Cardiff City have submitted their evidence to FIFA over the dispute with Nantes around the £15million transfer fee for Emiliano Sala.
The unprecedented legal wrangle centres around whether Sala was a Cardiff or Nantes player when the plane he was flying in crashed into the English Channel on the evening of January 21.
The club had unveiled the Argentine striker as their club-record signing two days earlier, but said the move was subject to clearance from the relevant authorities.
French club Nantes have taken the matter to FIFA after the Bluebirds withheld the first of three annual £5m instalments of the payment.
Cardiff were then granted an extension from FIFA on a deadline to present their case, which saw Cardiff request direct talks with Nantes , which came after FIFA president Gianni Infantino spoke about his wish for the two clubs to reach an agreement. Those talks have not happened, so now the matter looks likely to be settled by the governing body.
A club statement reads: "Cardiff City FC has today submitted its answer to FIFA in response to the claim filed by FC Nantes on 26 February, 2019."
It's understood that one key aspect to Cardiff's response is, simply, a lack of contract.
Sala is understood to have wanted his signing-on fee up front, but Premier League rules do not allow this, so this contract was rejected.
New contract terms were negotiated for much of the day on January 21 - the day of the fateful flight - but the light aircraft had already taken off from Nantes before the new terms could be put before Sala for his consideration.
It is thought that Sala would have been able to refuse the new terms and opted to join a different club had he wanted to, as he was not a Cardiff player at the time.
Also included in the detailed submission to FIFA are various details of legally-binding clauses in a transfer agreement set out by Nantes. It is Cardiff's case that not all of these clauses were fulfilled, rendering the deal null and void.
It's understood that Nantes, who would have received bonuses if Cardiff remain in the Premier League, requested that four terms be met for Sala to make a move to Cardiff.
They are for a medical to have been successfully completed, for Sala and Nantes to mutually agree on terms for the termination of the player's contract, for that contract termination to be registered with the Ligue de Football Professionnel (who run the game in France), and the release of an International Transfer Certificate.
The latter is what the FAW would have provided once clearance was agreed between themselves, the Ligue de Football Professionnel, Cardiff and Nantes. Such a certificate would have been required before Sala could be registered to play in different competitions.
However, it is understood the FAW had not confirmed the Sala transfer with Nantes because there were missing pieces of documentation.
Nantes' deadline for those clauses to be met was by the end of January 22, which would have provided enough time for a transfer deal to be struck elsewhere if Sala and the club had so wished.
If those four clauses of Nantes' transfer agreement were not met, then it's understood the transfer was to be ruled null and void and, in such a scenario, it would cease to have legal effect and no payment would be required.
It is not yet known how the case will be dealt with by FIFA.
FIFA do things by committee and it is likely to be looked at by the Players’ Status Committee, which "monitors compliance with the regulations on the status and transfer of players".
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