By Fatih Erel</p> <p>ISTANBUL (AA) – More than 100 footballers died over the last 75 years across the world as Cardiff City's Emiliano Sala was the latest victim of a series of plane crashes in the sports history.</p> <p>Late Thursday, British police confirmed that a body recovered from plane wreckage in the English Channel belongs to Argentina-born striker Sala.</p> <p>Sala was on his way to join his new club, Cardiff City FC, after signing a £15 million ($19.5 million) contract.</p> <p>The airplane was en route to Cardiff from Nantes, France before it disappeared from radar on Jan. 21 near the Channel Islands.</p> <p><br>
Here are the list of footballers who died in plane crashes:
On Jan. 21, 2019, Sala died after an aircraft came down in the English Channel.
On Nov. 28, 2016, a plane carrying Brazil's Chapecoense club crashed in the Andes mountains near Medellin, Colombia. Three players survived while 19 others died.
On April 27, 1993, after taking off from Gabon, a military aircraft carrying 18 footballers from Zambia's national football team crashed into the sea.
On June 7, 1989, 15 Surinam-born Dutch footballers died when an airplane crashed during landing at Surinam's capital Paramaribo.
On Dec. 8, 1987, a plane carrying the Alianza club of Lima crashed in the Pacific Ocean and 16 players died.
On Aug. 11, 1979, 17 players of Pakhtakor Tashkent team of a former Soviet football league died in a mid-air collision, above Ukraine on way to Belarus.
On April 3, 1961, eight players from Chile's Club de Deportes Green Cross died in a plane crash in the Andes mountain range in South America.
On July 16, 1960, eight Danish footballers died when a plane crashed into the Oresund Strait after taking off from Copenhagen Airport.
On Feb. 6, 1958, a plane crashed at Munich Airport killed eight players of England's Manchester United.
On May 4, 1949, 18 Torino football club players died in a plane crash near Turin.
