CURITIBA, Brazil — 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-styl

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