The Brazillian club that left the world mourning recently following a plane crash which killed their players, Chapecoense, have been given the Copa Sudamericana trophy.
Chapecoense's plane crashed on the to the Copa Sudamericana final in Medellin, Colombia in late November. Seventy-one people died in the crash, 19 of them players of the Brazillian team, who had risen from second-tier domestic football to a continental final within a short period.
CONMEBOL, the South American governing body, handed over the trophy to Chapeconse on Wednesday evening at the draw for the 2017 Copa Libertadores tournament.
Atletico Nacional, the Colombian club Chapecoense were billed to face in the two-legged Copa Sudamericana final agreed that the trophy should be given to the tragedy-stricken team.
New Chapecoense president PlÃnio David de Nes Filho, whose predecessor Sandro Pallaoro was killed in the crash, accepted the trophy on behalf of the club.
"I would like to thank everyone, all the nations. But let me, in a very special way, a very tender and grateful way, on behalf of our club, Chape, to share the trophy we just received with the one who gave us this possibility, with their gesture of humanity and respect. Of dignity and demonstration of kindness," De Nes Filho said.
Chapecoense were included in the Copa Libertadores draw and will face Uruguay's Nacional, Lanus of Argentina and Venezuela's Zulia as part of Group 7 in the South American equivalent of the UEFA Champions League.
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