Chapecoense will sign around 20 players for the new season and are going to reserve shirt numbers for three of the survivors in tribute, their director of football Rui Costa said on Tuesday. The Brazilian club had almost all of its first team wiped out in the crash in Colombia on November 28, 2016. In total, 71 people were killed in the crash.
Three players did survive, centre-back Neto, full-back Alan Ruschel and reserve goalkeeper Jackson Fullman.
Costa said: “No player this season will use the shirts that were worn by Jackson Follmann, Neto or Alan Ruschel. More than a tribute, we expect Alan and Neto to come back and wear them. Follmann sadly won’t be able to but he will certainly be back here with us in some capacity. The only ones that can wear those jerseys are them.”
Unfortunately, Fullman had part of his leg amputated so his football career is over.
However, his shirt will be reserved in tribute to him and Netto and Ruschel will both have their jerseys available if they want to come back and play for the team. The football world was in shock when Chapecoense fell victim to the awful tragedy on the way to the Copa Sudamericana final against Atletico Nacional.
Help from other clubs
Legendary players have offered to play for the club, including Ronaldinho and Eidur Gudjohnsen. They start their season on January 26th with a home game against Joinville. He continued: “We are resorting to a lot of loans. That is a tool for bringing together quality, speed and budget. Many clubs are being partners in this. We looked at 90 players, we whittled that down to 50 and finally had a list of 38 players that got down to the number of players we have today. We have a group ready to start pre-season training. We’ll probably have between 25 and 27 players.”
