Transfer dispute continues
More than three years and seven months after the death of Argentinian soccer professional Emiliano Sala, Cardiff City has had to pay €6 million to his former club FC Nantes. The International Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne confirmed a corresponding decision by the world association FIFA, the Cas announced on Friday. The Welsh from the Championship have thus failed in their appeal against FIFA’s decision of December 2019, according to which the first installment of six million euros must be paid. But Cardiff still does not want to transfer anything, as stated in a club statement on Friday.
chronology
This is how the dispute over the Sala transfer developedRead here
Cardiff and Nantes agreed in January 2019 on a transfer fee of 17 million euros for Sala. The then 28-year-old crashed on a plane over the English Channel two days after the transfer was announced on January 21, 2019 and died on his way to Wales.
Cardiff therefore did not feel obliged to pay the money to FC Nantes because Sala was not yet registered with the club at the time of his death. From Cardiff’s point of view, the transfer contract was therefore not yet complete and therefore invalid. The Cas ultimately did not agree with this view. The panel is convinced that the transfer was fully completed by the time of Sala’s death.
Club refuse to pay for Sala: Cardiff threaten legal action against Nantes
Cardiff now wrote in a statementthat they will also defend themselves against the Cas judgment and that in the meantime no payment will be made to FC Nantes. Should you still be forced to do so, the capitals want to “take legal action against those responsible for the crash to compensate for their losses. That includes FC Nantes and their agents.”
At FC Nantes, on the other hand, they are happy that a French statement after proceedings initiated by Cardiff City and “then delayed several times by Cardiff City, which were difficult for everyone close to Emiliano, are finally over”. As the FCN added, the Welsh have to pay a “historically high sum in terms of procedural and arbitration costs” in addition to the transfer fee.
A businessman who had organized the flight with the single-engine aircraft was subsequently sentenced to 18 months in prison for endangering the safety of an aircraft. The pilot, who also died in the crash, is said to have had neither a commercial nor a night flight license.
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