Cardiff City and FC Nantes agreed on the transfer of Emiliano Sala three and a half years ago. On the way to his new club, the plane carrying the footballer crashes. After the mourning, there is a dispute as to whether the fee should still be paid. The verdict is clear.
More than three years and seven months after the death of Argentinian soccer professional Emiliano Sala, Cardiff City has had to pay six million euros to his former club FC Nantes. The International Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne has confirmed a corresponding decision by the world association FIFA, the CAS announced. The Welsh club from the second English division Championship has thus failed in its appeal against the FIFA decision of December 2019, according to which the first installment of six million euros must be paid.
Cardiff and Nantes agreed in January 2019 on a transfer fee of 17 million euros for Sala. The then 28-year-old crashed and died two days after the transfer was announced on January 21, 2019 on the 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.
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.
