CheickTiote’s former Ivory Coast teammates were present at their late friend’s funeral service in the country’s capital city, Abidjan.
The former Ivory Coast midfielder passed away after suffering a heart attack during a training session with his Chinese club Beijing Enterprise.
The members of the Ivory Coast squad showed up, including but not limited to Tiote’s former international colleagues Kolo Toure, Wilfried Bony and Salomon Kalou. Wilfried Bony was among the pallbearers as his coffin arrived on Ivory Coast.
His former team-mate PapissCisse, who plays for Shandong Luneng paid tribute to Tiote during the memorial in China.
“I had some extraordinary moments with this man and today he is no more,” Cisse said during the memorial service as he was struggling to hold back tears.
The players of Beijing Enterprises were also present at that service as they gave their last respects to the late midfielder.
Sports Mail revealed that Beijing Enterprises did not have emergency cardiac equipment at their training center which they could use for emergency which made Manchester United legend Andy Cole to question maybe more can be done in future to prevent such.
“When a 30-year old person passes away, the questions mostly asked is ‘Why? What went wrong? What killed him?'”, Cole said to BBC Radio Five.
“It was, strange one. CheickTiote had not been in China that long, just few months and he must have passed a medical before the transfer was completed. Was anything picked up from the medical results?” he asked nobody in particular.
The late former Beijing Enterprise midfielder left Newcastle in February after nearly seven years at St James’ Park, during which time he made 156 appearances and scored a goal.
Following the memorial service in Beijing, his body was flown back to his country, Ivory Coast ahead for the proper funeral.