French court dismisses Cardiff’s $138mn claim against Nantes over Sala’s death

Nantes, March 30: A commercial court in France has dismissed Welsh club Cardiff’s claims for compensation in the death of soccer player Emiliano Sala.
Seven years after the plane crash that killed Sala, Cardiff was still seeking more than 120 million euros ($138 million) from the player’s former team Nantes following a series of previous legal setbacks for the Welsh club.
Rulings by FIFA, the Court of Arbitration for Sport and Switzerland’s supreme court have gone against Cardiff in its legal dispute with Nantes since Sala died in January 2019.The 28-year-old Sala was signed by Cardiff from Nantes for a club-record fee of 17 million euros as it tried to stave off relegation from the lucrative Premier League. But the single-engine Piper Malibu aircraft the Argentine player was traveling in from France to begin his career with Cardiff crashed into the sea near the Channel Island of Guernsey. The pilot, David Ibbotson, also died.The court ruled that Nantes was not at fault in relation to the flight and that Cardiff did not suffer reputational damages. It added that Nantes suffered moral damage and ordered Cardiff to pay 300,000 euros. And so, more than seven years after the tragic loss of Emiliano Sala, the legal road appears to have reached yet another definitive turn — one that once again goes against Cardiff City. The ruling reinforces the findings of multiple governing and judicial bodies that had earlier rejected Cardiff’s claims. (AP)