Less than two days after the plane crash that killed 19 of their senior players, as well as backroom staff, journalists and flight crew, Brazilian club Chapecoense have reportedly been pressured by the national FA to fulfil their final league match of the season next week, despite having less than 11 players available.

In a press conference on Wednesday, acting Chapecoense president Ivan Tozzo affirmed that he had spoken on the phone with the head of the Brazilian Football Confederation (CBF), Marco Polo Del Nero, who insisted the match must go ahead and that the club should field their under 20 squad.

“I spoke with [Marco Polo] Del Nero about the match against Atlético Mineiro. He said: ‘This game has to happen. It has to be a big celebration’. I replied: ‘We don’t have 11 players’. He said: ‘Yes you do. You have the youth team and the players who stayed. It doesn’t matter.”

Chapecoense’s final match of the league season was originally scheduled to be played this Sunday afternoon at home to Atlético Mineiro, but has since been postponed until 11 December. Chapecoense are currently in 9th place in the Brazilian league table and could finish as high as 8th or as low as 12th, while Atlético Mineiro will finish in 4th place regardless of the result of their final match.

Of those who were not selected for the Copa Sudamericana final and did not travel with the club to Medellin, Chapecoense have 11 senior players in their squad. Two are injured, midfielder Hyoran and Argentinian forward Alejandro Martinuccio, while their third-choice goalkeeper, 42 year old Nivaldo, announced his retirement from football on Wednesday.

“We’ll do our best to get the injured players fit, and then complete the team with players from the youth setup”, Tozzi stated. “For us, the result is not important.”

Despite the CBF’s insistence upon playing the fixture, the rules of the Brazilian championship do allow for the complete suspension of a game in the case of an “extraordinary event which represents a situation of commotion incompatible with the holding of the match”.

According to Ivan Tozzo, CBF president Del Nero intends to transform the match into a grand celebration, which “Chapecó and Chapecoense deserve”.

As the head of Brazilian football, Del Nero was expected to travel with Chapecoense to the Copa Sudamericana final in order to represent the CBF. However, Del Nero has not left the country since May of last year, when seven senior FIFA officials were arrested in Zurich on corruption charges, including former CBF president José Maria Marin.

Medellin Plane Crash Show all 17 1 /17 Medellin Plane Crash Medellin Plane Crash Logo of Brazilian football team Chapecoense at the site of the plane crash in a mountainous area outside the Colombian city of Medellin. Plane carrying Brazilian football team Chapecoense crashes in Colombia Rex Medellin Plane Crash Rescue workers carry the body of a survivor of a plane that crashed in La Union, a mountainous area outside Medellin, Colombia AP Medellin Plane Crash Rescue workers carry the body of a man from a plane that crashed outside Medellin, Colombia. The plane was carrying the Brazilian first division soccer club Chapecoense team that was on it's way for a Copa Sudamericana final match against Colombia's Atletico Nacional AP Medellin Plane Crash Medical staff waiting for survivors of the crashed plane carrying the Brazilian football team Chapecoense, at San Juan de Dios La Ceja Hospital, in La Ceja municipality, near Medellin Rex Medellin Plane Crash Medical staff from the San Juan de Dios hospital transfer 27-year-old Brazilian soccer player Alan Ruschel as he arrives to La Ceja in Colombia Rex Medellin Plane Crash 81 people, including the players of the Brazilian soccer club Chapecoense, crashed in a mountainous area outside Medellin as it was approaching the Jose Maria Cordoba airport EPA Medellin Plane Crash Medical staff from the San Juan de Dios hospital transfer Brazilian journalist Rafael Henze as he arrives at La Ceja in Colombia after surviving a plane crash EPA Medellin Plane Crash razil's Chapecoense player Helio Neto is helped by paramedics at the San Juan de Dios clinic in La Ceja. Traveling on the doomed airliner that crashed in Colombia overnight were the players and staff of a Brazilian football club about to complete a fairytale journey from unknowns to would-be South American champions Getty Medellin Plane Crash Rescue workers search at the wreckage site of a chartered airplane that crashed outside Medellin, Colombia AP Medellin Plane Crash A charter plane carrying the Chapocoense Real football team crashed in the mountains in Colombia late Monday, killing as many as 75 people, officials said Getty Medellin Plane Crash Rescuers gesture near the wreckage of the LAMIA airlines charter plane carrying members of the Chapecoense Real football team that crashed in the mountains of Cerro Gordo, municipality of La Union Getty Medellin Plane Crash Supporters of the Chapcoense FC gathering at the club in Chapeco, Brazil EPA Medellin Plane Crash Supporters of the Chapcoense FC gathering at the club in Chapeco, Brazil EPA Medellin Plane Crash People pay tribute to the players of Brazilian team Chapecoense Real who were killed in a plane accident in the Colombian mountains, at the club's Arena Conda stadium in Chapeco Getty Medellin Plane Crash Fans pay tribute to members of the Chapecoense team in front of the club headquarters, in the city of Chapeco Getty Medellin Plane Crash People pay tribute to the players of Brazilian team Chapecoense Real who were killed in a plane accident in the Colombian mountains, at the club's Arena Conda stadium in Chapeco Getty Medellin Plane Crash People pay tribute to the players of Brazilian team Chapecoense Real who were killed in a plane accident in the Colombian mountains, at the club's Arena Conda stadium in Chapeco, in the southern Brazilian state of Santa Catarina Getty

The Independent contacted several CBF employees, none of whom were willing to comment on the situation.

On Thursday afternoon, Daniel Nepumoceno, president of Chapecoense’s intended opponents Atlético Mineiro, stated that his club would forfeit their final league game and award the points to Chapecoense.

Football in South America has been suspended since the tragedy on Monday night (Getty)

“Atlético Mineiro will not play this last match, we will not go to Chapecó. We respect their pain. It’s not the time”, he said. Furthermore, Nepomuceno explained that he personally informed Del Nero of the club’s decision and that the CBF president “agreed” with Atlético’s choice.