The remains of Emiliano Sala en route to Argentina.

The body of footballer Emiliano Sala, who died in a plane crash between Nantes and Cardiff, was scheduled to arrive in Buenos Aires on Friday morning, before a tribute to his village of Progreso.

"This is a sadly historic day for Progreso, we would never have imagined, we are still in shock," says AFP Daniel Ribero, president of San Martin football club Progreso, where Sala played for ten years.

After the formal identification of the body of the Argentine footballer, removed from the wreckage of the plane that crashed in the Channel, the British authorities gave the green light to the restitution of the body to the family.

Friday at the arrival (at 09H05, 14H05 GMT) at the airport of Buenos Aires of British Airways flight from London, the coffin will be routed to the funeral of the city of Santa Fe, 70 km from Progreso, where he will spend the night.

It is only Saturday morning at 07:00 that will start the vigil of Emiliano Sala in Progreso, a village of Pampas with impeccable lawns, surrounded by fields of soya. Most of the 3,000 residents will drop a flower on the coffin of their hero, who played for the local club, San Martin.

As a symbol, the tribute is planned in the gym of the club, where Sala returned every visit to Progreso.

"The last time he came, during the World Cup in Russia, he asked us for permission to come and share our + asado + (barbecue) at the club ...", says Daniel Ribero, admiring the simplicity of the player.

"He was generous" 

The club that revealed it, FC Nantes, and Cardiff, who had just bought it for 17 million euros, each sent a delegation to Argentina.

Nicolas Pallois, defender and best friend of the Argentinean, and the secretary general of FC Nantes, Loïc Morin, will represent the Canaries.

For the Welsh club, coach Neil Warnock and general manager Ken Choo will make the trip.

Son of a driver and a stay-at-home mom, Emiliano Sala started with the seniors of San Martin de Progreso at the age of 15 before joining Proyecto Crecer, the Girondins de Bordeaux Academy in Argentina.

"It was a thin wire, he was only 15 years old, but we felt he had a future, and he loved to train, while his friends were going to eat asado, he was going to run" , says Daniel Demonte, coach of the San Martin de Progreso Reserve Team.

He was present on the field on the day of Sala's first match with the elders. "That day, and it was a final, he scored, he was happy as you can not imagine," he recalls.

His biggest dream, he adds, was to play in the Premier League, a dream come true with Cardiff, who had bet on him at the Mercato, to get out of the red zone and get hold in the elite.

At the edge of the field, Alexis Lovato drinks a mate, the traditional infusion that Argentines drink at any time of the day, and attends the resumption of training in San Martin de Progreso, postponed for several days because of the tragedy.

With his two boys, one of whom has a touch with the big River Plate, he plans to go to the homage on Saturday. "It's hard, but it's important, it was the glory of the club, last year he went to see the kids in training, he was generous," said the air conditioning technician.

"He never forgot where he came from, he could have chosen other destinations in the world, but he would come back whenever he could to Progreso."

The body will be transported Saturday to a funeral home of Santa Fe, capital of the province, for cremation.