The 24-year-old collapsed in the final minutes of Benfica's televised away game against Vitoria Guimaraes just after being sanctioned for wasting time.

As his team-mates looked on, many of them weeping or praying, doctors struggled to revive an apparently unconscious Feher before an ambulance arrived to take him to hospital where he was declared dead some 90 minutes later.

Doctors treated Feher for a heart attack but preliminary results from an autopsy completed on Monday were inconclusive and an inquiry into his death is now likely.

Once the autopsy was completed, Feher's body was transported to Lisbon where six of his team-mates, including star striker Nuno Gomes and forward Simao Sabrosa, carried his coffin into the main entrance of Benfica's Stadium of Light.

The entire Benfica team, including coach Jose Antonio Camacho, then locked arms and surrounded the coffin, which was placed before a huge statue of an eagle which is the symbol of the club.

Most players burst into tears before saying a prayer for Feher.

Benfica, Portugal's most widely supported club, is keeping the stadium open until midnight so fans can pay tribute to Feher before his coffin is taken back

to his native Hungary on Wednesday for his funeral.

People of all ages have left flowers, candles, and scarves from various football teams around the coffin as well as outside the gates to the stadium, which will host the final match of the European football championship on July 4.

"I am a Sporting fan and I am here! Show this!," one man yelled before a bank of television crews gathered at the stadium.

At one point on Monday the line of people waiting to enter the stadium extended for over 300 metres (1,000 feet).

Once inside, mourners signed one of 10 condolence books set up by Benfica before filing slowly past the coffin, which is draped in Benfica's red and yellow flag.

One young man in his early 20s, wearing a Benfica scarf, stopped by the coffin and made the sign of the cross before being quietly ushered on by security guards.

He was followed by a group of six friends, each one of them wearing a different team scarf, who held hands as they stopped briefly before the coffin.

Among the other people waiting nearby to get into the stadium were a pregnant woman, a man on crutches who came alone and two cleaning ladies who were on their lunch hour.

"May God protect you," said one card left on the ground outside the stadium.

A number of people have become overwhelmed with emotion at the sight of the coffin and have fainted, Portuguese media reported.

For many older fans the events of the last few days have brought back memories of the death in 1973 of another top football player on a Portuguese pitch.

That year, in the 13th minute of the 13th game of the season, Porto's Fernando Pascoal das Neves collapsed and died during a league match.

"This is a monstrosity, it is much worse than when Pacoal das Neves died because everyone saw it on television this time," 68-year-old Carlos Costa told AFP, before breaking into tears, as he waited outside of the stadium to leave flowers by Feher's coffin.

Portuguese television has repeatedly shown footage of Feher, who has lived in Portugal since he was 18, smiling at the referee who carded him, before suddenly leaning over with his hands on his thighs and then slumping backwards on the muddy pitch.