English club Cardiff City must pay French club Nantes an initial six million euros ($6.5 million) in their dispute over the payment of the transfer fee for Emiliano Sala, FIFA said on Monday.
The amount corresponds to the first instalment of the 17 million-euro fee Cardiff had agreed to pay Nantes before Sala died in a plane crash on January 21 while travelling to join his new club.
The announcement from world football’s governing body followed a meeting by its Players’ Status Committee.
Nantes had previously appealed in February over Cardiff’s failure to pay the 17 million euros they said was owed because Sala had already signed for the Welsh side.
“In a meeting held on 25 September 2019, the FIFA Players’ Status Committee established that Cardiff City FC must pay FC Nantes the sum of EUR 6,000,000, corresponding to the first instalment due in accordance with the transfer agreement concluded between the parties on 19 January 2019 for the transfer of the late Emiliano Sala from FC Nantes to Cardiff City FC.” Part of the fifa statement reads
“The FIFA Players’ Status Committee, which never lost sight of the specific and unique circumstances of this tragic situation during its deliberations on the dispute at stake, refrained from imposing procedural costs on the parties.
“The findings of the decision were notified to the parties concerned today. Within a deadline of ten days, Cardiff City FC and FC Nantes can request a copy of the grounds of the decision, which can be appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne.” Fifa statement concluded
The plane Sala was travelling on came down in the English Channel during a night-time flight.
His body was recovered, but that of the pilot, David Ibbotson, has never been found.
A report by Britain’s Air Accidents Investigation Branch in August said that Sala and the pilot were likely exposed to “potentially fatal” levels of carbon monoxide on the plane.
In the aftermath of the tragedy, Cardiff were relegated from the Premier League after just one season back in the top flight.
