Emiliano Sala's body will be cremated today as well-wishers in his Argentinian town prepare to say their final farewell to the footballer who died when his plane crashed in the English Channel last month.
Thousands of people are expected to pay their last respects to the new Cardiff City signing at a wake in the sports hall of his boyhood football club San Martin in the small town of Progreso - some 334 miles northwest of the capital Buenos Aires,
His body - repatriated on Friday on a British Airways flight - was due to be driven to the town early this morning from its overnight resting place at a funeral home in the provincial capital Santa Fe.
Two employees of the burial house set up chandeliers at San Martin Club gymnasium ahead of Emiliano Sala's funeral in Progreso
Yellow flowers are displayed in front of the portrait of Argentinian forward Emiliano Sala at the Beaujoire stadium in Nantes, France
Progeso mayor Julio Muller said a religious ceremony will be held at 2pm (local time) in Progresso and will return to the crematorium in Sante Fe at 3,30pm,
The final resting place of the 28-year-old's ashes was not made clear, with some local speculation they would be buried in Progreso.
Most of the town's 3,500 inhabitants are expected to say their final farewells to Progreso's international ambassador.
Sala was being flown from Nantes, France to Cardiff after the club signed him for £15million when the plane he was travelling in crashed down.
His remains were discovered in the crashed Piper Malibu, on February 3, after a private search team found the plane. The official search for him and pilot David Ibbotson was called off after a week.
Mirta Taffarel, aunt of Emiliano Sala, cries while waiting for his remains, outside a funeral home in Santa Fe
Progreso, where the wake of late Argentine footballer Emiliano Sala will take place in Santa Fe, Argentina on February 1
Sala was being flown from Nantes, France to Cardiff after the club signed him for £15million.
Cardiff manager Neil Warnock and chief executive Ken Choo have travelled to Argentina for the funeral.
The wake to celebrate his life will be held at football club San Martin de Progreso, where Sala played as a boy.
