Ragnar Klavan, the center-back who played for Liverpool between 2016 and 2018, has announced a bold plan to become the President of the Estonian FA.
He made 130 senior appearances for the Estonian national team during his career. Klavan and Aivar Pohlak, who has been in the post for 18 years, are the only candidates running. The election will come in June and Klavan is confident of victory.
“The win will come,” he is quoted as saying by ERR. “Since we began this journey on December 10, our team has taken major steps forward. I just had a gut feeling that people were waiting for change. But there wasn’t yet the 40-plus member ‘yes’ or even enough votes to file a candidacy. Just a sense that change is needed and expected in Estonian football.”
To win the election, Klavan would need to get the support of teams in the Estonian league. But he says that some sides don’t want to publicly state their advocacy of him for fear of upsetting Pohlak.
“[There] are probably 20 or so who said they don’t want to do it publicly, which for me raises questions about the current leadership style,” Klavan said. “They don’t want to attach their name to it and risk facing the current president’s disapproval.
“There is definitely still some uncertainty. There are 106 members who will ultimately vote for the president of the football association, and those 40+ are the ones who’ve specifically said ‘yes, Ragnar, we believe in you and will vote for you.’ There are still many who are undecided.
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“There are some I haven’t met with yet. There’s still time until June 19. But we’re working every day and doing everything we can to make sure the right person becomes president of the football association on June 19.”
Klavan said some clubs wanted him to bring fresh leadership, to listen to their input, and involve them more in shaping Estonian soccer. Many are said to be frustrated by being overlooked given Estonia remains ranked 121st in the FIFA rankings.
That is slightly worse than the 118th it attained in 1993, shortly after it gained independence, and well below its peak of 57th. Klavan also said the key to raising the level of Estonian soccer lies in heavily investing in coaching, an area he feels can be improved.
Klavan, now 39, played for Elva, Tulevik and Flora in Estonia. He then moved to Heracles Almelo and AZ Alkmaar in the Netherlands, and FC Augsburg in Germany. After Liverpool, he moved to Cagliari and then came back to play his last couple of seasons in Estonia with Paide Linnameeskond and JK Tallinna Kalev before retiring a few months ago.
