Chapecoense Football Association

A club from Chapecó, in Santa Catarina, founded in 1973. It gained national prominence by reaching the Série A in 2014 and the South American Cup final in 2016, interrupted by an air tragedy in November of that year.

History

Associação Chapecoense de Futebol was born on May 10, 1973, from the union of local clubs in the city of Chapecó, in western Santa Catarina. In its early years, it competed in state competitions and won the Catarinense Championship in 1977. After decades in lower divisions, the club experienced rapid growth between 2009 and 2013: it rose from Série D to Série A of the Campeonato Brasileiro, making its debut in the national elite in 2014. In the same period, it won the Catarinense Championship again, in 2007 and 2011. In 2016, the team achieved its best international campaign in history by reaching the South American Cup final. On November 28, 2016, the plane carrying the delegation for the first final match against Atlético Nacional crashed near Medellín, Colombia, killing most of the players and coaching staff. CONMEBOL declared Chapecoense champions of the 2016 South American Cup. The club rebuilt its squad and continued competing in Série A until 2017, with another stint in the elite in 2021, alternating between Série A and Série B in the following years.