Cardiff's appeal over payments for the late Emiliano Sala poised to be heard by CAS

Cardiff's appeal against paying Nantes the first instalment of Emiliano Sala’s transfer fee will go before the Court of Arbitration for Sport in a two-day hearing from Thursday, but a swift resolution is not expected.

The Argentine striker died in January 2019 when the plane he was travelling in from France to the UK crashed in the English Channel.

Sala was joining Cardiff, then a Premier League club, in a €17m switch from the French Ligue 1 side.

The two clubs have been in dispute over fee payments, with Cardiff saying they were not liable for the full amount because Sala was not officially their player when he died.

World governing body FIFA ruled in September 2019 that Cardiff must pay for Sala, including annual interest – and if they did not, the club would be subject to a transfer embargo.

That sanction, though, is suspected pending the outcome of the CAS appeal against paying the first instalment of €6m.

FIFA found all the terms within the transfer agreement between Cardiff and Nantes had been fulfilled. At the time of the ruling, Nantes’ club lawyers issued a statement highlighting that "the legal security of the commitments made by clubs in the context of player transfers must be respected".

In confirming their intention to appeal, Cardiff said FIFA had reached its conclusion "on a narrow aspect of the overall dispute" and there "remains clear evidence that the transfer agreement was never completed in accordance with multiple contractual requirements which were requested by Nantes, thereby rendering it null and void".

A final decision on what are likely to be complex legal arguments is not expected to be announced for some time.

In line with regular CAS practice, only the parties and the members of the arbitration panel