The president of the Portuguese FA has defended Cristiano Ronaldo after the national team captain received backlash for not attending Diogo Jota‘s funeral.

The footballing world was left stunned a month ago when news broke that Jota and his brother Andre Silva had been killed in a car crash in northern Spain.

The tragic accident came just 11 days after Jota had married childhood sweetheart Rute Cardoso, also 28, who is the mother of his two sons Dinis, four, and Duarte, two, as well as his baby daughter Mafalda, who is eight months old.

Ronaldo was Jota’s Portugal national team captain and many were surprised that he was not present at the funeral which took place days later in Gondomar.

Some were more than surprised, with Ronaldo facing criticism online for his absence after Portugal stars such as Bruno Fernandes, Ruben Dias and Bernardo Silva made appearances.

The Al-Nassr star is said to have not made the journey as he did not wish for his presence to overshadow the importance of people paying their respects to Jota and his brother.

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Cristiano Ronaldo (left) did not attend the funeral of Portugal team-mate Diogo Jota (right)

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Portuguese FA chief Pedro Proenca (left) has come to the defence of the national team captain

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Jota’s funeral took place in his hometown of Gondomar just days after his tragic death

And Pedro Proenca, president of the Portuguese Football Federation, has hit back at the criticism.

‘It’s an immense injustice to say that Cristiano, in some way, played a more detached role in this,’ he said.

‘From the very beginning, the captain was with us and was one of the people who most closely connected with the national team family, with Jota’s own blood family.

‘And I say it again: what they said about our captain is unfair. Cristiano Ronaldo, he was one of the people who felt it the most, especially because he was a true team-mate of Jota.

‘His physical absence means nothing more than that, because he never abandoned this family.’

Jota and Ronaldo never played together at club level but were team-mates for the Portuguese national team.

They both shared in Portugal’s Nations League triumphs in 2019 and 2025 and played a total of 32 times together.

After Jota and his brother Andre’s deaths, Ronaldo wrote on social media: ‘It doesn’t make sense. Just now we were together in the national team, just now you had gotten married.

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A number of Portugal players were present, including Man United midfielder Bruno Fernandes

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Diogo (right) and his brother Andre Silva (left) were tragically killed in a car accident

‘To your family, your wife, and your children, I send my condolences and wish them all the strength in the world. I know you will always be with them.

‘Rest in Peace, Diogo and André. We will all miss you.’

In June, Ronaldo skippered his side to Nations League glory in a team that Jota was also part of as Portugal beat Spain 5-3 on penalties.

He was also defender by his sister, katia, after not attending.

She wrote on Instagram: ‘When my father died, in addition to the pain of loss, we had to deal with a flood of cameras and curious onlookers at the cemetery and everywhere we went.

‘And attention was not what it is today in terms of access… At no time were we (the children) able to leave the chapel; it was only possible at the time of the burial, such was the commotion.

‘At the funeral, there were presidents, coaches of the national team at the time, such as Luís Filipe Scolari, etc. I don’t remember seeing any of them. And they certainly greeted me. The pain blinded me.

‘About pain/family and real support… You will never know what it means until you go through it. If someone sends me a message criticising anything my brother does, I will block it (completely ignore it), that is, they will only do it once.

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Ronaldo faced some criticism for his absence but sister Katia Aveiro jumped to his defence

‘It’s getting tiring. The fanaticism. The criticism for nothing, I repeat nothing… Sick society… We all have families.

‘It is absurdly shameful to watch TV channels/commentators/social networks emphasising an absence (wise) rather than respectfully honouring the pain of a mutilated family destroyed by the loss of two brothers. I am even ashamed to watch. Regrettable.

‘And so the world goes… Society and opinion. Today they are worthless. They themselves have become bottomless pits. I feel sorry… And war is also like that. Believe me. Human evil is also a war. And every day we have to fight against it. And so it goes.’