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Brazil's Chapecoense Soccer club, which lost most of their team in a plane crash in November, presented the 20 new players it has signed and confirmed spaces in the squad for two of the players who survived the crash.
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The team will make their return later this month for a friendly match against Brazil's defending league champions Palmeiras.
The match will be held on Jan. 21 in Chapecoense's stadium in Chapeco, a city of 200,000 about 800 miles south of Rio de Janeiro, the same place where a mass funeral took place to honor the victims. Chapecoense coach Vagner Mancini said it was hard to replace the 19 players who died on a Colombian hillside on Nov. 28.
“Chape,” as the team is known, will play their first official match on Jan. 26 against local rival Joinville.
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A total of 71 people, including 19 players of the Brazilian first division team, were killed when a plane crashed shortly before it was scheduled to land in Medellin, Colombia.
Only six people survived the crash, among them three players of the Brazilian club. The tragedy shocked the soccer world and left Brazil in mourning.
Authorities determined that the flight was overloaded and under-fueled at the time of the crash. Bolivia has arrested the CEO of LaMia, the airline involved in the crash.
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