Football: Fifa instruct Cardiff to pay Nantes €6m for their late Argentinian player Sala's transfer

LAUSANNE (AFP) - Cardiff City must pay French club Nantes €6 million (S$9.04 million) to settle a dispute over the payment of the transfer fee for Emiliano Sala, football's world governing body Fifa said on Monday (Sept 30).

The amount corresponds to the first instalment of the €17 million fee Championship side Cardiff had agreed to pay Nantes before the Argentinian player died in a plane crash on Jan 21, while travelling to join his new Welsh club.

Cardiff, relegated from the English Premier League at the end of last season, had previously resolved not to pay any of the money even though the transfer had been completed before the accident.

The announcement from world football's governing body followed a meeting by its players' status committee.

In a statement, Fifa said it had "never lost sight of the specific and unique circumstances of this tragic situation during its deliberations on the dispute at stake".

Both clubs can appeal against the decision to the Swiss-based Court of Arbitration for Sport.

Ligue 1 team Nantes had previously appealed in February over Cardiff's failure to pay the €17 million they said was owed.

The small plane Sala was travelling on came down in the English Channel during a night-time flight.

His body was recovered, but that of the pilot, David Ibbotson, has never been found.

A report by Britain's Air Accidents Investigation Branch in August said that Sala and the pilot were likely exposed to "potentially fatal" levels of carbon monoxide on the plane.