Vassiljev hangs up his boots and takes charge of FC Flora
Image credit: Brit Maria Tae
Estonian long-time national team captain Konstantin Vassiljev, who had recently announced an end to his professional playing career, has been unveiled as the new manager of FC Flora.
Vassiljev holds the record for appearances for the Estonian national team at 158 caps, having made his debut back in 2006. During this time, he scored 26 goals and was chosen at Estonian player of the year three times and as Premium liiga best player three times. In 2011, he was also honoured with the ‘Citizen of the Year’ award by the Estonian state.
Flora, who have been struggling this season and only managed to finish fourth in Premium liiga, lacked stability in the head coach department since summer, when Taavi Viik took over from Norbert Hurt without having the UEFA Pro license required for leading a club at this level. Vassiljev, who admitted to have been preparing for a managerial career for the past five or six years, revealed that hypothetical conversations about his candidacy for Flora’s top job have been ongoing for some time. He is currently studying for a Pro license, which satisfies the formal requirements not met by Viik.
I have been preparing for the last five or six years for the day when I end my career, because I definitely wanted to continue in football. During this time, we have talked hypothetically with the management of FC Flora about a coaching job, and such an option was in the air. In the end, everything went very quickly, and the club decided to give me a chance as a head coach. For me it was not a difficult decision,
The new head coach admitted that this new challenge does come with high expectations:
“The responsibility is quite big, I understand that. At the same time, there is no way to be completely ready for the challenges, as the top coaches also change clubs from time to time. You always have to start somewhere. If you are offered the opportunity to coach the representative team of FC Flora, of course you have to take it. Right now I would not like to declare anything – we will start building the team for the new season and move according to the plan. We must be competitive and fight for the championship,” he said.
Vassiljev’s retirement and managerial appointment, no doubt, comes as bitter-sweet news for Flora’s devoted supporters. Vassiljev’s lapse of judgement last year and lacklustre reaction went against the grain of Flora’s core values and history, as a club that is built around promoting and reinforcing Estonian national identity. The controversy arose after former Estonian international Andrei Stepanov posted a photo on social media of himself having a pre-New Year 2023 dinner alongside Konstantin Vassiljev and FC Flora striker Sergei Zenjov, assistant coach Andres Oper and several other Estonian ex-internationals accompanied by a Russia national team head coach Valeri Karpin. As a result of the backlash, Vassiljev gave up captaincy of the national team and the Estonian Football Federation issued the following statement:
The association recaps a clear and unanimous position: We stand for Estonia, in support of Ukraine, and oppose Russia’s aggression.
Support for Ukraine inherently means that we are opposed to Russia’s war in Ukraine, and we have condemned it and continue to condemn it. It is our earnest hope that the war ends with Ukraine regaining control over all its territory, and as quickly as possible,
Konstantin Vassiljev explained to us that he is inherently a pacifist and in every sense loyal to Estonia. In comprehending the current realities, he opted to step down as captain of the Estonian men’s national team. The board respects Vassiljev’s decision, and has no doubts about his loyalty.
Some Estonian internationals came out to defend Vassiljev, including Ragnar Klavan, who explained the situation from his point of view and said in an interview to ETV that:
He also stated that he is a pacifist, so if he had to choose a side, the implication is that he is okay with the deaths of people on the opposing side. This is his personal stance. I personally asked Kostja the day before what would be the case if a similar situation came to our doorstep? His answer was that if his homeland, the Republic of Estonia, is attacked, he will be ready to defend it
