Football's Air Disasters
Chapecoense tragedy brings back memories of other teams torn apart
The crash of Lamia Flight 2933 on Monday just outside Medellin that took the lives of 71 people including many of the staff and players of Brazilian club Chapecoense. That they were on their way to play Colombian side Atletico Nacional for the Copa Sudamerica, the club’s first-ever continental final, makes the story even more tragic with the fairy tale of the club’s recent rise ending in disaster.
The football world has shown its better side, expressing sympathy and support for all those affected. Many have gone further. The other clubs of the Brazilian top flight have campaigned for Chapecoense to be immune from relegation for the next three seasons and offered players while Atletico Nacional have suggested that Chapecoense are awarded the Copa Sudamericana.
It is not the first time that football has felt the pain of loss and brings back memories of other teams who were ravaged following an air crash. Here’s a timeline of the disasters that have brought the football world together in the past.
Torino – May 4, 1949
The first major airline disaster that hit football was perhaps also the most far-reaching. The team, top of Serie A with four games to play, had been in Lisbon to play a friendly against Benfica for the Portugal captain Francisco Ferreira and were returning to Turin via refueling in Barcelona. When the Fiat G.212 plane crashed into the wall of the Basilica of Superga, a church located on the Turin hill of the same name, amid poor visibility it killed 18 Torino players and 13 other people including five club officials and three journalists. The bodies of the players were identified by former Italy manager Vittorio Pozzo as he had capped most of them for national side. The crash ripped the heart out of the Azzuri as well as the Grande Torino side that had dominated post-war Italian football winning the league five years in a row and with a squad built to last – the oldest player who died in the crash was 31. Torino won the league that season with their youth team playing the final four games and their opponents playing their own youth teams in solidarity, but it would be 27 years until their next scudetto while Italy’s national team struggled until the 1970s.
Manchester United – February 6, 1958
The Munich Air Disaster as it quickly became known is probably the most famous of football’s devastating plane crashes and a major factor in the popularity of the side around the world. Matt Busby’s Manchester United had been in Belgrade playing Red Star in the newly contested European Cup and had stopped in Germany to refuel. Upon leaving Munich the plane crashed during its third takeoff attempt which led to the deaths of 23 people, including eight of the side known as the “Busby Babes,” three of the club’s staff and eight journalists. Busby himself was critically injured and the side’s star player Duncan Edwards died 15 days after the crash. It shook the nation and the world making the club a household name as they battled back to create a new team that went on to win the European Cup 10 years later, with survivors Bobby Charlton and Bill Foulkes key figures in the victory over Benfica at Wembley. The crash and Busby’s subsequent rebuilding remain a key part of the mythology of the club that have gone on to become the most successful in England and one of the most recognized in world football.
Club de Deportes Green Cross – April 3, 1961
A plane crash in the Andes killed 24 people, including eight players from the Chilean side and two of the team’s technical staff. Four years after the accident the club merged with Deportes Temuco with the new side known as Green Cross Temuco. The club carried on for a couple of decades before folding in 1985.
Alianza Lima – December 8, 1987
The club from the Peruvian capital were top of the table with a handful of games left to go when they traveled back to Lima following a 2-0 win away at Pucallpa. The team’s plane crashed into the Pacific Ocean just a few kilometers from its destination, killing 43 passengers and crew including 16 of the squad and their coach. The team were one victory from the title but a mixture of youth teamers and players loaned from Chilean side Colo-Colo could not close it out, instead it was won by rivals Universitario. Despite battling relegation the following season, the club stayed in the top flight but it was a decade before Alianza won the Peruvian title again.
Zambia national team – April 27, 1993
The Zambian side were looking to qualify for the 1994 World Cup in the US, which would have been the country’s first appearance at the finals, when they traveled to play Senegal in a qualifier they were expected to win. The journey was undertaken on a military aircraft and involved multiple refueling stops including one at Libreville, Gabon. Details remain unclear but the plane crashed into the sea upon taking off for Dakar, killing 30 including 18 players, four coaches and the chairman of the Zambian FA. The team failed to qualify for that World Cup but at the 1994 African Cup of Nations they came second with star player Kalusha Bwalya – who had missed the fatal flight on account of playing his club football for PSV Eindhoven and making alternative travel arrangements – taking them against the odds to the final where they were beaten by Nigeria’s golden generation. In 2012, Zambia finally lifted the Cup of Nations with Bwalya watching on as the president of the Zambian FA.