An English football club is refusing to pay for a player that died shortly after a transfer, and could now be banned from making further signings

Getty/Cardiff City FC

Emiliano Sala died just two days after joining Cardiff City.

• Former Premier League club Cardiff City FC are still refusing to pay part of the transfer fee for the late Emiliano Sala.
• The Argentine died in a plane crash just two days after completing a $16.7 million move from FC Nantes in January, 2019.
• FIFA ordered Cardiff to pay $6.7 million to Nantes in September, however with no payment having been made, the club now face a ban on signing players for a minimum of three consecutive transfer windows.
• Nantes' lawyers told L'Equipe that Cardiff have acted in "bad faith" and had exploited Sala's death to avoid payment.
• Read more of our soccer stories here.
• Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories.

Former Premier League club Cardiff City FC has been threatened by FIFA with a lengthy transfer ban if does not pay part of the transfer fee for the late Emiliano Sala.

The Argentine completed a $16.7 transfer to Cardiff from French side FC Nantes on January 19, 2019, but died two days later in a plane crash over the English channel.

Subsequent to Sala's death, Cardiff refused to pay for the deal, claiming that he was not its player due to their being details in his employment contract that had not yet been completed.

FIFA rejected that claim, and on September 25, the Players' Status Committee (PSC) ordered the Welsh club to pay Nantes the first installment of the agreed transfer fee, amounting to a sum of $6.7 million, within 45 days of receiving the relevant bank details.

However, the fee has still not been paid, meaning Cardiff could now face a ban on registering new players for a minimum of three consecutive transfer windows.

The club is now registering an appeal against FIFA's decision to the Court of Arbitration for Sport (CAS), according to The Guardian.

FIFA has not yet made clear whether Cardiff must later pay the remaining $10 million of the original transfer fee to Nantes at a later date.

Nantes' lawyers Jerome Marsaudon and Louis-Marie Absil told L'Equipe in September after FIFA's ruling that Cardiff had exploited Sala's death to avoid payment, and acting in "bad faith."

Business Insider contacted Cardiff City for comment.

Read more:

The pilot of the missing plane carrying soccer player Emiliano Sala had said he was rusty with an airport landing system before the disappearance

Tributes from the soccer world are pouring in for Emiliano Sala, the Cardiff City soccer player whose body was recovered from a deep sea wreckage

Chris Smalling says football organizations are finally listening to players who have been racially abused, but Italy's latest horror show suggests otherwise

Arsenal captain Granit Xhaka says fans threatened to break his legs, told him to kill his wife, and wished his 'daughter gets cancer'