“Cardiff demands €100m compensation from Nantes over Emiliano Sala transfer dispute”

Cardiff want €100m from Nantes in compensation after Emiliano Sala died on the flight in connection with his transfer to Cardiff back in 2019.

The uproar following the death of Sala does not seem to have an end. After several years of legal wrangling, Cardiff were ordered in January to pay six million euros (69 million kroner) to Nantes as the first part of the transfer fee totaling 17 million euros, which is equivalent to 196 million kroner.

The dispute is largely about Cardiff believing that the transfer was never finalized before the small plane that Sala was in crashed in the English Channel on its way to Wales from Nantes in January 2019. Both Sala and the pilot David Ibbotson died, and subsequently the man who organized the flight that ended in the crash sentenced to 18 months in prison.

Two days before, Sala signed the contract which the court has said made him a Cardiff player. He was due to train with the club the following day.

On Monday, Nantes’ lawyers stated that Cardiff had sued them for 100 million euros (1.1 billion kroner). The Welsh club believe they should be compensated for the fact that Sala never played for Cardiff. A hearing is scheduled for June 22.

– After being rejected by FIFA, CAS and the Swiss Federal Court, Cardiff opens a new, absurd case, say Nantes lawyers Jerome Marsaudon and Louis-Marie Absil.

The lawyers further say that they are “very confident” that the court will reject Cardiff’s claim and that they want Nantes to be compensated for “the damage that these abusive procedures have caused over four years”.