Neymar to play in charity match for Chapecoense families

Rio de Janeiro, December 27 

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Barcelona forward Neymar has accepted an invitation to play in a charity football match for families affected by the Chapecoense plane crash.

Former Argentina international midfielder Juan Sebastian Veron and Spain World Cup winner Joan Capdevila will also feature in Wednesday’s fixture at the Maracana stadium. In addition to remembering victims of the November 28 plane crash — which killed 71 people, including 19 Chapecoense players and most of the Brazilian club’s coaching staff — the match will pay homage to Brazil’s 1970 World Cup-winning captain Carlos Alberto Torres, who died in October. More than 20,000 tickets have already been sold for the game, which is being organised by former Brazil great Zico. 

Neymar is currently on holiday in Brazil as Spanish football takes its annual winter recess.

Colombia confirms plane was out of fuel

Bogota: Preliminary investigations have confirmed that a plane that crashed in the Colombian mountains last month killing 71 people including most of a Brazilian football team was out of fuel, officials said. Freddy Bonilla, the head of Colombia’s civil aviation authority, said investigations indicated the British Aerospace 146 jet had run out of fuel. — Agencies