Russian Footballer Berezucky’s Decision to Move to Spain for World Peace and Sporting Opportunities

Forty-one-year-old Berezucky, the owner of the bronze medal from Euro 2008 and more than a hundred starts for the Russian national team, the winner of the UEFA Cup in the 2004/2005 season with CSKA Moscow, ended his active career in 2018. He started a coaching career, worked in the implementation team of Krasnodar and CSKA. But he ended up in Russia and currently resides in Spain.

Among other things, in order not to live in a country that in February 2022 unleashed military aggression in Ukraine. “Right now I’m dreaming of world peace. It’s time for peace and security. It’s time for humanity to wake up and recognize that some things are unnecessary,” Berezucky said to journalist Nobel Arustamyan’s YouTube channel.

Originally taking refuge in Barcelona, ​​he is currently located in Marbella. He works intensively on his Spanish, he says he wants to immerse himself in the local culture as much as possible. “I’ve been here for eight months. I study the language, but not as much as I would like. Two lessons a week,” says Berezucky. “Why Marbella? It won me over with its excellent weather, cuisine and overall atmosphere. The presence of Russian compatriots with whom contact can be established also played a role. My children go to school here and I intend to live in Spain in the foreseeable future,” summed up the former professional footballer.

A similar step was recently taken by the legendary pole vaulter and Olympic champion Jelena Isinbayeva. The former supporter of Putin’s regime suddenly made a swift U-turn, moved to Spain, publicly renounced her military rank in the Russian Ministry of Defense and removed photos with Putin.

According to Berezucky, other Russian athletes who want to achieve something should also make such a decision. And that is mainly because of the large and not only financial influence of the state.

“We have to tell football players the truth. If you want to achieve something at a high level, you have to leave. If you just want to make money, you can stay. This applies not only to football players, but to all Russian athletes who want to show what they can do. And it doesn’t matter for which country, under which flag. They have spent fifteen to twenty years training and now they are telling them that they cannot start in European tournaments, that they cannot do this and that,” said the former stopper in connection with the exclusion of athletes, clubs and national teams from international competitions.

Valery Karpin, the coach of the national football team, spoke similarly a few months ago. At first he complained that it was difficult to find opponents for friendly matches. Russia has recently played matches with Kenya, Cameroon, Qatar or the Egypt under-23 team. Some Russian MPs then called Karpin a traitor. The coach also urged the players to leave for European clubs to experience better competition outside of the Premier League there. But they would probably have to publicly define this against the Putin regime.

2023-11-20 19:11:55
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