Chapecoense opponents win FIFA fair play award
ZURICH (AFP) - Atletico Nacional collected the Fair Play prize
at Monday s FIFA awards ceremony after the Colombian side requested
Chapecoense receive the Copa Sudamericana title following a plane crash that
decimated the Brazilian club.
Chapecoense were flying to Medellin ahead of the first leg of the
final when
their plane crashed in the Colombian mountains on November 28, killing all but
six of the 77 people on board.
Nineteen
players and 24 other club members perished as the accident tragically cut short
their dream of playing in Chapecoense s first major final.
Atletico subsequently
asked for their grieving opponents to be awarded the title, with South American
football s governing body granting the request a week later.
Fans of both sides paid tribute to the victims as thousands,
dressed in white and holding candles, piled into Atletico s stadium for the
originally planned kick-off to grieve together and mourn those lost.
"It s still a difficult time, it was a big final and
the tragedy struck our opponents, it s an indescribable moment, very hard
to manage," said Atletico president Juan Carlos de la Cuesta
upon receiving the award from former Barcelona and Spain defender Carles Puyol
in Zurich.
"We ve tried to manage this situation in the most
dignified way possible."
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