Football
ESPN staff 7y

Chapecoense name Vagner Mancini to coach club after tragedy

Brazilian football club Chapecoense have appointed a new coach after the airline crash last week that killed 71 people, including most of its players, coaching staff, and board.

Vagner Mancini has long experience with middle-of-the-table teams like Chapecoense.

In 2005, he led Paulista to the Brazilian Cup title.

Mancini has also coached big clubs such as Gremio, Santos, Vasco da Gama, Cruzeiro, and Botafogo.

Chapecoense are rebuilding to play the Copa Libertadores for the first time in their 43-year history. They have only six eligible players in their professional squad at the moment.

Chapecoense already announced they will abandon the match against Atletico Mineiro in the last round of the Brazilian championship this weekend.

On Friday, club president Ivan Tozzo said that they won't sign stars such as Ronaldinho in the rebuilding process.

The club will return to first-division league play in Brazil for the first time since the accident on Jan. 25 against Joinville and Tozzo has said that while he appreciates the offers from past stars, he plans to find young players as he begins the painful process of putting a new team together.

Tozzo added that he thinks Chapecoense will be competitive again very soon and is confident that the team can hold their own in both the three Brazil leagues as well as the three international cups.

"We have no doubt that we can because our club have always been renowned for putting together good teams," he said. "Primeira, Estadual and Brasileirao, we will be in the fight as always. For [Copa] Libertadores, we will have to think about that a bit differently because the demand is different. To be competitive there, we will have to bring in the best players we can and we will have to be honest to determine whether we really can make that effort."

Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.

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