Sala, 28, was signed by Cardiff from Nantes for a club record sum of 17 million euros (USD 18.5 million) as the team attempted to avoid relegation from the lucrative Premier League.
Four years after the aircraft disaster that killed football star Emiliano Sala, Welsh club Cardiff City is demanding around USD 120 million in compensation from the player’s previous squad. (Read More Football News)
Cardiff chairman Mehmet Dalman said on Tuesday that court documents had been filed in its pursuit of “justice” against French club Nantes, despite the Welsh club’s prior legal failures.
Since Sala’s death in January 2019, FIFA, the Court of Arbitration for Sport, and Switzerland’s Supreme Court have all ruled against Cardiff in their legal fight with Nantes.
However, the single-engine plane carrying the Argentine footballer from France to begin his career with Cardiff crashed into the water near the Channel Island of Guernsey. The pilot was also killed.
According to French media, Cardiff’s legal lawsuit will be considered in a commercial court in Nantes next month.
Cardiff has filed a claim for 110 million euros (USD 119.5 million). The club earlier stated that it wished to “recover what the club paid for Emiliano and additional damages for further consequential losses.”
Following the incident, Cardiff contested that the transfer to Nantes had been completed. FIFA determined that it had received all of the necessary international registration paperwork.
Cardiff City were relegated from the Premier League at the end of the 2018-19 season and have since competed in the Championship. In its most recent financial statements, the club reported a loss of 29 million pounds (USD 36 million).
“Our lawyers came up with the number,” Dalman said of the compensation claim to TalkSPORT radio station.
“We didn’t just pick a number out of thin air.”
Cardiff pledged more legal action after CAS judges denied the club’s appeal against FIFA’s decision to pay the first transfer tranche of 6 million euros (USD 6.5 million) last year.
On Tuesday, Dalman clarified Cardiff’s position.
“In good faith, we bought a young man in the prime of his career,” he continued. “Someone, without our knowledge, put him in an unfit plane and flew him at a dangerous time of day, or at night in this case, and the two people died as a result.”
“How come Cardiff is the one who has to write a cheque for that much?” Cardiff City FC is not a wealthy club. It cannot afford it.
“We didn’t just pick a number out of thin air.”
Cardiff pledged more legal action after CAS judges denied the club’s appeal against FIFA’s decision to pay the first transfer tranche of 6 million euros (USD 6.5 million) last year.
On Tuesday, Dalman clarified Cardiff’s position.
“In good faith, we bought a young man in the prime of his career,” he continued. “Someone, without our knowledge, put him in an unfit plane and flew him at a dangerous time of day, or at night in this case, and the two people died as a result.”
“How come Cardiff is the one who has to write a cheque for that much?” Cardiff City FC is not a wealthy club. It cannot afford it.
