Barcelona invite Chapecoense to 2017 Joan Gamper Trophy
By Laieke Abebe
Barcelona announced that they’ve invited Chapecoense to the Camp Nou to play in the 2017 Joan Gamper Trophy match.
Associação Chapecoense de Futebol, a football club from Brazil, have been hit by the most devastating and depressing moment of this football season. As they were flying to Colombia to play in the first leg of the Copa Sudamericana final, their plane crashed. It left 76 people dead and most of them were players and coaches of the team. Their story is quite remarkable to say the least. They were dubbed the Brazilian version of Leicester City (by now you know their story).
The club, from Chapeco in Santa Catarina, came to life in the 1970s. In 2007, they were playing in the country’s fourth tier of football. Chapecoense had been punching above their own weight dominating in Brazil while making it to a cup final. Now, football fans everywhere have been in mourning of the Brazilian club and the fans have really embraced the team. However, many good things have come to the club despite this tragic and unfortunate situation.
There have been many kind gestures from other players and clubs all over the world since the tragedy occurred. Teams have offered to loan players, give them money, and many other things as well. When a player scores a goal, you can see that they have “Forca Chape”, the teams slogan, represented. The biggest news was when they were awarded the Copa Sudamericana title by CONMEBOL after Atlético Miniero, the team they were going to face in the final, requested to give it to them.
Barcelona is also going to take the time to offer them an invitation. Barca are inviting Chapecoense to the Camp Nou to play in a preseason friendly (2017 Joan Gamper Trophy). It’s one of the many kind gestures from around the globe and that’s what the sport is all about. Forca Chape has been a slogan embraced by the fans of the worlds game. It shows that respect and admiration are always at the forefront of the sport. Here is the statement from Barca on the recent events and invitation:
“FC Barcelona has agreed to invite to the next edition of the Joan Gamper Trophy the Brazilian team Chapecoense, who were the victims of the tragic plane crash when on the way to play the final of the Copa Sudamericana in Colombia on 28 November. FC Barcelona wants to pay tribute to the 71 people who died in the accident and their families, and will therefore make the 2017 Joan Gamper Trophy a great tribute to the world of football through various activities around this match which will become known as the date of this celebration approaches.”
“Along with the invitation to Chapecoense to the 2017 Joan Gamper Trophy, FC Barcelona would like to collaborate on the institutional and sporting reconstruction of the Club, and help to recover the competitive level that it had. FC Barcelona has today sent a formal letter of invitation to the current Board of Directors of Chapecoense.”
Overall, this gesture and many others from all over the world are what make the sport as great as it is. Players, fans, and coaches have been really supportive of Chapecoense during this tough time and continue to support them. It’ll be great to see the Brazilian club in Camp Nou next preseason. Hopefully, their rebuild will be excellent so they’ll be at their very best. This is certainly another great gesture from a big club.