Here’s the part that always makes me chuckle darkly. The plane carried mostly starters and upperclassmen. The team had a policy: freshmen usually traveled separately or stayed home. So, while 37 players perished, a huge chunk of the team—the entire freshman squad—was safe at home in their dorm rooms, probably eating pizza and complaining about practice. They literally had no idea their entire senior leadership had just vanished.
That means the true number of players who died (37) is dwarfed by the number who lived (over 50 other players, including the freshmen, walk-ons, and injured guys). So, if you’re trying to answer the clickbait question, the factual answer is “37 players died.” But the fun answer is “a lot fewer than could have died, thanks to flat tires and alarm clocks.”
Can Chapecoense recover after tragedy? History says yes | CNN
Why This Myth Keeps Growing
You might see posts online claiming “75 players died” or “the entire team was lost.” That’s because people conflate the total passengers (75) with the team members. It’s an easy mistake, like thinking a buffet has “all the food” when really it’s just “a lot of food.” The team only had 37 players on that plane, plus coaches, trainers, and boosters. The rest of the 75 were fans and crew. So, please, don’t be that person who says, “Wait, the whole team died?”—it’s a sure way to get corrected by a sports historian at a party.
Also, fun fact: The crash was so devastating that the NCAA allowed Marshall to cancel their remaining games that season. But the next season, they had to field a team made almost entirely of freshmen and walk-ons. They lost 15 straight games. That’s not a joke—it’s a testament to resilience, but man, that first season must have felt like a slow-motion car crash of its own.
