Cardiff City ordered to provide documents by Nantes Commercial Court over death of Emiliano Sala and ‘delusional’ €122m claims | OneFootball

Cardiff City FC have been ordered to provide documents regarding part of their €122m claims in economic damages towards FC Nantes following the accidental death of Emiliano Sala. The plane carrying the Argentine striker from Nantes to Cardiff tragically crashed into the sea near Guernsey on January 21st, 2019.

The Championship club were relegated during the 2018-2019 Premier League season and Cardiff City FC believe they would have stayed up had Sala not died. The Welsh outfit then got in touch with Analytics FC, which specializes in “football data science”. Cardiff City believe that, taking into account Sala’s expected goals, and the team’s expected points, a probability that the club would have managed to avoid a Championship relegation could be determined.

Cardiff City then sued FC Nantes for €122m due to this loss of chance and value. The Bluebirds continue to claim said amount to Les Canaris. L’Equipe reports that the Nantes Commercial Court ordered the Bluebirds to provide documents relating to a €6.8m settlement from their insurance broker following the death of Sala as the court considers them as “useful to the dispute’s resolution.“

However, the court have rebuked FC Nantes’ requests for Cardiff City to hand over documents relating to the proceedings carried out against agent Willie McKay, who organized Sala’s doomed flight, as well as documents about Analytics FC’s findings. Nantes Commercial Court considers that FC Nantes are not entitled to “ask Cardiff City FC for possibly insufficient evidence“, but the Court adds that those documents will only be taken into account “if the hypotheses, methods and assumptions used are explicit, transparent and understandable.”

Furthermore, the Nantes Commercial Court compels Cardiff City FC to provide the elements requested under financial compulsion (2,000 € per day of delay under eight days). Speaking to L’Equipe, FC Nantes advisors said they merely “exercised their right to fairly fight Cardiff City’s delusional requests.”

GFFN | Bastien Cheval