Football
ESPN staff 7y

Brazil and Colombia to play friendly to benefit Chapecoense victims

Brazil will play Colombia in a friendly at the end of January to help victims of the air crash that killed most of the players, staff and directors of Brazilian club Chapecoense last week.

Spokesman Douglas Lunardi also said on Monday that the Brazilian football confederation (CBF) will donate about $1.5 million to Chapecoense.

On Tuesday, the CBF set a tentative date of Jan. 22, one week before the start of the 2017 season and a spokesperson for the federation said that both FIFA and CONMEBOL were on board with the date as well.

Nineteen of Chapecoense's players were killed in the crash just outside Medellin, Colombia, as the Brazilian side headed to the first of two matches against Colombian club Atletico Nacional to determine the champion of the Copa Sudamericana -- South America's No. 2 club tournament.

Earlier, the South America governing body for football, CONMEBOL, officially gave the title of the 2016 edition to Chapecoense, as Atletico Nacional requested.

Lunardi said the venue will be decided by Chapecoense directors and that all the ticket office revenues will go to the families of the victims. The most obvious choices, he said, are the historic Maracana stadium in Rio de Janeiro and Chapecoense's Arena Conda.

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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