French court dismisses Cardiff’s €122m claim over Emiliano Sala and orders €300,000 payment to Nantes

A commercial court in France has rejected Cardiff City’s bid for more than £100m in compensation connected to the death of Emiliano Sala, ruling that FC Nantes bore no fault for the fatal flight and that Cardiff did not suffer reputational damage. Seven years after the January 2019 plane crash, the court also found Nantes had sustained moral damage and ordered Cardiff to pay €300,000.

Decision follows a series of setbacks for Cardiff in multiple jurisdictions

The judgment adds to earlier decisions against Cardiff in football’s formal dispute‑resolution system. Rulings by FIFA, the Court of Arbitration for Sport and Switzerland’s supreme court have all gone against the Welsh club since Sala’s death, in a process shaped by the transfer and disciplinary rules contained in the FIFA Regulations on the Status and Transfer of Players. In 2022, the Court of Arbitration for Sport confirmed the transfer had been finalised at the time of the player’s death; in 2023, FIFA ordered Cardiff to pay Nantes just over €11m of the €17m agreed transfer fee.

That sequence left the French commercial court focused not on whether the deal was complete but on whether Nantes could be held civilly liable for the circumstances of Sala’s travel. By dismissing Cardiff’s claim, the court effectively aligned itself with the sporting bodies’ view that the contractual obligations arising from the transfer remained in force.

Findings on responsibility and the use of intermediaries

Cardiff sought €122m (£106m) in damages for loss of income and other claims, arguing Nantes was responsible because an intermediary, Willie McKay, had been enlisted by the French club and had allegedly organised the flight. The court determined McKay acted as an agent for Nantes in the transfer negotiations but did not organise the flight and was not aware of its illegality, drawing a clear distinction between intermediary activity in the market and operational control over player transport.

“It’s difficult to understand how the court considers that Willie McKay did not organise the flight, given that he himself said that he did,” said Cardiff’s lawyer, Céline Jones. She added: “We initiated this process so that the full truth would come to light in this case and out of respect for the memory of Emiliano Sala. Today, we bitterly observe that the principles of transparency, integrity, and safety in professional football have not prevailed in this decision.”

Nantes, currently battling near the bottom of Ligue 1, welcomed the ruling. “Nantes are in no way responsible for the incident that occurred,” said the club’s lawyer, Jérôme Marsaudon. “We are pleased the court listened to us and confirmed this in clear terms.” The decision spares Nantes the risk of a claim that, had it succeeded, could have set a precedent for clubs being pursued in civil courts for actions of third‑party intermediaries far beyond the pitch or transfer contract itself.

What the case means for clubs and the transfer market

The decision reinforces the boundary between sporting and civil liability in player transactions. With the contract status already settled by the Court of Arbitration for Sport and payment obligations enforced by FIFA, the French court’s findings further narrow the avenues for clubs to recoup sporting or commercial losses arising from tragic events unrelated to competition itself. It also underscores that, in the absence of clear evidence of control over travel arrangements, counterpart clubs are unlikely to be held liable for operational failures involving privately arranged flights.

Practical consequences include:

• Greater emphasis on due diligence around travel arrangements and clarity, in written agreements, on which party bears responsibility when third‑party intermediaries are involved, particularly in cases where players travel on privately chartered aircraft rather than scheduled services.
• Budget certainty for Nantes after years of legal uncertainty, alongside the confirmation of amounts due under the transfer and the additional €300,000 award for moral damage, allowing the club’s management to plan without the overhang of a nine‑figure claim.
• A signal to clubs that attempts to convert on‑field or commercial downturns into civil claims against counterparties face a high bar once sporting bodies have confirmed contractual obligations, especially where the alleged damage flows from wider operational risks rather than the transfer contract itself.

For governance and compliance teams inside clubs, the case is likely to be read alongside evolving national aviation safety rules and internal league guidance, reinforcing the expectation that clubs document who arranges travel, which operators are used and what standards are applied.

Timeline and key facts

• January 2019: Emiliano Sala, 28, dies when the single‑engine Piper Malibu carrying him from France to begin his career with Cardiff crashes into the sea near Guernsey. Pilot David Ibbotson also dies.
• Transfer background: Sala had been signed from Nantes for a club‑record £15m as Cardiff sought to avoid Premier League relegation.
• 2022: The Court of Arbitration for Sport rules the transfer was definitively completed at the time of Sala’s death.
• 2023: FIFA orders Cardiff to pay Nantes the outstanding balance of the fee, just over €11m of the €17m total.
• Current ruling: The French commercial court dismisses Cardiff’s €122m claim, finds Nantes not at fault for the flight, concludes Cardiff suffered no reputational damage, and orders a €300,000 payment to Nantes for moral damage.

The broader lens

While the case turns on specific facts, its outcome underscores how football’s dispute‑resolution framework interacts with national courts: once contractual status and payment obligations are affirmed in the sport’s own system, subsequent civil claims linked to tragic circumstances face stringent scrutiny. For clubs, the ruling serves as a reminder that responsibility around player transit must be contractually explicit and that intermediary roles, even when connected to a club, do not automatically transfer liability without clear evidence of control or knowledge.

More broadly, the judgment feeds into a growing conversation about duty of care in elite sport. As transfer fees rise and travel schedules tighten, club boards, leagues and regulators are under pressure to ensure that the commercial race for talent is matched by robust standards on how that talent is moved, supervised and protected.