The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has rejected Cardiff’s appeal against Fifa’s decision requiring it to pay Nantes the first payment for the transfer of Emiliano Sala, who died in 2019 in a plane crash.
In a press release published on Friday, sports justice therefore closes this dispute initiated in the fall of 2019, when the Welsh club had disputed having to pay the French formation 6 million euros.
According to the CAS, the transfer of the Argentinian striker “had been finalized” before he died on the evening of January 21, 2019 in the crash of his small tourist plane in the Channel, shortly after leaving Nantes to join Cardiff, where he had just started. “Given the fact that the conditions provided for in the transfer contract had been fulfilled before the death of the player, the demand for payment from FC Nantes for the first installment of the transfer sum for an amount of 6 million euros was admitted”, concludes the court based in Lausanne.
“FC Nantes is delighted with this procedure”
According to the British Air Accidents Investigation Bureau’s final report, published in March 2020, the pilot was “probably” poisoned with carbon monoxide from the engine exhaust system. He would have lost control of the aircraft during a maneuver carried out at too high a speed before the plane crashed into the sea at a speed of 270 miles per hour (435 km / h), leaving no hope of survival .
In a press release, FC Nantes welcomed the arbitration rendered by the CAS. “FC Nantes is delighted that this procedure – initiated by Cardiff City then delayed on numerous occasions by Cardiff City – which has been difficult for all those close to Emiliano, is finally over”, writes the club, which says it hopes that ” this will mark the end of the public disinformation campaign, to which the FCN has never reacted, out of respect for the player’s family”.