Pareiko Issues Ultimatum, About to Quit Russian Club
Estonian national football team goalkeeper Sergei Pareiko has told his club side FC Volga Nizhny Novgorod they have until today to pay the over four months of unpaid salary to him, or he will walk out on Tuesday.
Pareiko, 37, told Postimees today he will return to Estonia on Wednesday and forward the case to UEFA, having promised to sort out his club situation after the national team lost to both Lithuania and England in recent qualifying games.
The goalkeeper said he will go to Poland at the end of October, then return to Estonia to train with FC Levadia before the national team friendly game against Norway, on November 12, and the Euro 2016 qualifier against San Marino three days later.
Pareiko, and nine other players rejected a 40 percent salary cut in August, and all were ejected from the first team and made to train alone.
He said in August that all parties hoped to end the contract, as the league season in Russia just began and it would prove hard selling a 37-year-old player, but the two parties did not reach an agreement over compensation.
Pareiko will now need UEFA's approval to join a new club side.
He moved to Nizhny Novgorod last year, after three seasons with Wisla Krakow of Poland, but the team was relegated at the end of the 2013/2014 season from Russia's top league.