Chapecoense will face Barcelona this summer, months on from the devastating plane crash which saw many of the club’s players and staff lose their lives.
The Brazilian side had been travelling to the Colombian city of Medellin to contest the first leg of their Copa Sudamericana final against Atletico Nacional when their aircraft crashed into a hillside on November 28. 71 of the 77 people on board were killed, with only three of the club’s players surviving.
As a tribute to those that died, Barcelona will now host Chape on August 7 in the Joan Gamper Trophy match – an annual invitational game in which the Spanish club traditionally unveil their team prior to the new season.
‘Barca hopes to help Chapecoense rebuild institutionally and recover the competitive level it had before the tragedy,’ reads a short statement on Barcelona’s website.
Since the accident, Chape have signed 25 new players along with promoting nine youngsters from their youth ranks. Neto and Alan Ruschel, two of the players to have survived the crash, were named in the squad ahead of their first Copa Libertadores match against Venezuela’s Zulia last March. They won the match 2-1.
Neto and Ruschel also revisited the site of the accident at the start of May, along with goalkeeper Jackson Follman, who lost part of his leg as a result of the crash.
