CURITIBA, Brazil (AP) — Seconds after Elisa Richter and 5-year-old daughter Helena arrived at the football field in the back of an abandoned racing track in southern Brazil, a flock of emotional fans of the Coritiba Crocodiles team came to hug them. That Saturday afternoon home game was one more step toward rebuilding their team and their lives after months of toil and tears.
Richter is the widow of Daniel Santos, who died at age 44 as the Crocodiles’ captain after the team’s bus crashed last September during a trip to play in Rio de Janeiro. Players Lucas Barros, 20, and Lucas Padilha, 38, also were killed.
Several others spent months recovering from their injuries, which forced the team out of Brazil’s national and state football competitions in 2024.
The Crocodiles, who play American-style tackle football, were founded in 2003 and are three-time Brazilian champions in a competition that today involves teams from the Amazon to the country’s impoverished Northeast region. The team has just won its 12th Parana state title.
The recent Saturday afternoon in the city of Curitiba that brought Richter and Crocodiles fans together was one of the first games since the team was reassembled in January. All players are amateurs, hardcore football fans and ambassadors pushing for the sport’s growth in Brazil — a market that has drawn major interest from the NFL.
“This is like family to us. We feel Daniel's presence here. And the team coming back is a wonderful thing,” said Richter, who learned football from her husband, a Washington Commanders fan who was also keen on the Green Bay Packers. “They love to do this, they don’t play for money. And they are playing for them three. There’s nowhere else I could be.”
Richter and Santos met in Curitiba, a city 860 kilometers (530 miles) south of Rio, while the two other players who died had families in other states of Brazil. The name Coritiba Crocodiles comes in part from a local soccer team, Coritiba Foot Ball Club.
The team's return coincides with the second NFL game in Brazil's history, which will take place at the Neo Quimica Arena in São Paulo on Friday when the Los Angeles Chargers face the Kansas City Chiefs. Last year, the Philadelphia Eagles beat the Green Bay Packers at the same stadium. Richter was there with her husband, who wept after kickoff.
“It will be different now, but that's another place to feel his presence. So I am excited,” she said.
Reorganizing and recovering
Since the beginning of the year, the NFL has been shooting a documentary about the recovering Crocodiles, and the moves have been dramatic since the crash.
Veteran Crocodiles players who wanted to retire postponed their decision after the Sept. 21 accident. Coach Johnny Mitchell Jr., a former tight end who played with the New York Jets, Dallas Cowboys and New Orleans Saints, returned to the team, where he was successful years prior. Members of youth teams quickly rose to the senior level, and several players changed positions.
A large flag with drawings representing the three fallen men was added to the decorations at Croco Stadium weeks ago, reminding players and coaching staff of what they play for. That includes the team's vice president, Delmer Zoschke, one of many not expected to play this year so he could spend more time with his family and focus on his career as a project manager.
“We understood what happened, we are feeding on that emotion, working with friends, speaking to psychologists and putting it all out in the sport. I am glad this is a contact sport so we can let everything out,” Zoschke said after a 21-0 victory against local rivals Brown Spiders. “It is an honor to continue doing this to honor their memory as this sport grows so much.”
Since their return, the Crocodiles have won their four matches in the Brazilian league and secured their place in the semifinals. They also won six to secure the state league title. Last year, they did not play the last two games of the regular season, which took them out of the playoffs.
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As some of the players quit the team, others continue to play despite lingering injuries. Many broke bones, suffered lacerations and endured suffering before rescuers arrived at the bus after the crash on a mountain road. A police investigation has yet to be completed, but players celebrate the driver as a hero for guiding the bus away from a cliff after it lost its brakes.
Many members of the Crocodiles traveling that day said they quickly fastened their seatbelts as the vehicle slid. Their bus flipped, which crushed the three who died. Players say the alternative would have been a fall into a forested abyss.
“I was one of the players who suffered most, it took a long time to return to training. Last week, I removed more shattered glass from my face,” said 33-year-old Cleverson Kvas. “But I had to come back, football is great for my mental health. We were still meeting at barbecues, parties, but there was a void inside of me. I needed the sport.”
Kvas is taking his parents to the Chiefs-Chargers game in São Paulo as a way to celebrate his own life one year after the tragedy. Several other Crocodiles players will also attend.
“I had trouble sleeping, I often cried about all that happened, the three friends I lost, the fear of not seeing my son grow. I was so close to losing them. Now I am 100% doing whatever I am doing,” said Kvas, a fan of the Tampa Bay Buccaneers. “This time I will go to São Paulo not as a tourist, but feeling I am a part of this. It is great to know the NFL sees us.”
NFL push
Ado Rodrigues, 39, president of the Crocodiles, added that “players who were not injured were in poor mental state after the accident.”
“We didn't really know when to return, it was an enigma for us. But the football community in Brazil was really supportive. They felt our grief, put themselves in our place,” said Rodrigues, who is also a player.
“Now we have an extra push with this game. We can't underestimate the good that having this game here will do for us, for people who really needed to reignite their love for the game.”
Mitchell, who has 35 years of experience in sports and titles earned with the Crocodiles, agrees the team's recovery can get a push from Friday's NFL game.
“They have had a lot of psychological issues. Players wanting to quit, people really messed up by the accident,” said Mitchell. “I’ve been on when guys got paralyzed on the field during high school. I was there when Dennis Byrd was paralyzed (playing for the Jets in Nov. 1992). It is part of life."
"You got to point to the sky, show the sun, say it is a beautiful day we have to be grateful for. And this game in Brazil once again can give us some more hope,” Mitchell added.
AP NFL: https://apnews.com/hub/nfl
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