A survivor's tears:Chapecoense plays its first match since tragic plane ...

A survivor's tears:Chapecoense plays its first match since tragic plane crash



Survivors of a plane crash that wiped out nearly a whole Brazilian football squad today watched their team's first game since the disaster.

New Chapecoense players - many on loan from other clubs - took to the field of their home stadium for a friendly against Brazilian league champions Palmeiras.





The match was the final tribute to the 19 players and 24 other club members who perished in the tragedy two months ago as the team travelled to play in the final of the Copa Sudamerica in Colombia.

Among the spectators was Chapecoense goalkeeper Jackson Follmann, who was one of only six to survive the crash which killed 77.

Palmeiras was also the last club they played against, two days before the small team's fairytale rise to the Brazil´s top league - and their first major final - ended in with the plane crash on November 29 last year.

As the small town of Chapeco in a remote part of southern Brazil continued in a state of profound shock, the club began the impossibly difficult task of rebuilding their team from scratch, while grieving the stars who had lifted the club from fourth division nobodies in just five years.

Among those watching this afternoon's match, which raised money for families of the crash victims, were the three players among the six survivors of the crash that killed the other 77 passengers.

They included defender Neto, who spent more than ten hours trapped in the plane wreckage on the freezing mountains outside Medellin before being rescued.

Although Neto - one of the club's star players - will today be in the stands, he recently took his first steps without crutches and hopes to play for the team again.



Winger Alan Ruschel is the player in best shape for a return. He expects to be back within six months, but no doctor says it will definitely happen.

Goalie Follmann will not play for Chape again. He had part of his right leg amputated and is still going through minor surgery. He is considering becoming a Paralympian and a member of Chape's staff.

For another survivor, journalist Rafael Henzel, the homecoming will be even more emotional as he will be commentating on the match, which will kick off at 4.30pm local time in the town's Arena Conda stadium.



The broadcaster, who covered every Chapecoense match or the town's Oeste Capital radio station since he began in 2012, suffered seven broken ribs in the crash and was the first to be pulled from the wreckage.

Rafael, whose left foot is still in plaster, said: 'The stairway at the Arena Conda is very steep, but I have extra motivation to be in that stadium again and see players wearing our shirt, the fans. It won´t be that stairway that will be stopping me.'

Meanwhile, on the streets of Chapeco, the town's 200,000 residents hope that today's event will mark a new start, when the stadium, which has become a silent place of mourning since the tragedy, finally returns to the sounds of boisterous shouting and chanting it was once known for.

A banner on the outside wall of the Arena Conda thanks Colombia's Atletico Nacional, their opponents in the Sudamericana, who conceded the champion's title to Chapecoense after the accident.

It reads: 'For us the people of Chapeco, you are the true champions of the world. Thanks for everything.'

Giant photos of the players who died are also draped around the stadium walls as the club tries to turn a new page, while at the same time honouring its heroes.

Another home-made banner which greets fans arriving at the stadium reads: 'Grieve for those who have gone.'



And with six hours to go before kick-off, some fans were already at the front of the stadium in excited anticipation of the game when their team will rise again from the ashes.

They include lifelong fan and local resident Caludir Vacari, 81, who had arrived at the Arena Conda early in the morning with his seven-year-old nephew.

He said: 'I've always been passionate about Chapecoense, but since the tragedy it's been a much stronger emotion, after all that happened, we have to support our team with an even greater passion.

'We used to be a team that nobody had heard about. Then we started winning games and rising through the leagues, and everybody wanted to know who we were. Then after the plane crash the whole world knows who we are.

'Today I feel total happiness because we are going to rise again. I want the team to send a message straight away, with a good result, that even this year we are going to be a strong team.'

Another fan, Diego Caetano, 31, had travelled 300 miles with his whole family to support the team.

He said: 'It's going to be a really emotional time, seeing the new players and remembering those who used to be in their positions. It will be a way of paying homage to those who died.'