A small village in Argentina on Saturday bid farewell to a favorite son, the soccer striker Emiliano Sala, who died along with his pilot last month when his small plane crashed in the English Channel.

Friends, family and supporters gathered early Saturday in the village of Progreso, in the country’s northeast, for a wake at Mr. Sala’s soccer boyhood club, San Martín de Progreso, where his body lay in state. A religious ceremony was held in the afternoon, and he was to be cremated, reports said.

Outside the club, a banner read, “Emi, you will never walk alone.”

Mr. Sala’s body arrived in the village on Friday, a little more than a week after his remains were found in the wreckage of the plane that went down shortly after takeoff from Nantes, France, for Cardiff, Wales.

“We are waiting for you, Emi,” the San Martín club posted on Facebook ahead of the body’s arrival.

The club’s president, Daniel Ribero told Agence France-Presse, “He represented a lot for us. We’re a small village and Emi was a celebrity, the only player to turn professional.”