Cheick Tiote’s body has been flown back to Ivory Coast where a private funeral for the Beijing Enterprises midfielder will take place.
Tiote, 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 there was a memorial service held in the Chinese capital attended by family, friends and former team-mates.
The BBC understands that Tiote’s family wants him buried in his home town Yamoussoukro but the Ivory Coast Football Federation prefers Abidjan.
Manchester City forward Bony and other former team-mates of Tiote’s with the Ivory Coast national team carried the casket on their shoulders.
Bony wore a t-shirt emblazoned with Tiote’s face – which read ‘an elephant never dies’ in reference to the Ivory Coast national team’s nickname.
Hundreds of people, including former Elephants coach Herve Renard, were at Abidjan’s International Airport to receive Tiote’s body on Thursday.
Kolo Toure, Gervinho and Siake Tiene were also among the crowd.
Toure described the former Newcastle United midfielder as “a great player, a warrior” and said he was “shocked” by his death aged 30.
Tiote suffered a suspected heart attack on June 5 during a training session with his former club Beijing Enterprises and later passed away.
There was a memorial service for him held in Beijing on Tuesday which was attended by his ex-Newcastle team-mate Papiss Cisse, who plays in China with Shandong Luneng.