Diogo Jota and André Silva's funeral held in Portugal

33 minutes ago Share Save Sofia Ferreira Santos BBC News Reporting from Gondomar, Portugal Share Save

Reuters

Footballers Diogo Jota and André Silva have been honoured by their family, friends and teammates at a joint funeral in Portugal. Jota, 28, was laid to rest alongside his brother, Silva, 25, after they died in a car crash on Thursday. Hundreds of locals and supporters gathered at the Igreja Matriz in Gondomar, where the brothers are from, on Saturday. The funeral also brought together huge names from across football, including Jota's teammates Virgil van Dijk and Andy Robertson, who were seen carrying floral tributes into the church ahead of the ceremony.

The service was held in Gondomar, a small Portuguese city near Porto, that has been left reeling after the brothers died.

Jota and Silva died at about 00:30 local time in the Spanish province of Zamora. It is understood they were on the way to take a ferry and return to Liverpool for Jota's pre-season training when the accident happened. The Portugal forward had undergone minor surgery and doctors had advised him against flying. The accident came just 11 days after Jota married his long-term partner Rute Cardoso, with whom he had three children.

PA Media As a celebrated striker for Liverpool, Jota was known for his skills as a "natural finisher"

Players from Liverpool FC, who only three months ago were celebrating their Premier League win, arrived at the funeral together. Watching them walk in line with each other, almost as they do when walking onto the pitch, was an emotional experience. There was a strong feeling of community, but also a shared sombreness. Many were visibly upset, with supporters on the other side of the barrier applauding the players. One woman in the crowd shouted towards them as they walked in: "Força!" - strength. Family and close friends walked into the church in complete silence, many of them with their heads bowed down as the church bell rung. One person in the procession held up a sign with Silva's photograph, which read: "Para sempre um de nós." (Forever one of us.) So much was the brothers' impact on football and their local community that some of the guests had to watch the ceremony from outside of the church, often hugging and comforting one another. Locals and football fans in the crowd watched silently for most of the service, which went on for about an hour. Many wore football shirts and carried merchandise from the different teams across Portugal and abroad where Jota and Silva, who played for local club Penafiel, spent some time in.

Sofia Ferreira Santos/BBC Antônio says the brothers' family is a humble, nice local family

One of these fans was Antônio Moreira, who set off early in the morning to be one of the first outside the Igreja Matriz de Gondomar where the funeral took place. "I know I won't be able to go inside, but I wanted to pay my respects," he told me from the barrier outside the church. Antônio later showed me his phone case - a little old, he said - with the emblem of FC Porto. Antônio recalled fond memories of Jota on the field, as he spent a year playing for the local club, but added that the brothers were so much more than football stars.

Getty Images André Silva played for FC Penafiel in Portugal

"They were good people, from a humble family, people like us." This has hit him especially hard, he said, as 40 years ago his family went through a similar tragedy. His aunt, uncle and young cousin died in a car accident three days before Christmas, leaving his other cousin behind. Jota and Silva may not have been his direct family, he said, but their deaths felt personal. "This is what I think: losing your parents is hard, really hard. But losing your children is unimaginable," he added.

Sofia Ferreira Santos/BBC One fan wore a Liverpool shirt, marked with Jota's autograph

Jota's journey as a player inspired many people here in Gondomar, football fan Fábio Silva told me. He has kept up with the brothers since they started in the local clubs - and said he had to be here for their final journey. "Despite the impact they had on football, and even financially, they never let it show," he told me, adding the family are well-loved in the town. "The community is sad, devastated," he said. Having spent some time with them over the years, Fábio said there was only one reason he was here: "Respect for the brothers, the family."

Sofia Ferreira Santos/BBC Rafaela and Fábio said it was their duty as football fans and Portuguese locals to be at the brothers' funeral

Avid football fans Fábio and Rafaela travelled from the nearby town Lordelo to honour Jota and Silva. Wearing Jota's shirt, Fábio said it was important to him to be here "for Jota's final day". Both said it meant a lot to the community that so many people showed up to pay their respects. They watched the ceremony from outside the church, like hundreds of other fans - which Fábio said was hard. Nodding, Rafaela agreed, but said it was also beautiful. "This is an example that you need to live life to the max," Rafaela said, "because you never know when will be your last day." "Say everything you want to say, and need to say - tomorrow could be too late," Fábio added.

Reform MP loses whip over business allegations, party says

Reform MP James McMurdock has lost the whip over allegations against him related to business propriety, the party says.

Chief whip Lee Anderson said McMurdock, MP for South Basildon and East Thurrock, "removed the party whip from himself" pending an investigation into allegations since published by the Sunday Times.

"At Reform UK we take these matters very seriously and James has agreed to cooperate in full with any investigation," Anderson said.

The party will not be commenting further, he added.

The BBC has approached McMurdock for comment.

Before England's penultimate Women's Nations League group game, all of the attention was on Mary Earps' retirement. After the match, a different name dominated the headlines: Aggie Beever-Jones.

The forward seized her opportunity in the absence of injured duo Alessia Russo and Ella Toone, scoring a 33-minute hat-trick against Portugal.

Tipping her to make an impact at Euro 2025, former England goalkeeper Karen Bardsley praised her versatility, movement and goalscoring prowess.

"She can play on the right, left, and in central areas. She's constantly on the move, hunting for the right opportunity to pounce on defenders," she told BBC Radio 5 Live.

"She is rarely offside. She is a true goalscorer, putting herself about, making a nuisance of herself."

Beever-Jones, who joined Chelsea's academy aged nine, was the Blues' top goal-scorer in the WSL last season with nine and also claimed the winner in their FA Cup semi-final against Liverpool to keep them on track for a domestic treble.

Emma Raducanu says she does not trust the electronic line-calling at Wimbledon, pointing to "dodgy" calls in her defeat by world number one Aryna Sabalenka.

The Briton was particularly unhappy when a shot from the Belarusian was judged to have clipped the line midway through the first set.

"That call was for sure out," Raducanu said after a closely-fought 7-6 (8-6) 6-4 loss where she went toe-to-toe with the top seed for much of the match.

"It's kind of disappointing that the calls can be so wrong, but for the most part they've been OK. I've had a few in my other matches, too, that have been very wrong. Hopefully they can fix that."

Wimbledon replaced line judges this year with the technology, which is being used at many other top-level tournaments, including the US Open and Australian Open.

Asked if she trusted the electronic line calls, Raducanu replied: "No, I don't - I think the other players would say the same thing, there were some pretty dodgy ones but what can you do?"

Raducanu is not the only player to question the accuracy of the system, with British men's number one Jack Draper saying after his second-round defeat by Marin Cilic on Thursday: "I don't think it's 100% accurate, in all honesty.

"A couple of the ones today it showed a mark on the court. There's no way the chalk would have showed."

Debbie Jevans, chair of the All England Club, said she was confident in the accuracy of the electronic line calling and in the decision to bring it in.

"It's funny, isn't it, because when we did have linesmen, we were constantly asked why we didn't have electronic line calling because it's more accurate than they do the rest of the tour," she told BBC Sport on Saturday.

"The players wanted it because they were asking us, why do we have linesmen? Because of potential human error. And now we have it in situ.

"We have to think of innovation and we're just moving with what the court and mostly what the players expect."