Cardiff begin Sala court action against Nantes
Striker Emiliano Sala had just signed with Cardiff City before his death in a plane crash in January 2019
- Published
Cardiff City Football Club filed a complaint in a French court on Monday against Football Club de Nantes, claiming losses of more than £100m following a dispute over striker Emiliano Sala's death in a plane crash in January 2019.
A figure of 120.2m euros (£104m) was estimated after "an in-depth analysis" by a legal expert, the Welsh club's lawyer Celine Jones said.
Jones said this analysis has been filed at the Nantes Commercial Court in western France, which gave the French club until 23 September to respond.
"We'll take the time to study these new voluminous documents and these figures," said lawyers representing Nantes, Jerome Marsaudon and Louis-Marie Absil.
Sala, a 28-year-old Argentine striker, and pilot David Ibbotson died in a plane crash on 21 January 2019 while travelling to south Wales from France to complete a £15m transfer from Nantes to the Bluebirds.
The Welsh club opted to take separate legal action against Nantes after the Swiss Federal Tribunal decided the Court of Arbitration in Sport (CAS) did not have jurisdiction to deal with the Bluebirds' claim for damages.
A Cardiff statement, published following the conclusion of the 2022-23 season, stated damages sought were to "recover what the club paid for Emiliano" and for "additional damages for further consequential losses".
Cardiff were subject to a transfer embargo by world governing body Fifa after their initial refusal to pay Nantes the first instalment of the fee for Sala.
The club paid that sum - believed to be around £7m - in January, 2023 after an appeal with CAS failed. That payment ended Fifa sanctions.
The estimate for damages stem from the claimed financial and reputational losses represented by Cardiff's relegation from the Premier League in 2019.
"If Sala had been able to play, he would inevitably have scored goals between January and June 2019 and Cardiff would have remained in the Premier League. It would be unrealistic to think that he would not have scored any goals," Jones told a hearing in June 2023.
