LONDON (AP) — FIFA has ordered Cardiff to pay French club Nantes the remaining instalments for the transfer fee of Emiliano Sala, who died in a plane crash in 2019 before he could join the Welsh team.
Sala died when the light aircraft he was traveling in from France crashed into the English Channel in January 2019, two days after Cardiff had announced the signing of the 28-year-old Argentine forward from Nantes.
Cardiff had already been ordered by FIFA to pay the first instalment of the 15-million-pound ($19-million) transfer fee, a decision that was upheld by the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) last August. Soccer’s world governing body on Friday ordered Cardiff to pay the last two instalments as well.
After the crash, Cardiff disputed that the transfer deal with Nantes had been finalized. In May, the Welsh club launched a legal case in France seeking about $120 million in compensation from Nantes, arguing that the French club should be held accountable for the accident which led to Sala’s death.
Cardiff on Friday issued a statement highlighting that Nantes chief executive Franck Kita was placed into police custody this week as part of a French investigation into alleged money laundering and tax evasion.
“In the circumstances, (Cardiff) considers that it would have been fairer if the requirement to pay FC Nantes had been deferred until the conclusion of the French police investigations and the club’s claim against FC Nantes in the French courts,” Cardiff said in the statement.
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