The LAMIA charter plane went down near Medellin late Monday with 81 people aboard and so far only six are reported to have survived. At least two were said by officials to be football players.

For the Chapecoense Real 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.

“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 minnow to contender 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, according to Globoesporte website. Chapecoense 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.

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.

A source close to Platini, currently serving a four-year ban, said last week he would attend the meeting of European football’s governing body, when the UEFA executive committee will vote on his successor.

“The FIFA Ethics Committee has informed UEFA that Michel Platini will be allowed to address the 12th Extraordinary UEFA Congress in Athens on 14 September,” UEFA said in a statement.

“A request for Mr. Platini’s attendance had been recently made by UEFA and we welcome this decision.”

The decision did not sit well with Reinhard Grindel, president of the German football federation.

“The UEFA Congress should showcase the programme of its new president and not the mistakes of his predecessor,” Grindel told German news agency DPA. “I would have preferred Michel Platini not to have put in an appearance. This Congress must focus on the future, not the past.”

The former French international, a three-time European footballer of the year, is a key figure in the scandal that brought down FIFA president Sepp Blatter.

Platini was on the receiving end of a suspect two-million-Swiss-franc ($2 million, 1.8 million euros) payment that Blatter authorised in 2011. FIFA has said the payment amounted to an ethics violation and has suspended both men for six years.

Blatter and Platini insist it was a legitimate payment for an unpaid balance that FIFA owed the then-UEFA boss for consulting work done a decade earlier.

Platini lost his CAS appeal against his FIFA ban earlier this year, but the court cut his suspension to four years

Chaplow, who joined US third-tier side Orange County in July, was also fined.

The incident occurred during Saturday’s game against LA Galaxy II, when ex-Leeds midfielder Robbie Rogers says he was subject to a repeated “gay slur”.

Chaplow, 31, denies using homophobic language and said “to suggest I’m homophobic is ridiculous”.

“The United Soccer League (USL) has zero tolerance for this type of behaviour,” Jake Edwards, the league’s president, said in a statement. “We cannot, nor will we, condone any language that is counter to the values we have instilled throughout the USL.”

Chaplow, who has played for clubs including West Brom and Southampton, was suspended for “offensive and abusive language”.

“I swore several times at Rogers for overreacting to a foul, but at no time was the language homophobic and no evidence has been found of this,” he told the Telegraph.

“I have a close family member that is openly part of the LGBT community so to suggest I’m homophobic is ridiculous and there is no evidence to support this.”

Rogers, 29, who was making his return from an Achilles tendon injury in the fixture, said he had not heard another “gay slur” in four years since returning to the MLS.

“I spent the drive home wishing I had channelled my inner Zidane and punched or head-butted this player,” he wrote on Facebook. “Even though I knew punching this person wouldn’t have helped either of us, my team, or the greater cause of advancing equality in sports.”

The executive committee meeting of the South Asian Football Federation will be held on January 2 at Thrivandram and Sri Lanka will hand over a letter to the officials of SAFF.

Football Federation of Sri Lanka Anura de Silva and its immediate past president and Financial Committee Chairman Ranjith Rodrigo will attend the meeting on behalf of Sri Lanka. Meanwhile defending champions Afghanistan beat Bangladesh by four goals to nil while Maldives outplayed Bhutan 3-1 in the games played on Thursday.

Afghanistan dominated the game from the beginning and led 3-0 at halftime. It is significant that Afghanistan has scored the highest number of goals in this tournament.

Maldives scored two goals in their match against Bhutan and Ali Afshaq, who is due to quit football after this championship scored the third goal in the 70th minute.

“On a personal level, I am happy for another record,” said Ronaldo.
Madrid have now won five consecutive games since being thrashed at home 4-0 by Barcelona last month.
“We are used to (the critics), but we are improving bit-by-bit, the team is better and more confident,” added Ronaldo.
“Five victories in a row, we are on a good run and need to continue like this.”
The scoreline also equalled Liverpool’s 8-0 thrashing of Besiktas in November 2007 with current Madrid boss Rafael Benitez then in charge of the English side.
And Benitez said that fact dispelled suggestions he is a defensive minded coach.
“I have said it many times, but people forget these things and today is a further demonstration that this is a team that attacks,” he told beIN Sports.

With top spot in Group A already assured, Benitez took the chance to rest some of his stars including Gareth Bale, but Madrid were still in a different league to a Malmo side that ended their domestic season over five weeks ago.
Benzema will learn on Thursday if he is to be suspended from the French national team due to his alleged involvement in a blackmail scandal involving a sex tape of international teammate Mathieu Valbuena.
However, he remains in fine form for Madrid as he scored his first hat-trick since another 8-0 Real win over Levante in December 2010 to take his tally to five in his last two games.

The Supreme Court on Thursday upgraded the 29-year-old athlete’s sentence to murder from “culpable homicide”, South Africa’s equivalent of manslaughter, for which he had received a five-year sentence. A murder conviction normally carries a minimum 15-year jail sentence.

ENCA television had earlier reported that a warrant of arrest had been issued for the paralympic champion.

Pistorius had been meant to serve the rest of his sentence under house arrest on his uncle’s property in a wealthy suburb of the capital Pretoria.

A new sentence will be handed down at a later date, Mfaku said.

The tournament will see seven best teams of the country taking part, while an eighth team, made of the cream of talented players from the rest of the teams, will make this one of the most competitive events in the country’s football calendar.

The tournament is organized by the Colombo Municipal Council with necessary backing from the Football Federation of Sri Lanka.

“We expect that there will be a festive atmosphere at the Sugathadasa Stadium and a full house for all the matches. We are spending nearly four million rupees to make this a grand success and the winners and runners up will bag a lump sum of money while all the other teams will be presented with a cash awards,” said Colombo Mayor A.J.M. Muzammil at a press briefing held at the Mayor’s official residence yesterday.

“The winning team members will be awarded a silver medal each while the most valuable player of the tournament will be presented a special trophy,” he said.

“Most of the games will be played under floodlights. We know that football players are millionaires in other parts of the world but here it is a different story. We need to take this sport to the next level.

“These kinds of tournaments will surely lift the standard of the game while popularizing the sport among the Sri Lankans and we can say that a new era is on the way for football,” added the Mayor.

Football Federation of Sri Lanka president Anura de Silva said that they need a steady plan to take Sri Lankan football to higher standards. “We know that we are currently very poor at international level, but we are working on a plan which will take the country’s football to be more competitive at the international level within the next five to ten years,” he said.

The teams:

Mayor’s team, Java Lane SC, Saunders SC, Blue Star SC, Colombo Football Club, Super Sun SC, Renown SC and Crystal Palace SC.

“His progress has been satisfactory — it’s perfect. He has lost around 6 kilos,” Dr. Chaux told Efe on Monday.

The Colombian doctor, who has looked after the Argentine legend for 11 years, repeated that Maradona “is doing well, he’s in very good condition and will soon be leaving Maracaibo”, where he is observing a period of repose at the Hotel Intercontinental to recover from his operation.

“He should be leaving Maracaibo the day after tomorrow, since he is now able to travel,” said Chaux, who couldn’t say whether the soccer idol plans to spend a few days in Caracas. The 55-year-old was released from Maracaibo’s Falcon Clinic two days after surgery and, constantly accompanied by a nutritionist, has had a daily diet based on proteins.

IANS

Dialog Telecom are the main sponsor of this tournament and they are powering the tournament for the 10th consecutive year.

Sri Lanka Air Force and Colombo Football Club will clash in the curtain-raiser of the Super-8 Round at the Sugathadasa Stadium today.

The match will be followed by the Renown vs Java Lane clash at the same venue.

In this tournament, 22 teams participated under A and B categories while 55 matches were played under A category and 45 matches played under B category.

Sri Lanka Army, Sri Lanka Air Force, Crystal Palace and Renown Sports Club have qualified for Super-8 Round from the A category.

Under B category Colombo Football Club, Blue Star Soccer Club, Java Lane Soccer Club and Sri Lanka Navy have qualified for Super 8 Round.

Sri Lanka Army and Colombo Football Club are heading the points table under A and B categories respectively and they earn three bonus points each.

THIS WEEK-END’S GAMES AT SUGATHADASA STADIUM

Today:

Air Force vs Colombo FC at 3.00 pm
Renown vs Java Lane at 5.00 pm

Tomorrow:

Crystal Palace FC vs Navy at 3.00pm
Army vs Blue Stars at 5.00pm

The High Commissioner for Sri Lanka in Dhaka, Attache and staff of Mission as well as the President of the Sri Lanka Association in Bangladesh and members of the 5000 strong Sri Lankan community in Bangladesh were proud to witness the U-19 team’s 2-0 victory against Bhutan, a top team in the SAARC region. Mohamed Afam Akram scored both the goals. The team was led by Danushka Madushanka from Hewavitharana Maha Vidyalaya Kotte, Man of the Tournament in the Sri Lanka Football Association Cup Finals. The Chef-de-Mission was Brig. H.D.W. Kariyawasam; Head of delegation was Nahoorthamby Nasumutheen and Sumith Walpola was Head Coach of the team.

The bilateral relationship between Sri Lanka and Bangladesh is warm and multifaceted. Youth exchange between the two countries and sports cooperation are important areas in which understanding and interaction between the peoples of the two countries can be promoted