French court dismisses €122 million claim and orders Cardiff to pay Nantes legal fees and damages.

A French court on Monday rejected Cardiff City's compensation claim of 122 million euros in a financial dispute with Ligue 1 club Nantes over the 2019 death of Argentine striker Emiliano Sala.

The Welsh club brought the case to the Nantes commercial court in 2023, seeking damages for income lost after Sala's death. The ruling also ordered Cardiff to pay Nantes 480,000 euros in legal fees and moral damages.

Sala, 28, died along with pilot David Ibbotson when the light aircraft carrying him to the Welsh capital crashed in the English Channel on January 21, 2019, two days after signing for Cardiff.

Cardiff had estimated losses of 122 million euros based on an expert analysis. Since Sala's death, the club has been relegated from the Premier League and currently competes in English football's third tier.

Cardiff's lawyer, Celine Jones, said the case was pursued to uncover the truth and honor Sala's memory, adding that principles of transparency and safety in football had not prevailed. Sala’s mother, Mercedes Taffarel, attended the hearing but did not comment.

Nantes, facing a tough Ligue 1 season, welcomed the ruling. Club lawyer Jerome Marsaudon said the French side was not responsible for the accident and praised the court for confirming this.

Nantes’ counsel Louis-Marie Absil criticized Cardiff for what he called judicial harassment and described the damages sought as exaggerated.

Cardiff had argued that Nantes, through agent Willie McKay, organized the flight on which Sala was traveling and that this was central to the claim. In 2022, the Court of Arbitration for Sport confirmed Sala’s transfer to Cardiff had been finalized at the time of his death.

In 2023, FIFA ordered Cardiff to pay Nantes the remaining balance of the transfer fee, totaling just over 11 million euros of the 17 million euro transfer.