Wants to become Estonia’s association boss
©IMAGO
Ragnar Klavan (39) has ended his career as a professional footballer. The former Augsburg player, who gave FCA the third-highest sales amount in club history in 2016, has been kicking the ball at Kalev Tallinn in recent years. The central defender has also been active there as president since 2016, when he was still at Liverpool. “Today I say goodbye to my first love,” said the 130-time national player on Instagram on Tuesday.
Klavan highlighted his career highlights as reaching the European Championship qualifying playoffs before the 2012 tournament; Estonia finished the group in second place behind Italy. On the other hand, the Champions League final with Liverpool FC was one of his greatest moments, even though he was only able to watch the game from the sidelines in the 3-1 defeat against Real Madrid.
The Reds had paid 5 million euros to FC Augsburg to bring Klavan to England; For the player who was born in the USSR, it was always wishful thinking. “At the age of 13, it was a dream to get into top English football. It took 17 years, but it was done,” summarized Klavan. The fact that Liverpool became a traditional club was “the icing on the cake”. Looking back on his career, Klavan stated: “There were difficult moments – but if I could, I would do this trip again in a heartbeat.”
Klavan can look back on 24 years as a professional footballer, four of them with 140 appearances at FC Augsburg. Klavan also played more than 100 games in the Netherlands with Heracles Almelo and AZ Alkmaar; including the championship title in 2009. He won the title twice in 2003 and 2004 with Flora Tallinn. In Italy he also played for Cagliari Calcio. His next dream relates again to the topic of the national team. Klavan announced that he wants to run for president of the Estonian Football Association in 2025.
