After fatal plane crash, Atletico Nacional asks that cup trophy be awarded to Chapecoense
Colombian soccer team Atletico Nacional has asked that Chapecoense be awarded the Copa Sudamericana after the Brazilian club’s plane crashed on the eve of the final.
Atletico Nacional has asked CONMEBOL to award the championship to its opponents, according to soccer reporter Tancredi Palmeri.
The teams were set to play the first leg of a two-match final in Medellin on Wednesday. Chapecoense’s charter plane, carrying 72 passengers and nine crew members, crashed outside Medellin late Monday night. Six people survived the impact—three players, two crew members and a journalist traveling with the team—but one of the players died at a hospital.
The Copa Sudamericana is South America’s second most prestigious cup competition, after the Copa Libertadores, and Wednesday’s final was to be one of Chapecoense’s most anticipated games ever. The club played in Brazil’s fourth tier in 2009 but rose to Serie A in 2014, its first year in the top division since 1979.
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