Cardiff City's court case against Nantes over Emiliano Sala's death adjourned as club demand French side are 'held accountable'

Cardiff City have insisted Nantes must be 'held accountable' over the death of Emiliano Sala, after their court case against the French club was adjourned until December.

Sala died in a plane crash in 2019 as he travelled to Wales to complete a move from Nantes.

Cardiff had agreed a £15m deal to sign Sala from the French club but the single-piston engine Piper Malibu aircraft transporting Sala to Wales crashed off Alderney in the Channel Islands.

The club are seeking around £104m in compensation, with the figure based on data analysis which they claim says they had a 54.2 per cent chance of avoiding relegation from the Premier League with Sala.

The court case had been scheduled to begin next week, but has now been pushed back until December 8. 

'Cardiff City Football Club has been informed of the adjournment of the hearing against FC Nantes, which was scheduled for September 22nd,' a Cardiff statement read.

'The request comes from FC Nantes, which claims it is not "ready" to plead the case, despite the hearing date having been set since April 2025.

'Cardiff City FC can only express its regret at FC Nantes' stance. This stance is all the more surprising given the confidence shown by FC Nantes until now, which claimed that the case had already been decided in its favour and described Cardiff City FC’s argument as “absurd.”

'Six years after the tragedy that claimed the life of Emiliano Sala, FC Nantes must be held accountable — both for the world of football and for the player’s loved ones.

'Cardiff City FC reaffirms its trust in the French justice system and will be ready to present its case in court on December 8.'

Neil Warnock's Cardiff were relegated in 2019 after finishing third from bottom in the Premier League, two points from safety.

While it isn't known for certain whether Sala's goals would have kept Cardiff up, he averaged a goal every three games for Nantes in the French league and was expected to perform well in the Premier League.

Cardiff initially argued to FIFA that Sala wasn't registered as their player at the time of the plane crash and so they were not liable for the £15m transfer fee.

As such, they withheld the first instalment of £5m due to Nantes.

However, FIFA ruled the transfer had been completed and imposed a transfer embargo on the Bluebirds for non-payment.

This was lifted when Cardiff owner Vincent Tan paid the money in full to Nantes in January 2023 after Cardiff failed in efforts to get the Court of Arbitration of Sport to overturn FIFA's decision.

Cardiff are currently playing in League One, after suffering relegation from the Championship last season.