The club was founded in 1973 with the goal of restoring football in the city, and won the state championship, the Campeonato Catarinense, for the first time in 1977.

Following the crash, Atlético Nacional made a request to the governing body of the competition, CONMEBOL, that Chapecoense be awarded the trophy.

[7] In 2006, the club went back to its original name, Associação Chapecoense de Futebol,[11] and also won the Copa Santa Catarina.

[17] In 2016, Chapecoense made history when they reached the finals of the Copa Sudamericana, South America's secondary club football tournament, after defeating San Lorenzo de Almagro using the away goals rule.

[18] The surviving players were left-back Alan Ruschel, backup goalkeeper Jakson Follmann[19] (who had one of his legs amputated due to his injuries and was forced to retire from professional football),[20] and center-back Neto.

[23] The government of Bolivia suspended LaMia Airlines's flying license after it surfaced that the pilot skipped a crucial refueling stop.

[3] On 4 December 2016, Chapecoense's interim president announced that CONMEBOL would be granting the club the tournament title and prize money.

Chapecoense President Ivan Tozzo revealed that the Brazilian FA had asked for the club to play their final league game of the 2016 campaign in part by drawing on their Under-20s side to fill out the roster.

[33] On 27 November 2019, almost three years to the day from the devastating plane crash, the club suffered relegation from the Série A following a 0–1 loss to Botafogo.