Brazilian Soccer Thrown into Grief

Chapecoense Football Club of Brazil is mourning the death of its players after a LaMia Airline Flight 2933, carrying its 22-man team delegation Bolivia crashed in a mountainous region near Medelin, Colombia on Monday night, killing 76 of 81 passengers on-board. 

The top-division club was due to face Atletico Nacional of Bolivia in the final of the Copa Sudamericana on Wednesday in the first leg of a two-legged final.

Heavy rain and low visibility hampered rescue efforts by the Colombian Air Force, causing the operation to be delayed into the early hours of Tuesday morning.

“May God accompany our athletes, officials, journalists and other guests travelling with our delegation,” the club wrote on its Facebook page. 

Chapecoense players, who were not on the ill-fated flight, were visibly shattered in their dressing room.

The three survivors are Alan Ruschel, Marcos Danilo and Jackson Follmann, according to reports by Colombian authorities in the rescue operations.

Nivaldo, a former Brazilian national team goalkeeper who did not travel with the team, told UOL Esporte, a Brazilian media organization that a phone call from one of his friends who called to ask if he was on the flight, revealed the shattering news.

Nivaldo said that he tried calling his teammates who were on the plane but the calls went un-answered.

“Thank God Alan is in the hospital, stable. We are praying for all of those who were not yet rescued and offer our support to all their relatives. This is a complicated, difficult situation.  Only God himself can give us strength. Thank you God,” Amanda Ruschel, wife to Alan wrote on Instagram. 

The club, founded in the city of Chapeco in 1973 had taken Brazilian football by storm since 2009 when it rose from Serie D to the elite Serie A in 2014, before going on to historically qualify for this year’s final of the Copa Sudamericana, America’s equivalent of UEFA Europa League.

World football governing body, FIFA led the global community in condoling with the Brazilian club.

“At this difficult time, our thoughts are with the victims, their families and friends,” Giovanni Infantino, FIFA president tweeted.

South American football governing body, CONMEBOL has suspended all football matches in the continent following the crash.

Atletico Nacional, in a rare show of sportsmanship has requested CONMEBOL to award the Copa Sudamericana title to their bereaved Brazilian opponents in honor of the team’s members who died.