Cheick Tiote\u2018s body has been flown back to Ivory Coast where a private funeral for the Beijing Enterprises midfielder will take place.<\/p>\n
Tiote, 30, who was a member of the Elephants squad that won the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, collapsed and died during a training session with his Chinese club last week.<\/p>\n
On Tuesday there was a memorial service held in the Chinese capital, attended by family, friends and former team-mates.<\/p>\n
The BBC understands that Tiote\u2019s family wants him buried in his home town Yamoussoukro but the Ivory Coast Football Federation prefers Abidjan.<\/p>\n
Hundreds of people, including former Elephants coach Herve Renard, were at Abidjan\u2019s international airport to receive Tiote\u2019s body on Thursday.<\/p>\n
Manchester City striker Wilfried Bony, Celtic defender Kolo Toure and ex-Arsenal forward Gervinho were also among the crowd.<\/p>\n
Toure described the former Newcastle United midfielder as \u201ca great player, a warrior\u201d and said he was \u201cshocked\u201d by his death.<\/p>\n
–<\/p>\n<\/div>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Cheick Tiote\u2018s body has been flown back to Ivory Coast where a private funeral for the Beijing Enterprises midfielder will take place. Tiote, 30, who was a member of the Elephants squad that won the 2015 Africa Cup of Nations, collapsed and died during a training session with his Chinese club last week. On Tuesday […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":14,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[1],"tags":[8235,3],"yoast_head":"\n