Emiliano Sala: Cardiff City FC sue insurance broker

Emiliano Sala found his place on the football pitch and said all he wanted in his life was to kick a ball

Cardiff City is suing an insurance company for more than £10m over the death of footballer Emiliano Sala.

Sala, 28, died in a plane crash over the English Channel in January 2019 after completing a £15m transfer to Cardiff from French club Nantes.

The club claims broker Miller Insurances LLP failed to properly communicate the process for immediately insuring new players.

Miller Insurances LLP declined to comment.

• Cardiff lose appeal in Sala payment dispute

• 'A tragic plane crash; a stain on football's reputation'

• Sala family's three-year wait for justice

The club said Miller Insurance failed to act with the reasonable skill and care expected of an insurance broker in its bid to the High Court.

It said it was the broker's responsibility to tell the club it would not be insured for a new player's death until its policy was amended to cover that new signing.

Club bosses said they would have requested £20m-worth of coverage for Sala two days before the fatal crash if they had known.

The club said it was also not told about the risks of not immediately notifying the insurance company about a new player following a transfer deal or about how it could reduce or eliminate these risks.

Business flight organiser David Henderson, 67, hired unqualified pilot, David Ibbotson, to fly the plane from Nantes to Cardiff airport.

Last year, Henderson of Hotham, East Riding of Yorkshire, was jailed for 18 months for recklessly endangering the safety of an aircraft and trying to arrange a flight for a passenger without permission or authorisation.

Mr Ibbotson's body has never been found.