As tragedies go, this one was incomprehensible. Imagine a little known team from a little known town rising from the ranks in a short span of time to challenge the best. And then, just when their fans were getting ready for a massive celebration in anticipation of a continental championship, the dream cruelly turns into a nightmare.
It’s likely that not many football fans outside of South America would have heard of Brazilian club team Chapecoense before news broke early morning on Tuesday that the plane carrying its players, officials and journalists had crashed just kilometres from the Colombian city of Medellin, where it was scheduled to play Atletico Nacional yesterday. Seventy-one people, including players, journalists and football officials were confirmed dead in the crash.
The small Brazilian club was enjoying a meteoric rise. It went from playing in the Brazilian Serie D in 2009 to the first division in 2014 where it has remained since. The team kept improving and this year it was within two games of winning the most important trophy in its history. But now, instead of celebrating victory, desperate fans gathered at the club’s stadium waiting for news from Colombia.
After the worst was confirmed, three days of mourning was declared in Brazil. Chapecoense was founded in 1973 to represent Chapeco - a key industrial city with a population of approximately 200,000 in the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina. Some of the team’s players were known on the world stage, such as captain and former Atletico Madrid and Mallorca player Cleber Santana.
Thiego and Ananias were also well known after arriving from larger Brazilian clubs where they were deemed surplus to requirements. The lesser known players like goalkeeper Danilo, Kempes and Gil had all bounced between clubs around Brazil before settling at Chapeco. Twenty-year-old midfielder Thiaguinho, who recently won a spot in the starting lineup, learned he was going to be a father a week before the accident. Argentine player Hernan Martinuccio was the only foreigner in the squad. He was not a regular starter and avoided the tragedy after an injury left him off the team sheet.
Chapecoense’s path to the Copa Sudamericana final started with a victory over Brazilian minnows Cuiaba. After that, bigger clubs like Argentina’s Independiente and Junior de Barranquilla of Colombia fell, before Argentine club San Lorenzo were beaten in the semi-final. The last obstacle on the path to eternal glory for “Chape” was Copa Libertadores champion Atletico Nacional.
The first leg was scheduled to be played yesterday in Medellin with the return set for December 7 in Curitibia, because Chapecoense’s stadium could not accommodate the expected final crowd. In a statement, Atletico Nacional asked the South American football federation Conmebol to award the Brazilian team the continental trophy.
“From our point of view, and forever, Chapecoense will be champion of the 2016 Copa Sudamericana,” the Colombian club said. First division champions Palmeiras and fellow Brazilian top flight clubs Corinthians and Santos have all promised to loan players to Chapecoense for free so it can continue playing in championships.
They have also asked the Brazilian football federation for special measures that would give the club a pass on relegation over the next three seasons. With an entire city backing it, Chapecoense was about to become the first club from Santa Catarina to play in an international final. Instead, their supporters are now mourning their fallen heroes.
