Chapecoense set to return to playing in January

Chapecoense are set to play their first official
match since the tragic plane disaster which
devastated the club late last month.
CONMEBOL announced on Tuesday that the
Brazilian side are scheduled to play Internacional
de Lages in the Campeonato Catarinense on
January 29.
Chapecoense players, backroom staff and officials
were among the 71 people to lose their lives when
a flight carrying them to the Copa Sudamericana
final first leg against Atletico Nacional went down
in Cerro Gordo, La Union in Colombia.
The Chapeco-based club have since been named
winners of that competition by South American
football's governing body as the world rallies
around the grief-stricken team.
Chapecoense have also begun the rebuilding
process, appointing Vagner Mancini as head coach
after Caio Junior was among those killed en route
to Medellin.
Awaiting Mancini is a friendly with Spanish
champions Barcelona, who have invited
Chapecoense to compete in next year's Joan
Gamper Trophy at Camp Nou.