Spanish Soccer Bids Farewell to CD Tenerife Forward Jesús de Miguel
The sports community gathered to honor the player following his tragic passing after a collision during a league match.
Spanish soccer mourns the loss of CD Tenerife forward Jesús de Miguel, who passed away on November 3 at the age of 26 following severe chest injuries sustained from a heavy collision with FC Andorra goalkeeper Jesús Owono during a LaLiga Hypermotion fixture on November 2. The tragic incident sent shockwaves throughout the sports world, prompting widespread tributes from clubs, officials, and athletes across the nation and Europe.
On Saturday, November 8, hundreds of fans, club representatives, and institutional figures gathered at the Heliodoro Rodríguez López stadium in Tenerife to bid a final farewell to the forward under the banner "Always in Our Memory." The memorial event featured speeches from team captain Enric Gallego, club president Felipe Miñambres, and majority shareholder Rayco García, who offered emotional remarks and expressed deep support for the player's family, including his young daughter, Carla.
"Demi, you will always be one of us. It is very hard to be here today. None of us is prepared to live through a moment like this or to find the words," Gallego stated during the ceremony. Rayco García also shared his grief, noting the immense difficulty of witnessing the family's suffering. The stadium ceremony included a video montage of global tributes, a religious service officiated by the bishop of the diocese of San Cristóbal de La Laguna, Eloy Alberto Santiago, and musical accompaniment by a string quartet.
The nationwide tribute extended across Spanish soccer from November 6 through November 9, coordinated by the Royal Spanish Football Federation, LaLiga, and Liga F. Prior to matches in the top two divisions, players walked onto the pitch wearing commemorative jerseys featuring the number 9. Alongside match officials, they formed a semicircle around the spot on the pitch where the fatal collision occurred, depositing floral wreaths and observing moments of silence as images of the player appeared on stadium videomarkers.
Emotional displays resonated across various stadiums during the weekend. During the match between Cádiz and Real Oviedo at the Estadio Nuevo Mirandilla, referee Marta Huerta de Aza was seen visibly moved to tears during the moment of silence. Meanwhile, Valencia raised the CD Tenerife flag at half-staff, and players from both teams wore black armbands during their encounter against Real Madrid.
European competitions also acknowledged the tragedy earlier in the week. On the Tuesday following his passing, UEFA omitted the Champions League anthem and held moments of silence across fixtures such as Barcelona against Aston Villa, Villarreal against Paris Saint-Germain, and Atlético de Madrid against Bayern Munich. Individual players also paid tribute, with Barcelona's Raphinha offering words of support and Paris Saint-Germain's Fabián Ruiz celebrating a goal by gesturing the number nine in honor of the late forward.
Before the stadium tribute in Tenerife, De Miguel was laid to rest at a cemetery in Navahermosa, the hometown of his parents. The widespread gestures of mourning transformed his jersey number into a unifying symbol across Spanish soccer, reflecting the profound impact of his loss on teammates, opponents, and fans alike.