Cardiff City defeated in £106m claim linked to Emiliano Sala's death
The Welsh team brought the matter before the Nantes commercial court in 2023 seeking compensation for lost revenue and additional harms experienced by Cardiff due to the player's passing.
The court's decision on Monday required Cardiff to compensate Nantes with 300,000 euros (£261k) for the emotional distress endured by the French outfit.
Sala, a 28-year-old striker, perished when the small plane transporting him to the Welsh city crashed into the English Channel on 21 January 2019, just two days after joining the then-Premier League team.
Both he and the pilot David Ibbotson lost their lives.
After a review by an expert selected by Cardiff City, the club calculated their financial setbacks at 122 million euros.
Since the tragedy involving Sala, Cardiff have dropped out of the Premier League. They now compete in the third division of English football.
"We started this legal action to ensure all facts emerged clearly and to honour the legacy of Emiliano Sala," remarked Cardiff's legal representative Celine Jones to journalists following the outcome.
"Today, we regrettably see that values like openness, honesty, and player welfare in elite football were not upheld in this judgement," she continued.
Nantes, who are facing challenges in the Ligue 1 drop zone this term, expressed satisfaction with the ruling.
"Nantes bear no responsibility for what happened," stated the club's attorney Jerome Marsaudon.
"We are glad the judges accepted our position and stated it plainly."
Cardiff contended that Nantes, via their agent Willie McKay, arranged the chartered flight carrying the player, and since the transfer was complete at the crash moment as per the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), the focus was on the flight arrangements.
In 2022, CAS determined that the deal for Sala was fully completed when he died.
The next year, FIFA, the global football authority, directed Cardiff to settle the remaining transfer payment to Nantes, which was over 11 million euros (£9.5m) from an overall 17 million euros (£14.7m).