Date set for Nantes hearing on Cardiff quest for Sala compensation

A court in Nantes on Monday scheduled a hearing on the dispute between Cardiff City and Nantes over compensation stemming from the death of Emiliano Sala in a plane crash.

The court fixed the date for 22 September.

Sala, a 28-year-old Argentine striker, died when the light aircraft taking him to the Welsh capital came down in the English Channel on 21 January, 2019, two days after he had signed for the then Premier League side.

The two parties have wrangled for years over the incident.

In 2023, after the Court of Arbitration for Sport ruled that the Argentine's transfer had been completed, football's governing body Fifa ordered Cardiff to pay Nantes just over 11 million euros (at the time $12 million) corresponding to the last two instalments of the 17-million euro fee agreed between the two clubs.

Cardiff, who were relegated from the Premier League at the end of that season, counter-sued in 2023, arguing that Nantes, through its agent Willie McKay, had arranged the flight.

Cardiff say the crash, and their subsequent relegation, cost them €120 million.