Funeral for Italian footballer Piermario Morosini

The funeral of Italian footballer Piermario Morosini is to be held in his hometown of Bergamo.

The 25-year-old Livorno player collapsed and died during a second division match on Saturday.

More than 20,000 fans are expected to watch the funeral on giant screens that have been set up near the church.

On Wednesday hundreds of people queued to pay their final respects. A minute's silence will be held at matches across Italy this weekend.

One wellwisher carried a handmade banner with a simple message: "Thanks for everything - you'll always be with us."

The head of youth development at Morosini's first team, Atalanta, Mino Favini said: "He was a really sweet young man. He never asked anything for himself but always spoke up for others in the team. It's natural that with such characteristics Piermario was popular among his peers."

Initially it was thought he suffered a cardiac arrest but a post mortem on Monday proved inconclusive.

Morosini's death has raised questions about the procedures in place at Italian stadiums to deal with an emergency of the type that cost him his life.

Prosecutors are investigating whether a badly-parked police car delayed the arrival of paramedics on the scene.

And the Italian Prime Minister, Mario Monti - visiting Italy's Olympic hopefuls - said lessons had to be learnt to prevent similar tragedies in the future.