Sala compensation hearing opens in Cardiff's dispute with Nantes / Photo: Sebastien SALOM-GOMIS - AFP/File
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Sala compensation hearing opens in Cardiff's dispute with Nantes
A court hearing about the long-running dispute between Cardiff City and French club Nantes over compensation for the death of Emiliano Sala in a plane crash six years ago opened on Monday.
Sala, a 28-year-old Argentine striker, died when the light aircraft taking him to the Welsh capital came down in the English Channel on January 21, 2019, two days after he had signed for the then-Premier League side. He and the pilot were killed.
The Welsh club took the case to the Nantes commercial court in 2023 to claim compensation for loss of income and other damages suffered by the club as a result of the player's death.
The hearing opened on Monday and lawyers representing both clubs will plead their cases at the end of the day.
"The hearing marks another step towards uncovering the truth and establishing more accountability in football. This case isn't about harming football: it's about protecting its integrity," Cardiff said in a statement Sunday.
The Welsh club argue that Nantes, through their intermediary, agent Willie McKay, were the organisers of the private flight on which the footballer was travelling and that, if the transfer was effective at the time of the accident according to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), it is the organisation of this flight that is at issue.
Following an analysis conducted by an expert appointed by Cardiff City, the club estimated their losses at over 120 million euros ($139.5 million).
Nantes dispute "the existence of any wrongdoing, a causal link between the hypothetical wrongdoing and the damages, and then the damages themselves", a representative for club president Waldemar Kita said before the hearing.
The club, the representative added, "have no doubt that Cardiff's claims will be rejected outright, just like all the others".
In another case related to the dispute between the two clubs, CAS ruled in 2022 that Sala's transfer had definitely been finalised at the time of his death.
In 2023, world football's governing body FIFA ordered Cardiff to pay Nantes the balance of Sala's transfer fee, which at the time amounted to just over 11 million euros out of a total of 17 million euros.
M.Fischer--AMWN
