French court throws out Cardiff City compensation claim over Emiliano Sala death

A commercial court in Nantes has dismissed Cardiff City’s claim for more than €120m in compensation from Nantes following the death of striker Emiliano Sala in a plane crash in January 2019.Cardiff argued the French club bore liability because the flight was arranged by agent William “Willie” McKay, whom they said had been engaged by Nantes, and that the loss of the player drove sporting and financial damage.The Tribunal de Commerce de Nantes ruled Nantes were not liable for negligence in relation to the flight and rejected Cardiff’s case for reputational and commercial damages.  The court ordered Cardiff to pay Nantes a total of €480,000, comprising €300,000 in moral damages and €180,000 in legal costs, according to a lawyer for the Welsh club.Cardiff said in a statement: “We deeply regret that the court did not recognise FC Nantes’ liability in this tragedy. We initiated these proceedings so that the full truth of this case could come to light, in respect of Emiliano Sala’s memory.”The club also renewed its call for tighter standards around player protection and intermediary conduct, arguing football “must take a hard look at itself”.Nantes welcomed the decision, with their legal team saying the court had confirmed the Ligue 1 club were not responsible for the incident.The ruling is the latest in a series of legal outcomes that have largely gone against Cardiff since Sala’s death, including decisions by FIFA, the Court of Arbitration for Sport and Switzerland’s federal court connected to the transfer’s completion and payment obligations.Cardiff had signed Sala from Nantes for a then club-record fee of about £15m as they sought to avoid relegation from the Premier League, with the player travelling to Wales when the single-engine aircraft crashed into the Channel.  The pilot, David Ibbotson, also died, and Cardiff have previously said they completed payment of the transfer fee while continuing to pursue their separate damages action in France.The case has been closely watched across football because it tests where duty of care sits when a player’s travel is arranged outside a club’s direct operations, and because it adds cost and risk to cross-border transfers already shaped by tighter compliance and insurance requirements.In parallel criminal and investigative proceedings, an inquest found Sala died from head and chest injuries, and evidence indicated carbon monoxide poisoning likely left him unconscious during the flight, while organiser David Henderson was jailed in 2021 for endangering the safety of the aircraft.