The two clubs had agreed an $18.45 million fee for the Argentinian striker to secure his transfer to Cardiff, then a Premier League club, during the January 2019 transfer window.

Tragically, Sala perished in a plane crash while being flown across the English Channel. His body was later recovered, but that of the plane's pilot, Dave Ibbotson, was not.

The Welsh club challenged the payment of the full fee, stating that the player had not yet been registered with the Premier League at the time of his death. But after a meeting by FIFA's player status committee, the sport's governing body ruled that City should pay to Nantes the equivalent of the first installment of the fee.

The statement read: "In a meeting held on 25 September 2019 the FIFA Players' Status Committee established that Cardiff City FC must pay FC Nantes the sum of EUR 6,000,000, corresponding to the first installment due in accordance with the transfer agreement concluded between the parties on 19 January 2019 for the transfer of the late Emiliano Sala from FC Nantes to Cardiff City FC.

"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 City FC and FC Nantes can request a copy of the grounds of the decision, which can be appealed to the Court of Arbitration for Sport in Lausanne."