The Fifa Player Status Commission is demanding the payment of the first instalment of 6 million euros out of the 17 of the total amount of the transfer for Emiliano Sala.
Fifa on Monday (30th September 2019) ordered the Welsh club in Cardiff to pay FC Nantes 6 for the € 17 million transfer of Argentinean player Emiliano Sala, who died on January 21 with the pilot of the plane who was transporting them to his home. new club.
After the disappearance of the player, Cardiff had decided not to honour the first payment of 6 million euros out of 17 of the total amount of the transfer, whereas it had been validated by the football authorities before the accident. Nantes had seized Fifa at the end of February to claim the full payment of the transfer.
“We welcome this decision by FIFA. Cardiff must respect its commitments and the rules of sports law, “responded FC Nantes in a statement from his lawyers forwarded to AFP .
“Beyond the human tragedy that has affected the entire sport community with the disappearance of Emiliano Sala, FIFA has just recalled that the legal certainty of the commitments made by clubs in the context of player transfers must, of course, be respected. “, Add the advice of the club chaired by businessman Waldemar Kita.
Both clubs can appeal
Fifa told AFP that the decision on Monday concerns “only the first payment of EUR 6 million due according to the terms of the contract”, on a total amount of the transfer of EUR 17 million.
“For reasons of confidentiality, we can not comment on possible future exchanges or other terms of the agreement,” added Fifa in a second press release providing clarification.
The next two deadlines are scheduled for January 2020 (EUR 6 million) and January 2021 (EUR 5 million). The former club of Sala, currently 2nd tie in the Championship of France Ligue 1, also intends to obtain payment on the dates scheduled.
A spokesman for the Cardiff club said “take note” of the decision of the commission of the status of the player, in a communiqué sent to AFP .
“We will ask FIFA for clarification on the exact meaning of its press release in order to make an informed decision on our next steps.”
Both clubs have ten days to ask to receive the reasons for the decision and they can then appeal this decision before the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS) which is based in Lausanne.
The Fifa Player Status Commission, chaired by South African Raymond Hack, met on Wednesday (September 25th) but only notified the decision on Monday to both clubs.
No conciliation between the two clubs
In its deliberations, the commission took into consideration “the tragic and unique circumstances surrounding the dispute, deciding in particular not to claim procedural costs from the parties,” said Fifa in its statement.
At the end of August, Fifa sent the two clubs a letter in which it advocated a conciliation for the payment of the transfer of the Argentine footballer.
Without the clubs ‘agreement, the file was submitted to the Players’ Status Committee, which met last Thursday and decided.
At the beginning of February, after long unsuccessful searches, Emiliano Sala’s body was finally recovered in the wreck of the small plane and formally identified.
The wreck of the single-engine Piper Malibu that took the 59-year-old driver and the 28-year-old former Nantes striker to his new Cardiff club had been located where the plane was ceased broadcasting in the Channel, lying 67.7 meters deep, about 20 kilometres north of the Anglo-Norman island of Guernsey.
