Brazilian club Chapecoense won their first title since a plane carrying the team met with a crash in November, ESPN reported.
Seventy-one of 77 people on board died in the crash. Nineteen players of Chapecoense and staff perished in the tragedy. Only three members of the team survived. Since then, several clubs from Brazil and Argentina had helped the outfit by offering to loan players to them. Chapecoense signed 25 new players and included nine from the youth team into the senior team.
Despite the tragedy and the changes, the team rallied to clinch the Santa Catarina state championship on Sunday against Avai.
Chapecoense lost 1-0 in Sunday’s final play-off, but their 1-0 victory in the first leg saw them win on a better head to head record against their opponents.
The club dedicated the win to those lost in the crash.
“We knew that Chape would have a lot of difficulties because of the rebuilding of the team, but because of the work we reached the title, beating opponents who are rivals and difficult to beat,” new coach Vagner Mancini said.
A plan carrying the team had crashed on November 29, as they were travelling to Colombia to face Atletico Nacional in the final of the Copa Sudamericana.
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