Soccer-French League to pay tribute to Sala with minute's applause

All Ligue 1 and 2 games will hold a minute's applause before kick-off in memory of former Nantes player Emiliano Sala, whose body has been retrieved from the wreckage of a crashed plane in the English Channel, the French League said on Friday. Argentine Sala, 28, had been flying from Nantes in western France to Wales on Jan. 21 to make his debut for Premier League team Cardiff City when the single-engined Piper Malibu aircraft disappeared over the sea.

Wreckage was found on Sunday following a privately-funded underwater search and a body recovered on Wednesday and taken to southern England. "Tonight and during the whole weekend, we will all be united in paying a last tribute to Emiliano before the matches kick off," LFP President Nathalie Boy de la Tour said in a statement.

(Reporting by Julien Pretot; Editing by Peter Rutherford)