The Court of Arbitration for Sport dismissed Cardiff's appeal over paying the first part of the transfer fee for Emiliano Sala after finding his transfer had been completed before his death in January 2019; Cardiff ordered to pay Nantes €6m, as per a FIFA tribunal in September 2019
Friday 26 August 2022 16:30, UK
The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has dismissed Cardiff City's appeal over paying the first part of the transfer fee for Emiliano Sala after finding his transfer had been fully completed before his death in January 2019.
The Argentinian joined the Championship club from Nantes in January 2019, and the French side's claim for the first six million euros (£5.1m) under the terms of the deal has been upheld by CAS.
Sala died when the light aircraft he was travelling in from France crashed into the English Channel on January 21, 2019, two days after Cardiff had announced his signing. His body was found and recovered from the wreckage of the aircraft in February of that year. The body of pilot David Ibbotson has not been found.
After almost three years of delays, CAS held their appeal in March and issued the decision on Friday. They have found the initial transfer agreement was fulfilled before the players' death, meaning Nantes' claim for the first instalment of the transfer fee was valid.
CAS was only adjudicating over the first payment of the €17m transfer, with the rest of the payments not up for discussion.
Following CAS' ruling, Cardiff are not planning to pay Nantes the €6m and will appeal to the Swiss Federal Court
A Cardiff statement said: "Cardiff City is disappointed by the decision of the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
"The award fails to decide the crucial question of FC Nantes' (and its agents') liability for the crash, which will therefore have to be decided in another forum.
"Once the club's lawyers have digested the reasons for the decision we expect to appeal and will not be making any payments to FC Nantes in the meanwhile.
"If those appeals are unsuccessful and the club is liable to pay the transfer fee, the club will take legal action against those responsible for the crash for damages to recover its losses. This will include FC Nantes, and its agents.
"All our thoughts must continue to be with Emiliano's family, who are now supported financially by the trust the club put in place for them."
A full statement from CAS reads: "The Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) has dismissed the appeal filed by Cardiff City Football Club (Cardiff City FC) against Football Club de Nantes (FC Nantes) in relation to the decision issued by the Bureau of the FIFA Players' Status Committee on September 25, 2019 (the Challenged Decision).
"The Challenged Decision, in which Cardiff City FC was ordered to pay 6m euro to FC Nantes in connection with the transfer of the player Emiliano Sala between the clubs, is confirmed. Cardiff City FC filed an appeal at the CAS on 20 November 2019. Further to the initiation of the arbitration, the written proceedings were lengthy and were even suspended, at the parties' request, and with their mutual agreement, for several months.
"In addition, on multiple occasions, the parties mutually agreed to extend the time limits for the filing of their written submissions. The parties also requested that the hearing be held in person, which it was not possible to do before the end of 2021. The hearing finally took place on March 3 and 4, 2022. It was the first hearing to be held at the new CAS headquarters at the Palais de Beaulieu in Lausanne.
"After taking into due consideration all the evidence produced and all the arguments put forward by both clubs, the CAS Panel found the Player's transfer from FC Nantes to Cardiff City FC to have been completed; and because the conditions set out in the Transfer Agreement were fulfilled prior to the player's death, FC Nantes' claim for the first instalment of the transfer fee in the amount of 6m euro was upheld.
"The CAS proceedings only concern the first instalment of the transfer fee in the amount of 6m euro out of the total transfer fee of 17m euro.
"The other instalments were not due at the time of the procedure before the FIFA instances. The CAS Panel also confirmed that it was not for FIFA to entertain the claim of Cardiff City that it was not required to pay any transfer fee to FC Nantes, because FC Nantes could be liable for the Player's death and that such tort claim was to be set off against any payment obligation with respect to the transfer fee."
Nantes have also released a statement, saying: "FC Nantes welcomes the decision rendered today on appeal by the Court of Arbitration for Sport.
"The CAS has completely rejected the appeal lodged by Cardiff City and has confirmed the decision rendered by FIFA on 25 September 2019 concerning the transfer of player Emiliano Sala.
"The court therefore ruled, as FC Nantes [FCN] had argued since the start of the proceedings, that the player's transfer to Cardiff City was over when he died tragically in an aviation accident.
"Consequently, the CAS ordered Cardiff City to pay the transfer fee to FC Nantes and sentenced Cardiff to a historically high sum, in respect of procedural costs and arbitration costs.
"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.
"The club hopes that this will mark the end of the public misinformation campaign, which FCN has never reacted to, out of respect for the player's family."
Sky Sports News chief reporter Kaveh Solhekol:
"Cardiff have released a strongly-worded statement saying they are disappointed by the decision of CAS. They also go on to say that they expect to appeal.
"We normally think of the Court of Arbitration for Sport as the final court, but you can appeal their decisions. Cardiff can go to the Swiss Federal Court and I would expect them to do so.
"They also say that in the meantime, while they consider their options, they will not be paying Nantes. They say that if their appeals are unsuccessful, they will take legal action against those responsible for the plane crash and seek damages.
"They say that will include Nantes and the agents who were acting in the deal."
