SAO PAULO: Traveling on the doomed airliner that crashed in Colombia overnight were the players and staff of Brazilian side Chapecoense, a small football club with a short history about to complete a fairytale journey from unknowns to would-be South American champions.

Members of the Chapecoense team were among the 81 people on board the LAMIA charter plane that crashed on its way to Medellin’s international airport late on Monday.

So far only six are reported to have survived. At least two were said by officials to be football players.

“This is a very, very sad day for football,” FIFA President Gianni Infantino said in a statement. “At this difficult time our thoughts are with the victims, their families and friends. FIFA would like to extend its most heartfelt condolences to the fans of Chapecoense, the football community and media organisations concerned in Brazil.”

For the Chapecoense team the disaster means the cruel end of a story that had been meant to climax with an unexpected chance for glory on Wednesday against Colombia’s Atletico Nacional in the first leg of the Copa Sudamericana final, South America’s second biggest club competition after the Copa Libertadores.

“The pain is terrible. Just as we had made it, I will not say to the top, but to have national prominence, a tragedy like this happens. It is very difficult, a very great tragedy,” club vice-president Ivan Tozzo told SporTV.

Only a few years ago Chapecoense was just another a gritty outfit in the Brazilian lower leagues, where players, unable to afford cars, took the bus to training. The stadium in Chapeco, a city of 200,000 people in the southern Santa Catarina state, didn’t have a gym.

The steep climb from minnows to contenders started in 2009 when Chapecoense entered the fourth division.

Back then, the team’s top goalscorer Bruno Rangel told Brazilian newspaper Lance, even the club’s bus was “was very old”.

“But a lot has changed in the club since I arrived,” he said. “There are still prejudices against the club but more because we’re from the [country’s] interior. That’s diminishing, it’s true. Every day we’re more respected.”

By 2014 the club had fought its way into the lower half of the elite table, but the side wanted more.

Even at this point Chapecoense was almost ignored by its own public, with only about 7,000 people turning up to home games at the 22,000-seat Arena Conda, according to Globoesporte website.

But they had been scheduled to play the second leg of the Copa Sudamericana final at the Couto Pereira Stadium, a 40,000-seat venue in Curitiba, a city 480 kilometres north of Chapeco.

SHOT FOR STARDOM

Chapecoense, who do not have any players in Brazil’s national team or in the under-20 team, entered the running for the Copa Sudamericana for the first time in 2015 and didn’t disappoint.

In the club’s first ever international tournament, the one-time unknowns didn’t go all the way, but they performed bravely, even defeating Argentina’s famed River Plate club.

This year, things seemed to be going wrong. The coach credited with Chapecoense’s miraculous rise, Guto Ferreira, walked out and his replacement Caio Junior lost his first game against the lowly Cuiaba.

But the little team that could roared back, taking down Argentina’s Independiente and Junior de Barranquilla. They were going to the final to meet the reigning Copa Libertadores champions Atletico Nacional and no one would write them off anymore.

On the way to Colombia, the team stopped off in Sao Paulo to play the penultimate game of Brazil’s domestic league. Here they lost against Palmeiras, the team which ended the season as Brazilian champion. But there was a sense that the players had their minds on the bigger challenge awaiting them against Atletico.

“I see this is a group of winners. It’s as if God has put us precisely here today to taste this and to appreciate even more the challenge on Wednesday,” the coach said after the Sao Paulo game.

Now their dreams have met a devastating end and on Wednesday at what would have been an intriguing first leg of the Copa Sudamericana final there’ll be only silence.

CONDOLENCES POUR IN

Football players and fans from around the globe sent tributes and support to Chapecoense.

One of the first messages came from their rivals in Wednesday’s now postponed final.

“Nacional deeply laments and stands in solidarity with @ChapecoenseReal in the accident and we await information from authorities,” Atletico Nacional tweeted soon after the disaster was reported.

Rivals of both clubs tweeted their support, with Flamengo and Santos in Brazil, and Club Junior and Millionarios in Colombia among those sending their condolences, many of them accompanied by the hashtag #ForcaChape, or Strength Chapecoense.

The crash struck a chord with clubs elsewhere, with Arsenal saying: “Thinking of you, @ChapecoenseReal” and Barcelona tweeting: “All our support and solidarity is with the victims and the families affected by the @ChapecoenseReal tragedy in Colombia.”

England captain Wayne Rooney tweeted: “Sad news to wake up to today. Thoughts are with @ChapecoenseReal and their family and friends”.

Real Madrid players observed a minute’s silence before training on Tuesday morning and players from around the world shared their condolences.

Brazilian striker Neymar simply tweeted the club badge and Porto goalkeeper Iker Casillas said “Good luck and stay strong!”

Back in Chapeco, the stadium was opened up to greet grieving families and fans.

“We’re all here at the stadium to help the people connected,” said Tozzo. “It hasn’t really sunk in yet. We have to trust in God. Out team must carry on,” he said.

Published in Dawn, November 30th, 2016