Reports that Chapecoense were fined for missing match are FALSE

Media reports that Brazilian football club Chapecoense are to be fined for not playing their final match against Atletico Mineiro are false.

19 players from the Chapecoense football team perished on route to a cup final match after their plane crashed on 28th November 2016.

As a result of the disaster, the cup final match between Chapecoense and Atletico Mineiro was not played, with both teams opting to forgo the game. While it is routine for Brazilian teams to be fined for not showing up to a match, it can be bypassed under exceptional circumstances.

Given that the circumstances in this case were more than exceptional, the Brazil’s Superior Court of Sports Justice confirmed that no fine would be imposed.

Sponsored Content. Continued below...

However, various media sources and tabloid newspapers reported otherwise, many of which seemed to be using each other as their sources in a misinformed circle of Chinese whispers. While some outlets reported that a fine was possible, other media outlets appeared to have misconstrued those remarks to suggest that a fine would be likely, and other outlets continued the downward spiral of misinformation by reporting that a fine had already been issued.

Inevitably these latter, inaccurate headlines found their way onto a large swathe of low-quality aggregator “news” websites, and the false claim that Chapecoense had been fined for not playing the match went viral across the Internet

To confirm, Brazil’s Superior Court of Sports Justice have confirmed that neither team will be fined given the tragic circumstances. While we cannot determine for definite if a fine was ever considered, we know that no fine was ever issued or imposed on either team.