Sports
Aleksandr Filimonov
Russian keeper caught offside by alimony
Published 12 July, 2009, 16:51
Former keeper for Russia Aleksandr Filimonov has been ordered to pay 700,000 roubles (approximately $22,500) of alimony payment he owes to his ex-wife, Komsomolskaya Pravda newspaper reports.
Court enforcement officers together with TV journalists were waiting for him in one of Moscow’s airports as the 36-year-old was scheduled to fly to Uzbekistan, where he plays for Lokomotiv Tashkent.
Having paid no heed to the law the footballer was surprised to learn that the court decision actually forbids him from leaving Russia.
“He’s not paying alimony to his daughters [five-year-old Sasha and nine-year-old Anna] and he’s not living his wife. So she sued him in order to make him pay 700,000 roubles. Filimonov knows about it, but refuses to pay. So we have to use extreme measures,” Galina Kozlova, Head of Enforcement Officers of Khimki Court, said.
The court official had brought a tazer along with her as she was afraid the keeper might resist.
“He’s two meters tall,” she explained.
Instead, thankfully, Filimonov was so surprised to see the court enforcement officers that he signed all the needed papers right in front of the cameras.
“From now on he has to pay a third of his income to his daughters,” Galina Kozlova said.
If the Tashkent keeper doesn’t do so he may face up to two years in prison.
Aleksandr Filimonov won the Russian Premier League title six times with Spartak Moscow. He was also Russia’s No.1 player, but lost the position after his dreadful blooper in a game against Ukraine, which didn’t let the team take part in Euro 2000.
