Chapecoense will be awarded Copa Sudamericana title – interim president

Interim Chapecoense president Ivan Tozzo confirmed on Saturday that CONMEBOL will name the club as 2016 Copa Sudamericana champions.

The title will be posthumously bestowed upon the Brazilian side after a plane carrying the team crashed en route to the Copa final last Monday, taking the lives of 71 people on board — including 19 players.

Speaking after a memorial in Chapeco on Saturday, Tozzo said that the title — complete with the winners’ prize money — will be awarded by the South American football confederation to the club.

“CONMEBOL have testified that they will crown Chapecoense as champions of the Copa Sudamericana,” Tozzo told Globo.

“We are receiving support from all federations. The CBF, CONMEBOL, FIFA, and especially the people of Chapeco.

“Right now we are beginning to rebuild the team. People want football, people love football in Chapeco.

“Therefore, we must continue this. Let’s talk and do well, let the dust settle and rebuild the team for next year.”

Atletico Nacional, who would have been Chapecoense’s opponents in the the two-legged final, campaigned for the title to be given to the Brazilian club earlier this week.

“Atletico Nacional have invited CONMEBOL to deliver the Copa Sudamericana title to the Chapecoense Football Association as an honour for their great loss and in posthumous homage to the victims of the tragic accident that has our sport in mourning,” a statement said.

“For us, and forever, Chapecoense shall be the Copa Sudamericana champions for 2016.”