NANTES, France (AP) – A French commercial court has rejected Welsh club Cardiff’s claim for compensation for the death of a soccer player in a ruling issued Monday, more than seven years after the plane crash that killed the player.
Cardiff had sought more than 120 million euros ($138 million) from the player’s former team Nantes in a long-running legal dispute following a series of previous legal setbacks for the Welsh club.
Since Sala’s death in January 2019, decisions from FIFA, the Court of Arbitration for Sport and the Swiss Supreme Court have weighed against Cardiff in their legal dispute with Nantes.
Sala, 28, signed for Cardiff from Nantes for a club-record €17 million to avoid relegation from the lucrative Premier League. However, the single-engine Piper Malibu plane the Argentine was flying from France to start his career with Cardiff crashed into the sea near Guernsey’s Channel Island. Pilot David Ibbotson also died.
The court ruled that Nantes was not at fault for the flight and that Cardiff had not suffered reputational damage. It added that Cardiff’s “outrageous claims” had already been decided in other courts and Nantes had suffered psychological damage. Cardiff was ordered to pay €300,000 in damages and a further €180,000 in legal costs.
After the accident, Cardiff objected to the transfer agreement being reached with Nantes. FIFA has determined that the required international registration forms have been received.
The businessman who arranged the flight was found guilty in 2021 of endangering the safety of an aircraft. David Henderson, the airline manager who arranged the flight, asked Ibbotson to fly the plane as he was away on vacation. Ibbotson, who regularly flew for Henderson, did not have a commercial pilot’s license or night flight certification, and his license to fly the Piper Malibu had expired.
Ahead of a hearing at Nantes Commercial Court last year, Cardiff said they wanted Nantes to hold football agent Willie Mackay, who helped organize the flight, to account for the “negligence”. Cardiff claimed they were acting on behalf of Nantes, and the French club denied any wrongdoing.
The court found that although Mr McKay was acting as Nantes’ agent, he had not arranged the flight and was not aware of the illegality of the flight.
Cardiff were relegated from the Premier League at the end of the 2018-19 season and currently compete in the third tier of the English Football League system.
___
AP Soccer Details: https://apnews.com/hub/soccer
___
Petrequin reported from London.
