Uruguay's Nacional fined for Chapecoense taunts

Uruguayan club Nacional have been fined $80,000 by the South American football governing body Conmebol after some of their fans mocked Chapecoense about the 2016 plane crash that devastated the Brazilian club.

Nacional supporters have also been banned from attending the club's next three away matches in official Conmebol competitions, the Paraguay-based organisation said in a statement on Monday, reports Xinhua news agency.

Several Nacional supporters made gestures referring to the tragedy during their team's 1-0 victory at Chapecoense's Conda Arena in the first leg of a Copa Libertadores qualifier on January 31.

Nacional also won last week's return match in Montevideo 1-0, a result that eliminated Chapecoense from South America's top club tournament.

The Brazilian club had asked Conmebol to expel Nacional from the Copa Libertadores for the "attack on human dignity" .

Nacional last week apologised for the fans behaviour and said that two club members had been banned from stadiums.

Seventy one people died -- including 19 Chapecoense players and all of the club's coaching staff -- when their LaMia chartered flight ran out of fuel and slammed into a mountain near Medellin in November 2016. There were six survivors.

The accident occurred just days before Chapecoense and Colombia's Atletico Nacional were due to play in the first leg of the Copa Sudamericana final in Medellin.

--IANS

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