Brazilian Soccer Team in Plane Crash Had Offered Contract to Adventist Player

November 30, 2016:   The Brazilian soccer team members that perished in the tragic November 29 plane crash in Colombia were from the same top team that had offered Seventh-day Adventist soccer player, Carlos Vítor da Costa Ressurreição, a contract some months ago.

Ressurreição turned down the contract with the Chapecoense Serie A team because they had not been willing to include a provision to skip training and matches on Saturdays.

The BBC reports that members of the Chapecoense team were on a chartered flight flying from Brazil via Bolivia to the Columbian city of Medellin, where the plane crashed on its approach, killing the majority of the 77 passengers aboard.

The team was en route for a match against Medellin team Atletico Nacional in the final of the Copa Sudamericana, the second-most prestigious club competition in South American soccer.

Ressurreição’s Sabbath-keeping had led his previous team, Londrina Sporte Clube, to not renew his contract which ended last May. After he converted to Adventism, Ressurreição decided not to train or play on Saturdays.

The Adventist athlete has now landed a new contract with the Paraná Soccer Technical Center Club, known as PSTC. The club is based in the city of Cornélio Procópio, in the southern Brazilian state of Paraná. The contract allows him to honor his Saturday Sabbath keeping beliefs.

Featured image credit: ANN/Jaime Costa