Nantes (AFP)
A year after the death of the Argentinian striker Emiliano Sala, who had just been transferred for 17 million euros from Nantes to Cardiff, emotion is still strong and controversies are raging over the responsibilities in the accident of plane and transfer payment.
Disappeared on January 21, 2019, the player will receive a tribute from FC Nantes on Sunday in Ligue 1 against Bordeaux, training club of Sala, with a special jersey in the colors of Argentina, a huge tifo and a minute of applause. In Cardiff, supporters are invited to come and honor his memory on Tuesday outside the stadium and a religious ceremony is planned for the afternoon.
- What happened ? -
A year ago, Emiliano Sala, 28, spent the day on January 21 in Nantes to settle his departure and greet his teammates. Author of an excellent start to the season with 12 goals, he has just signed up for Cardiff, where his salary, according to media reports, will be multiplied by six.
At 7.15 p.m., he left for Cardiff aboard a small passenger plane. But around 8:20 p.m., the plane disappeared from radar off the Channel Island of Guernsey.
The searches to find the player and the pilot David Ibbotson, 59, are interrupted after three days but private searches launched by the family thanks to an internet subscription make it possible to locate the plane and recover a body, formally identified on February 8 as that of Sala.
Arrived young in France and trained in Bordeaux, then loaned to different clubs (Orléans, Niort, Caen), Sala was not an exceptional player. But he was an endearing man and since his arrival in Nantes in 2015, he had managed to make forget his slightly awkward allures and his rudimentary technique thanks to hard work and precious realism.
- Who is responsible for the drama? -
The flight was organized by the British pilot David Henderson, at the request of the intermediary Willie McKay and his son Mark, the agent mandated by Nantes to carry out the transfer of Sala, who declare to have paid the entire trip .
Cardiff claims for its part to have offered a commercial flight to the player, who declined it, even if he was worried before takeoff of the state of the small plane.
However, this single-engine Piper PA-46 Malibu was not authorized to carry out commercial flights and its pilot, David Ibbotson, was not authorized to transport paying passengers. It is also unclear whether he was allowed to fly at night.
Sala died of "head and trunk injuries" according to the autopsy report. He was also exposed - as was the pilot also in all likelihood - to a level of carbon monoxide which could cause convulsions, loss of consciousness or heart attack.
In June, British police arrested and quickly released David Henderson. According to several media, the Cardiff club plans to file a complaint in France against the latter, the McKay clan and perhaps also FC Nantes, at least for negligence.
- Where is the transfer procedure? -
When signing the transfer on January 19, 2019, Cardiff agreed to pay 17 million euros in three installments, half of which Nantes would then return to Bordeaux. This is the most expensive transfer in Cardiff history and for the Welsh club, which has since returned to the 2nd division, the blow is tough.
Nantes is claiming these payments, claiming that the International Transfer Certificate (CIT) was received on Monday January 21, before the accident. Cardiff, for his part, mentions "anomalies" in the transfer and ensures that the investigation into the responsibilities in the accident could have an impact.
In late September, Fifa ordered Cardiff to honor a first payment of 6 million euros, on pain of being banned from transfer window for 18 months. But Cardiff appealed to the Sports Arbitral Tribunal (CAS).
"Cardiff and Nantes have agreed on the schedule for the written procedure, which should last until around the end of April. A hearing will then have to be scheduled. A priori, a final decision should not take place before June", a explained to AFP Matthieu Reeb, secretary general of the CAS in Lausanne.
© 2020 AFP