Almost 4 years after fatal plane crash |
Million judgment in the Sala case († 28)!
Finally clarity in the transfer back and forth about a dead person.
More than three years and seven months after the death of Argentinian soccer professional Emiliano Sala, his buyer club Cardiff City has to pay a fee of 6 million euros to his French seller club FC Nantes.
On January 21, 2019, two days after the €17 million deal was announced, Sala crashed and died while traveling to his new home by plane over the English Channel. And left, among other things, a legal mess about his fee!
What was the matter in court?
Basically the question of how binding the transfer payments were at the time of Sala’s death.
Cardiff had not felt obliged to pay the money to FC Nantes because Sala had not yet been registered with the club at the time of his death.
From Cardiff’s point of view, the transfer contract was therefore not yet complete and therefore invalid.
What was decided?
There was a whole series of decisions.
In December 2019, FIFA issued a verdict. It said that the first installment of the transfer of €6m had to be paid. On the other hand, the Welsh club from the second English division appealed.
The International Court of Arbitration for Sports in Lausanne has now confirmed the Fifa verdict, as announced on Friday.
Contrary to how Cardiff portrayed it, the panel was convinced that the transfer was fully completed at the time of Sala’s death. The verdict is the last instance and will therefore remain valid.
And how was the fatal accident processed?
Among other things, a businessman was subsequently sentenced to 18 months in prison for endangering the safety of an aircraft. He had organized the flight with the single-engine machine back then.
Background: The pilot, who also died in the crash, is said to have had neither a commercial nor a night flight license.
