▲

Professional soccer players are frequent flyers. They fly to play road games or to participate in foreign tournaments. This being the case, there have been several plane accidents where soccer players have lost their lives. Plane crashes have affected a single player, like in the case of the 2019 accident involving Emiliano Sala, and they have killed an entire team, as the 1949 Superga air disaster tragically proves.

▲In January 2019, Emiliano Sala had just made a record transfer from the French club FC Nantes to Cardiff City in the Premier League for €17 million (US$19.3 million).

▲

The 28-year-old player was on his way back from France, where he said goodbye to his former teammates. But once over the English Channel, the plane in which he was traveling disappeared from radar screens, leaving no trace.

▲After an intensive search, police decided on January 24, 2019 to call off the search for the missing plane. However, after the discovery of some of the plane's seats on a beach, the search began again and the rest of the wreckage was found. It was then announced that Sala's body had been identified, though the circumstances surrounding the crash still remain a mystery.

▲On June 7, 1989, PY 764 flight from Schiphol, Netherlands, crashed while flying to Paramaribo near the Surinamese village of Zanderij, killing 178 people. Only 11 people and a dog survived. It is still the largest aircraft disaster in Suriname history.

▲On board the flight were the "Colorful 11," Suriname's national soccer team.

▲Only three out of the eighteen players, including their coach, survived the plane crash.

▲On November 29, 2016, LaMia Airlines Flight 2933, which was carrying the entire team of the Brazilian Chapecoense soccer squad, crashed. Only six of the 77 people onboard survived the crash.

▲The team was on its way to Colombia, where it would play its very first international final. However, fate struck right above the town of La Cega.

▲The whole soccer world was shocked by this tragedy, and plunged into mourning. Tributes were paid and the Brazilian federation cancelled the final. However, Atlético Nacional, who would have been the team's opponent in said final, asked the South American Football Association to assign the title posthumously to Chapecoense.

▲On May 4, 1949, an aircraft transporting the players from Torino FC crashed after trying to land in terrible weather.

▲At that time, Torino was known as the best team in Italy, and also formed the backbone of the Italian national soccer team. After the crash, the team was declared champion at the request of the opponents, their fifth straight Scudetto.

▲It is said that Il Grande Torino was one of history's greatest teams. The disaster is commemorated every year, and in 2008 a museum was even opened in honor of the fallen heroes.

▲On February 6, 1958, a plane crashed near Munich, carrying the whole selection of Manchester United. Of the 38 passengers, 21 did not survive the disaster, eight players being among them.

▲The "Busby babes," as the team was affectionately named, were one of the best in Europe at the time, according to trainer Matt Busby. Busby survived the disaster, and ten years later he won the European Cup.

▲Every year, a memorial is held at the soccer stadium Old Trafford, where the team played its home games. The clock at the entrance of the stadium also remains frozen at 3:04 pm, the time of the crash.

▲On April 27, 1993, the entire national team of Zambia was killed in an airplane crash off the coast of Gabon, near the capital Libreville.

▲The pilot was suffering from fatigue, which may have led him to shutting down the wrong engine after the left engine had caught fire, causing the plane to crash.

▲All 30 passengers and crew members perished. Kalusha Bwalya was one of the three members of the team who wasn't on the plane, as he was still in the Netherlands playing for PSV Eindhoven.

▲With them went the hopes of a nation. But in 2012, the Zambian team was back in Libreville, where they surprisingly won the Africa Cup. After the victory, they paid tribute to the victims of the disaster.

▲In 1979, the Uzbek team reached the highest division of the Soviet Union competition. However, on August 11 of that same year, all the players were lost in a plane crash.

▲Above the city of Dneproderzhynsk (now Kamianske) in present-day Ukraine, fate struck and the plane collided with another aircraft in the air. All the passengers in both aircrafts died.

▲On July 16, 1960, eight Danish soccer players for the final selection match for the Olympics were killed in an air disaster.

▲The pilot lost control of the aircraft due to the terrible weather. All eight soccer passengers died, and the pilot was the only survivor, however he had to have his leg amputated.

▲

Right after the disaster, the Danish soccer association considered withdrawing from the tournament. However, they changed their mind and won a silver medal.

▲Returning from an away game on December 8, 1987, the plane containing the Peruvian soccer team descended into the depths of the Pacific Ocean.

▲Reportedly, the plane was in bad condition and the pilot lacked experience flying at night. Forty-three people, including the entire soccer team, died. The pilot of the Fokker F27, Edilberto Villar, was the only survivor.

▲There are many rumors surrounding the accident. During the investigation into the cause of the disaster, the navy completely excluded itself from the press and refused to release the results of the investigation, reportedly to hide their negligence concerning the plane.

▲The Chilean team had its saddest day on April 3, 1961.

▲

The club lost some of its players during an air disaster in the Chilean Andes, which killed 24 people. In 1984, the team merged with the local soccer team Deportes Temuco.