Cardiff City will pay £5.3m to Nantes for the transfer of Emiliano Sala prior to his tragic death in a plane crash in January.
The Championship outfit have refused to pay the French side as they believe that the contract wasn’t legally binding, as per Sky Sports.
SEE MORE: Fifa forced to intervene as Cardiff continue to refuse to make Emiliano Sala payment
In turn, that led Nantes to take the case to FIFA, with the governing body now reaching a ruling on the matter which will see Cardiff pay the fee, unless they decide to appeal against it and continue the case to find an alternative outcome.
“The FIFA Players’ Status Committee established that Cardiff City FC must pay FC Nantes the sum of EUR 6,000,000, corresponding to the first instalment due in accordance with the transfer agreement concluded between the parties on 19 January 2019 for the transfer of the late Emiliano Sala from FC Nantes to Cardiff City FC,” a FIFA statement read.
“The FIFA Players’ Status Committee, which never lost sight of the specific and unique circumstances of this tragic situation during its deliberations on the dispute at stake, refrained from imposing procedural costs on the parties.”
As noted by Sky Sports in their report above, Sala had sealed a £15m move to Cardiff in January, but tragically died after his plane crashed in the English Channel while he was en route to join up with his new teammates.
Amid all the arguments for and against, FIFA’s ruling of a €6m payment being made relates to the first instalment that Cardiff were said to be due to pay Nantes in January, which was part of the agreement between the two clubs.
In turn, it remains to be seen if Cardiff accept that result or fight their corner if they believe that the agreement wasn’t binding, as the club released a statement shortly after the announcement from FIFA to reveal that they would be seeking clarification over their decision.
Given the tragic circumstances of the case though, it will surely be the most welcome outcome for all concerned, including Sala’s family, if the matter is put to bed as soon as possible.
