After fatal plane crash, Atletico Nacional asks that trophy be awarded to Chapecoense

Chapecoense and Atletico Nacional were set to play in the first leg of the Copa Sudamericana on Wednesday.

Colombian soccer team Atletico Nacional has asked that Chapecoense be awarded the Copa Sudamericana after the Brazilian club’s plane crashed on the eve of the first leg of the final. 

Atletico Nacional has asked CONMEBOL to award the championship to its opponents, according to soccer reporter Tancredi Palmeri. 

The teams were set to play the first leg of a two-match final in Medellin on Wednesday. Chapecoense’s charter plane, carrying 77 people, crashed outside Medellin late Monday night. Six people survived the impact—three players, two crew members and a journalist traveling with the team—but one of the players died at a hospital. 

• Soccer players, teams pay tribute to victims of Chapecoense plane crash

The Copa Sudamericana is South America’s second most prestigious cup competition, after the Copa Libertadores, and Wednesday’s final was to be one of Chapecoense’s most anticipated games ever. The club played in Brazil’s fourth tier in 2009 but rose to Serie A in 2014, its first year in the top division since 1979.