The Estonian football legend was booed for his attitude towards Russian military aggression | Sports

Konstantinas Vassiljevs is an Estonian football legend.

He has played as many as 157 matches in the national team, scoring 26 goals.

The 39-year-old midfielder has played an important role in Tallinn’s “Flora” club, which he has been representing since 2019.

However, he was booed by fans at the weekend when he was brought on as a substitute.

He replaced Raun Alliks, who tied the captain’s armband.

However, then the armband did not go to the former captain of the team, K. Vassiljev, but to another player.

Flora’s coach commented on the situation. “What should I comment on? Such a decision on the status of the captain. We decided not to go into conflict with fans and other people,” soccernett.ee quoted Norbert Hurt as saying.

K. Vassiljevs got into a conflict situation with the club and the Estonian national team and its fans because of the interview he gave last month, when he spoke about Russia’s aggression in Ukraine.

One podcast talked about a joint photo of some Estonian football players with the coach of the Russian national team Valery Karpin.

K. Vassiljevs derived his idea about the war, during which the Russian army invaded and occupied a large part of Ukraine and killed thousands of people.

“If the Ukrainians win, maybe peace will come. If Russia wins, then maybe peace will come. If both sides decide to talk and agree on peace, then maybe peace will come, K. Vassiljevs said. – What people want to hear does not necessarily coincide with what I myself think and feel. That doesn’t mean I’m taking sides.”

The Estonian Football Federation also spoke

After such statements, he also lost the position of captain of the Estonian national team.

The Estonian Football Federation released the following statement: “The position of the Federation is clear: We stand for Estonia, support Ukraine and condemn Russian aggression.

Supporting Ukraine means that we condemn Russia’s war in Ukraine and will continue to condemn it. Our sincere hope is that the war will end with Ukraine regaining all its territories, we hope that this will happen as soon as possible.

Konstantinas Vassiljevs explained to us that he is a pacifist and that he is loyal to Estonia. However, taking into account the circumstances, he made the decision to resign from the position of captain of the Estonian national team.”