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Chapecoense awarded Copa Sudamericana title

Xinhua, December 6, 2016 Adjust font size:

The Brazilian football team wiped out by a plane crash in Colombia last week have been awarded the Copa Sudamerica title, South American football's governing body CONMEBOL said on Monday.

Meanwhile Atletico Nacional de Medellin, who had been due to play Chapecoense in the tournament's final, were bestowed with a one-off fair play award.

The announcement came a week after 71 people died when a chartered flight carrying the Chapeceoense football side crashed just before its planned destination near Medellin.

The victims included 19 Chapecoense players and all of the club's coaching staff. There were six survivors.

"The (CONMEBOL) board has decided to name the Chapecoense Football Club as champions of the 2016 Copa Sudamerica with all the sporting and financial benefits that it entails," the Paraguay-based body said in a statement.

In addition to the trophy, the Brazilian club received two million US dollars in prize money.

Atletico Nacional wrote to CONMEBOL last week requesting that their rivals be awarded the region's second most important continental club title.

On Wednesday, at the same time the first leg of the two-match final had been scheduled, Atletico Nacional staged a moving tribute to Chapecoense with a candlelight vigil at their Anastasio Girardot stadium.

Fans dressed in white packed the 45,000-seat stadium with thousands more congregating in the surrounding streets after being unable to enter the venue.

The fair play accolade included a cheque for one million US dollars, CONMEBOL said.

"For CONMEBOL there is no greater example of the spirit of peace, understanding and fair play ... than the solidarity, consideration and respect shown by Atletico Nacional towards their brothers of Chapecoense," the statement said. Endit