Amputee goalkeeper Follmann to be given job by Chapecoense

Chapecoense will hand a role to goalkeeper Jackson Follmann, who had part of a leg amputated after surviving the plane crash that devastated the club last month.

Follmann was on board when a plane carrying the Brazilian club’s squad, technical commission and a number of journalists for the first leg of the Copa Sudamericana final against Atletico Nacional crashed en route to Medellin two days before the match was due to take place, killing 71 people on board.

Chapecoense have since been awarded the title by South American football’s governing body CONMEBOL, with the club’s new president Plinio David de Nes Filho raising the trophy during the draw for the 2017 Copa Sudamericana and Copa Libertadores on Wednesday.

Rui Costa, Chapecoense’s executive director of football, said Follmann will be given all the support he needs – including a position at the club – in his recovery from the accident.

“I say with great satisfaction that I am sure he will work with us,” Costa said, in quotes reported by Globo Esporte. “I do not know when, under what circumstances, but as far as it depends on me and my colleagues, he will be with us somewhere. 

“Not by some kind of concession, but by his intelligence. For what it represents to us. But the first question is that he recovers physically and emotionally.

“I would be proud and honoured to work with him again. We really want to have these people close to us. 

“It is crucial that they return to the routine of the club. For all their physical and emotional presence we give. 

“I am sure that President Plinio and Ivan [Tozzo, vice president], will be very eager to have him with us. Something that is compatible and dignified.”

Chapecoense are set to return to playing against Internacional de Lages in the Campeonato Catarinense on January 29.

That match is scheduled four days after a friendly between Brazil and Colombia to raise money for Chapecoense, who will also take on Spanish champions Barcelona in next year’s Joan Gamper Trophy.