Cardiff City: Championship club will challenge EFL transfer embargo

Cardiff manager Sabri Lamouchi (left) signed free agent striker Connor Wickham (right) in February

Cardiff City have issued a challenge to the English Football League [EFL] over a transfer embargo which prevents them paying fees for players until May 2024.

Cardiff had a Fifa embargo lifted after paying the first instalment of the Emiliano Sala transfer fee to Nantes.

Sala died in a plane crash over the English Channel in January 2019 when travelling from France to join Cardiff.

The EFL partially lifted their transfer embargo, which enabled Cardiff to sign free agents and loanees in January.

Cardiff have now begun legal action in an attempt to lift the remaining section of the embargo.

A three-window embargo was initially imposed by Fifa, world football's governing body, because of Cardiff's refusal to pay the first tranche of the £15m transfer fee they had agreed with Nantes for Sala.

Cardiff lost their appeal against that ruling by Fifa. A three-man panel at the Court of Arbitration for Sport [CAS] heard the appeal in Lausanne in 2022.

The Bluebirds claimed they were not liable for any of the fee because Sala was not officially their player when he died at the age of 28. A Swiss Federal Court is still considering an appeal against the CAS verdict.

EFL rules state that a club who default on a payment for a transfer fee will not be able to make a payment for a player registration until the end of the following season, though Cardiff have now paid the first instalment of the Sala fee, plus interest.

With the Fifa embargo removed but the EFL embargo only partially lifted, Cardiff were able to recruit Guinea striker Sory Kaba on loan from Danish club Mitdjylland and Connor Wickham joined as a free agent after leaving Forest Green Rovers in January.

Cardiff confirmed their intention to challenge the EFL ruling in their annual accounts, which revealed an operating loss of £29m over the 2021-22 season.

"Following the ruling by CAS in August 2022 and the subsequent imposition of the transfer embargo by Fifa and the EFL, the club has now paid the first instalment of the transfer fee of seven million euros and the transfer embargo was subsequently lifted, which at least allowed the club to trade during the recent transfer window," they wrote.

"Our ability to trade, however, was restricted in that we were not allowed by the EFL to pay any transfer or compensation fees and were therefore restricted to bringing in loan players or players who were out of contract.

"Discussions with the EFL are continuing around the legality of that ruling and the imposition of EFL rule 52.6 and whether it is fair or proportionate."

BBC Wales Sport has learned Cardiff have sent a letter to the EFL and they have received a reply.

After three wins in their last four games under new manager Sabri Lamouchi, Cardiff are 21st in the Championship, six points clear of the relegation zone.

Lamouchi says he is focusing on the task of keeping Cardiff up and is not yet looking ahead to next season or considering the prospect of the club being prohibited from competing in the transfer market.

"I am happy here, our mission is to save the club from relegation and we are not yet safe, but we are putting ingredients there to put a smile on our fans' faces and it is very positive," he told BBC Sport Wales.

"In a couple of weeks we probably need to sit and discuss what the club want to do."