Torino To Pay Tribute To Chapecoense Tragedy With New Shirt

Torino will honour the fallen of last year's Chapecoense plane crash tragedy when they take to the pitch for their Serie A clash with Atalanta this weekend by wearing a special edition green shirt.

The Turin club themselves are no stranger to plane related tragedies, having seen their legendary Il Grande Torino team killed in the Superga air disaster of 1949, destroying one of Italy's most successful ever teams, who captured five consecutive league titles between 1942 and 1948 as well as contributing 10 of the national team's 11 first team players.

Torino

Il Grande Torino - One of the most successful club sides in Italian football history, all of whom tragically lost their lives in the Superga air disaster on 4th May, 1949. Image: Torino FC

Just over a year ago, today, Brazilian club Chapecoense were involved in their own horrific tragedy, when 71 people lost their lives, including most of the first team on the way to the first leg of the 2016 Copa Sudamerica final against Colombian club Atletico Nacional.

Now, to pay their tributes to the 71 victims of the LaMia Flight 2933, Torino will wear a green shirt, the same colour as Chape's home shirt, for their clash with Atalanta on Saturday.

Torino

A close up of the special edition shirt Torino will wear in honour of the 71 victims of the Chapecoense air disaster, last year. Image: PA

Torino will sell 1,500 of the shirts in their official club store, donating all of the proceeds to families of the victims.

In a statement on the club's official website, Torino shared the following message:

"A year after the Medellin disaster, following a promise by President Urbano Cairo made to President De Nes Filho, Torino FC will play a league match wearing a shirt to honour the Brazilian club.

"During Torino-Atalanta, the team will be wearing Chapecoense's green shirt on the pitch - a shirt produced in a limited edition of 1500 items that will be on sale in Granata Stores and Kappa stores; part of the proceeds will be donated to the families of the victims of the plane crash.

"To remember them and be tangibly close to them.

"Toro and Chape, united by fate, friends forever"

(H/T Who Ate All The Pies)

Topics: Football News, Football, Chapecoense, Serie A

Joe Baiamonte

Northerner. Assistant Editor of SPORTbible. Studied Journalism and Broadcasting in a portakabin on a car park of Salford University for three years. Believes football peaked with Serie A in the '90s and strong-arms pro wrestling references into as many articles as possible. Neymar once took 50 euros off me during a game of poker.

@JoeBaia