives late on July 5 arrested a 34-year-old Sydney resident , whom the authorities declined to identify, charging him with offences including criminal damage by fire. Police said the man allegedly poured a flammable liquid on the front door and set it on fire before fleeing. Australia has experienced several antisemitic incidents since the start of the Israel-Gaza war in October 2023. Homes, schools, synagogues and vehicles in Australia have been targeted by antisemitic vandalism and arson. In January, a home in Sydney previously owned by a senior Jewish community leader was vandalised, two cars were set on fire, and a Jewish school and two other properties in Sydney were sprayed with antisemitic slurs. Melbourne's Adass synagogue, built by holocaust survivors in the 1960s, suffered widespread damage in 2024 after a fire that injured one. REUTERS
Straits Times
22 minutes ago
- Straits Times
Pressed to confess: Japan accused of ‘hostage justice'
Sign up now: Get ST's newsletters delivered to your inbox Yo Amano says he is unravelling in a cell where he has been confined alone almost 24 hours a day for over six years, despite not having been convicted of the fraud charges against him. In Japan's harsh criminal justice system, critics say innocence is not presumed and coerced confessions help drive the 99 per cent conviction rate. 'From the moment I was arrested, I've been treated like I'm a prisoner,' Amano, 36, told AFP through a glass screen at the Tokyo Detention Centre, where he is held alongside people convicted of violent crimes, including death-row inmates. 'I'm sure something is wrong with me mentally, but I can't tell for sure because I can't even get a decent medical diagnosis here,' he said. Campaigners argue that lengthy pre-trial detention is meted out too easily in Japan, especially if suspects remain silent or refuse to confess. That often makes confessions a de-facto condition for their release, one that rights groups say exists in few other liberal democracies. This alleged use of confinement as a way to elicit confessions – or 'hostage justice' – is under renewed scrutiny after a group of victims recently filed a lawsuit challenging its constitutionality. Top stories Swipe. Select. Stay informed. Singapore Construction starts on Cross Island Line phase 2; 6 MRT stations in S'pore's west ready by 2032 Singapore New SkillsFuture requirements by April 2026 to mandate regular training for adult educators Singapore MPs should not ask questions to 'clock numbers'; focus should be improving S'poreans' lives: Seah Kian Peng Singapore Sequencing and standards: Indranee on role of Leader of the House Singapore NUS College draws 10,000 applications for 400 places, showing strong liberal arts interest Life Rock band My Chemical Romance to perform in Singapore in April 2026 Singapore Life After... blazing biomedical research trail in S'pore: Renowned scientist breaks new ground at 59 Singapore More students in Singapore juggle studying and working to support their families Lawyer Takashi Takano, who spearheads the suit, slammed the 'completely inverted chronology'. In Japan, 'if you contest your charges, your bail is denied and detention drags on. You get punished and robbed of everything first, sometimes before the trial even begins, followed finally by a verdict,' he told AFP. AFP obtained rare, court-issued approval to speak to Amano, who denies the charges against him. Since his 2018 arrest, he has been locked up incommunicado, having 'lost everything', including his job, partner and mental health. In summer, what little coolness there is in the detention facility filters through a small food slot into Amano's sweltering cell. Three tatami mats fill the floor space, and there is no air conditioning. For most of the day, Amano is not allowed to lie down or lean against a wall, so he spends hours sitting on a mat. The former restaurant owner says he has lost 30kg since his arrest. He can only contact his lawyers and is denied access to anyone else, including family, barring rare exceptions. This has left him estranged from the 'daughter I doted on', now seven years old, and whom he last saw in 2019. 'I don't know if she still remembers me.' Extracting confessions 'Hostage justice' – a term popularised by ex-Nissan chief Carlos Ghosn's months-long, 2018 to 2019 detention – has been repeatedly decried by international rights bodies. The latest lawsuit challenges judges' ability to 'rubber-stamp' detentions, and to reject bail without demonstrating 'probable cause' that evidence will be destroyed, according to lawyer Takano. In Japan, pre-indictment detention can last up to 23 days, extendable by multiple rearrests. Only after indictment does bail become possible, but as with Amano, the option is often dismissed if the accused denies the charges, campaigners say. Judicial data from 2021 shows that those who confessed were released much more quickly than those who denied the charges. 'In Japan, refusing to confess or remaining silent is seen as high-risk behaviour of someone likely to destroy evidence,' Professor Kana Sasakura, a criminal law professor at Konan University, told AFP. Furthermore, detainees are typically interrogated without attorneys – a stark contrast to most Group of Seven and East Asian democracies – which makes it harder to withstand the pressure of questioning. This, coupled with gruelling confinement, attests to Japan's overall reliance on confessions, Prof Sasakura noted. 'It's a structure where, by conducting interrogations behind closed doors and isolating the suspect from the outside world, extracting confessions is made easier,' she said. Fair system The justice ministry told AFP that 'prolonged detention solely on the grounds of remaining silent or denying charges isn't occurring'. 'We don't use physical detention to force confessions,' it added, defending Japan's 'fair' and 'evidence-based' system. But T omoya Asanuma , another plaintiff in the suit, recalls almost cracking under the strain. Last year, the 36-year-old transgender activist endured almost four months of detention for charges including assault that he was ultimately acquitted of in January. 'Detectives would tell me, 'confess already, and we don't have to interrogate you so many times,'' Asanuma told AFP of the frequent, hours-long questioning. Life under constant surveillance, including when he bathed or relieved himself, was a source of extra humiliation as his body still retained biologically female characteristics. 'The thought repeatedly crossed my mind that if I falsely confessed, I can maybe escape all this,' he said. Won't betray their trust And therein lies the secret to Japan's astonishing 99-percent conviction rate, lawyer Takano argues. 'After such endless interrogations, most people break and confess,' leading to statements adopted by courts as evidence, he said. A case in point is Mr Iwao Hakamada, who was once the world's longest-serving death-row inmate. His convictions – quashed in 2024 – relied partly on confessions made during what the Supreme Court ruled were 'inhumane' interrogations. 'That's what undergirds the '99-per cent' conviction rate. But do you really trust such guilty verdicts?' Mr Takano said. In his cell with an exposed toilet, Amano languishes with little sense of the time or weather outside. The light remains on after bedtime, but he is not allowed to cover his face with bedding. But still he will not confess. 'If I succumb now and choose an easy way out, I would disappoint people who still support me,' he said. 'I won't betray their trust.' AFP
AsiaOne
2 hours ago
- AsiaOne
Israel attacks 3 Yemeni ports and power plant, Israeli military says, World News
ADEN — Israel has attacked Houthi targets in three Yemeni ports and a power plant, the Israeli military said early on Monday (July 7), marking the first Israeli attack on Yemen in almost a month. The strikes on Hodeidah, Ras Isa and Salif ports, and Ras Qantib power plant were due to repeated Houthi attacks on Israel, the military added. Since the start of the war in Gaza in October 2023, the Iran-aligned Houthis have fired at Israel and at shipping in the Red Sea, disrupting global trade, in what it says are acts of solidarity with the Palestinians. Most of the dozens of missiles and drones fired toward Israel have been intercepted or fallen short. Israel has carried out a series of retaliatory strikes. Israel also attacked Galaxy Leader ship in Ras Isa port, which was seized by Houthis in late 2023, the military added. "The Houthi terrorist regime's forces installed a radar system on the ship, and are using it to track vessels in international maritime space, in order to promote the Houthi terrorist regime's activities," the military said. The Houthi military spokesperson said following the attacks that Houthis' air defences confronted the Israeli attack 'by using a large number of domestically produced surface-to-air missiles'. Residents told Reuters that the Israeli strikes on the Red Sea port city of Hodeidah put the main power station out of service, leaving the city in darkness. There were no immediate reports of casualties. Houthi-run Al-Masirah TV reported that Israel launched a series of strikes on Hodeidah, shortly after the Israeli military issued an evacuation warning for people at the three Yemeni ports. The assault comes hours after a ship was attacked off of Hodeidah and the ship's crew abandoned it as it took on water. No one immediately claimed responsibility for the attack, but security firm Ambrey said the vessel fits the typical profile of a Houthi target. Israel has severely hurt other allies of Iran in the region — Lebanon's Hezbollah and the Palestinian militant group Hamas. The Tehran-backed Houthis and pro-Iranian armed groups in Iraq are still standing. The group's leader, Abdul Malik al-Houthi, created the force challenging world powers from a group of ragtag mountain fighters in sandals. Under the direction of al-Houthi, the group has grown into an army of tens of thousands of fighters and acquired armed drones and ballistic missiles. Saudi Arabia and the West say the arms come from Iran, though Tehran denies this. [[nid:719878]]
