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Chapecoense won't sign stars such as Ronaldinho as the club begin rebuilding following the air tragedy that killed 19 team members, president Ivan Tozzo said on Friday. With the club shorn of players, football legends from all over the world including two-time FIFA World Player of the Year Ronaldinho, Argentina's Juan Roman Riquelme and Eidur Gudjohnsen have offered their services to the club, who were on their way to play in the Copa Sudamericana final against Atletico Nacional when the plane they were in crashed near Medellin, Colombia, killing 71 people on board. The club will return to first-division league play in Brazil for the first time since the accident on Jan. 25 against Joinville and Tozzo has said that while he appreciates the offers from past stars, he plans to find young players as he begins the painful process of putting a new team together. "We are ruling out bringing established or famous players because we never had footballers who fit that profile within our institution," he told Marca. "Also, everyone knows we are of modest means and we don't have the resources to pay large fortunes like other big clubs can. "We will probably go after young professionals in the second division or those who were not chosen by first division clubs." The club, from the small city of Chapeco, were in the middle of an unprecedented season. They had been promoted to Brazil's top flight in 2014 for the first time since the 1970s and were headed to play in the Copa Sudamericana final at the time of the accident, after having defeated two of Argentina's best teams, San Lorenzo and Independiente, as well as Colombia's Junior. Tozzo confirmed that he rejected the Brazil Football Confederation (CBF) offer to allow the club to remain in first-division no matter their standing at the end of the upcoming season. "It's true. We want to play in all of our leagues under the same rules and terms as all the other clubs," he said. "We want, and are going to, compete just as everyone else does. We aren't going to allow anyone to give us any gifts or do us any favours. We are going to try to return to where we once were with the same resources as the rest of the clubs. We must move on and we don't want to be singled out so that is why we rejected the offer." Tozzo reiterated that he was grateful for the outpouring of support. He said he felt all of the offers were authentic and that he didn't think that any player or club were seeking publicity. "We are so thankful for the goodwill of players who have offered to join our institution and find ways to help Chapecoense," he said. "We are also grateful to the clubs who have offered to loan us players. But we have a certain profile, a certain way of conducting our football business within our institution and we know that no one will be taking advantage of our current circumstances. "We are going to find players who fit within our economic means. We are talking with the agents of those players to determine which players we will look to contract." CONMEBOL awarded the Copa Sudamericana title to them posthumously on Monday. Brazil and Colombia have also announced that they will play a friendly at the end of January to help victims of the air crash that killed most of the players, staff and directors of Chapecoense. Tozzo added that he thinks Chapecoense will be competitive again very soon and is confident that the team can hold their own in both the three Brazil leagues as well as the three international cups. "We have no doubt that we can because our club have always been renowned for putting together good teams," he said. "Primeira, Estadual and Brasileirao, we will be in the fight as always. For [Copa] Libertadores, we will have to think about that a bit differently because the demand is different. To be competitive there, we will have to bring in the best players we can and we will have to be honest to determine whether we really can make that effort." Barcelona have invited the Brazilian side to play in the Joan Gamper Trophy match at Camp Nou next summer.
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