Football Community Unites Behind Chapecoense

The football community has rallied around Chapecoense following the tragic events of Monday night.
A plane carrying the Brazilian club to Colombia for their Copa Sudamericana final first leg against Atletico Nacional crashed en route.

The Serie A side were scheduled to play at Medellin’s Estadio Atanasio Girardot on Wednesday but the plane, carrying 72 passengers and nine crew, crashed on its way to Medellin from Santa Cruz de la Sierra, Bolivia, leaving only five surivvors.

Authorities reported that the plane declared an emergency at 22.00 local time (03.00GMT) with an electrical failure.

The plane is understood to have come down in Cerro Gordo in the municipality of La Union.
Figures across the football world have since taken to social media to show their support for Chapecoense.

In a related development, Colombian club Atletico Nacional called on football authorities yesterday to hand the Copa Sudamericana title to their opponents, Brazilian side Chapecoense, as a tribute to the team’s players killed in a plane crash.

The Colombian side made the request to regional football confederation Conmebol in a statement.
It asked of Conmebol “that the Copa Sudamericana title be handed to Chapecoense Football Association as an honorary trophy for its great loss, and as a posthumous homage to the victims of the fatal accident that has put our sport in mourning.”

Chapecoense and Atletico Nacional were supposed to have faced off today in the first leg of the final of the Copa Sudamericana, the second most prestigious club football tournament in South America after the Copa Libertadores.

Conmebol said in a statement earlier that the match was suspended until further notice.
“We are in contact with the authorities and are waiting for official reports.”
A source close to Conmebol told AFP it was “very unlikely” that the final would ever be played.
Nine members of the Brazilian team did not travel to Colombia.

Chapecoense Real had risen from obscurity to reach the Copa Sudamericana finals.
The LAMIA airlines charter declared an emergency at around 10:00 pm (0300 GMT Tuesday), reporting it had suffered “electrical failures,” and crashed a short time later near the city of Medellin, officials said.
Authorities said just six of the 81 people on board were thought to have survived

Brazil Football Giants Offer to Loan Players

Three of Brazil’s leading clubs have said they will offer players to Chapecoense, after the majority of their squad died in a plane crash.

Chapecoense players and officials died when their plane crashed on its approach to Medellin, Colombia.

They were travelling to play in the Copa Sudamericana final first leg, and opponents Atletico Nacional have asked for Chapecoense to be awarded the cup.

Flamengo, Palmeiras and Sao Paulo are the clubs to have offered help.
Sao Paulo, who have won six national titles, also said Chapecoense should be exempt from relegation to Brazilian football’s second tier for the next three seasons as they attempt to rebuild the club.

Colombia’s civil aviation body says only six of the 81 people aboard the plane survived the crash, which was blamed on an electrical fault.

At least two of the survivors are footballers. They were confirmed to be defender Alan Ruschel and reserve goalkeeper Jackson Follman.
A statement by Fox Sports Latin America said that six employees from its Brazil operation died in the crash.

In the aftermath of the 1958 Munich air disaster, both Liverpool and Nottingham Forest offered to loan players to Manchester United, and players from non-league Bishop Auckland featured for the Red Devils.