Two years later: justice for Emiliano Sala

He would have been 31 years old on October 31st. look back on the career of the footballer Emiliano Sala and his tragic death.

David Henderson, the organizer of the flight in which the footballer of FC Nantes, Emiliano Sala died, was found guilty on Thursday 28^th of October. The sitting court of Cardiff’s jury convicted by a majority of 10 to 2 by a jury, that David Henderson endangered the safety of an aircraft, his sentence will be known on November 12^th.

During the two weeks of trial, the sitting court judged David Henderson’s guilt on the crash of the Piper PA-46-310P Malibu for which he is the owner. In fact, David Ibbotson, the pilot who died with Emiliano Sala, was not supposed to fly on this airplane, he didn’t have a qualification for this type of aircraft, and he was also not qualified to fly at night.

A bright future

Emiliano Sala was born on 31^st of October 1990, in Cululu, Santa Fe in Argentina. At the age of 4, his family and himself moved to Progreso, a town in the province of Santa Fe, and Emiliano began to play Football at the Club San Martin until he was 15 years old.  In 2015, the young footballer, joined the club Proyecto Crecer (still in Argentina), this club is a subsidiary of the French club the Girondins de Bordeaux.

In 2009, Emiliano moved to Bordeaux, in France, to sign with the French subsidiary (the Girondins de Bordeaux), there, he learns to enhance his game. Over those years, the player was on loan to clubs of Ligue 2 and 3, the hard work of Emiliano paid off and in 2013 he became one of the best goal scorers of the championship. After some back and forth between clubs, in 2015 Emiliano signed with FC Nantes to play in Ligue 1, and it was a revelation. At the end of the season Emiliano became the best goal scorer of his club with 6 goals on his account. In 2018, the new coach of the club, Miguel Cardoso, preferred Kalifa Coulibaly as a striker, the club Galatasaray proposed an offer, but Nantes refused it and Emiliano remained in FC Nantes.

The player then made his best seasons, and he became one of the best strikers of his team at the same level as Kylian Mbappé with 11 goals.

January 19, 2019, Emiliano was transferred to England at the Cardiff City club, where he was committed until 2022, with a salary of 17 million euros. Sadly, Emiliano passed away only a few days after his transfer, in the flight that took him to England.

A missed player

The 21^st of January 2019, the plane where Emiliano Sala was in, disappeared over the Channel Islands near Guernsey Island. During two days the police of Guernsey tried to look for the plane wreck in vain. It was only on February 3^rd, thanks to the support of people and an appeal for donations, that the research was conclusive and that the body of Emiliano Sala was found deep in the sea, as well as the plane.

The sudden death of Emiliano Sala plunged the supporters of Nantes in a deep sadness. On Twitter, Facebook, Instagram; Football clubs, the press and people, all-presented their condolences and supports to Sala’s family.

Emiliano was buried on his native land in Argentina on February 16, 2019. Some of his old teammates came to the funeral, but also former coaches. The 26th of January 2020, to honor his memory, during Nantes-Bordeaux match, a tribute was dedicated to him. To this day, people still post messages on social network to support family and friends of Emiliano Sala. As of 31^st of October, the young man would have been 31 years old, on this day they were many to post.