Cardiff has been asked to pay French club Nantes €6 million in connection to the signing of Emiliano Sala in January.
The Argentinian died when the aircraft he was traveling in from France to the UK to complete his move to the Welsh side crashed in the English Channel.
The Bluebirds had contended that they could not be held liable for the €15 million fee because Sala had not registered as a Premier League player.
But Fifa’s player status committee has resolved that they must pay the amount equivalent to the first installment of that fee.
A statement from the committee read:
“In a meeting held on September 25th, 2019, the Fifa players’ status committee established that Cardiff must pay Nantes the sum of €6,000,000, corresponding to the first installment due in accordance with the transfer agreement concluded between the parties on January 19th, 2019 for the transfer of the late Emiliano Sala from Nantes to Cardiff.
“The Fifa players’ status committee, which never lost sight of the specific and unique circumstances of this tragic situation during its deliberations on the dispute at stake, refrained from imposing procedural costs on the parties.
“The findings of the decision were notified to the parties concerned today. Within a deadline of 10 days, Cardiff and Nantes can request a copy of the grounds of the decision, which can be appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne.”
Reports say that Cardiff was planning to appeal the verdict at the Court of Arbitration for Sport.