Russian club beat me up to break contract: player
A Montenegrin footballer has complained to FIFA and UEFA that his Russian club Kuban Krasnodar violently coerced him into breaking a contract under threat of leaving him damaged for life, local media reported Tuesday. Nikola Nikezic's contract was due to run until 2012 but he has alleged he was forced to pull out of the deal after being beaten up and threatened with permanent physical damage. "I signed a two-year deal with Kuban in March 2010 and helped the club to win promotion into the Premier League last year," Kommersant daily quoted Nikezic as saying. "However, this year club chiefs said they do not need my services any more and offered me to break the contract. But I refused, asking the club for a transfer move." The player added that the club, which is presided by the Krasnodar region governor Alexander Tkachev, refused to trade him to any other side after he refused to break the deal. Nikezic also said that on March 7, the club manager invited him to come to the club's training base, where the manager once again proposed that he break his contract with the club. "After my refusal two strongmen came into the room and started to beat me badly, threatening me with maiming and demanding that I sign some papers," Nikezic said. "It lasted for about 20 minutes," he added. "After that I felt myself completely exhausted and signed the papers." The accusations will prove embarrassing for Russia, which is keen to promote a clean domestic game ahead of its hosting of the World Cup in 2018. After consulting representatives of the players and coaches' union, Nikezic decided to lodge an official complaint with European and world football ruling bodies UEFA and FIFA. "I decided to go for it, all the way," the player said. "I don't believe in an impartial investigation of the case by the Russian Football Union and decided to appeal to FIFA and UEFA." The club meanwhile denied the allegations, calling the Nikezic's story 'improbable'. "I met with Nikola (Nikezic) and talked to him," Kuban press spokesman Vyacheslav Ivanov told the newspaper. "Some time ago he experienced certain problems when he failed to win a place in the team line-up. He told me he was seeking a new club but issued no complaints at all." Vladimir Prigoda, the press officer of Krasnodar region governor Alexander Tkachev, who presides Kuban Krasnodar football club, refused from any comments on the case, adding that he knew nothing about it. Russian Premier League chiefs refused to comment on the case but said they had demanded an explanation from Kuban officials. "We still have no comment," the league's executive manager Sergei Cheban told the press. "We have asked Kuban officials for information on the case. We still do not have any other information besides the newspaper article. But Kuban is a league member and we feel responsible for the club." The all-Russian football players trade union general manager, Alexander Zotov, advised Nikezic to begin legal proceedings against the guilty parties, and to ask the police to investigate. "If this story is true, the people guilty of organising and executing this act of violence should be punished as criminals. If the club management really initiated this, they don't belong in Russian football."
