With her speech at the FIFA Congress in Doha, Lise Klaveness (41) has generated worldwide attention. In the current issue of “FE:male view on football”, Norway’s federation president talks about the background that led to her remarkable performance – and the resistance she had to overcome.
“At least one courageous woman attacks Qatar and Infantino head on “At the FIFA Congress in Doha, the Norwegian President was the only one who dared to say what was on the minds of many football fans. She criticised both the FIFA leadership and the World Cup host Qatar in no uncertain terms, earning much support from around the world. Her speech was even compared to Martin Luther King’s “I have a dream” speech.
But the response was not universally positive – especially in official circles. “Before I went on stage, I realised it was going to be controversial,” Klaveness tells the current issue of FE:male view on football. “Some people tried to stop me – even nice people acting on my behalf. They tried to warn me. That it would kill me politically and that it would be very difficult afterwards. And it is. It is hard. “
While Klaveness had “realised that a great many people agreed with me”, the finger she had put in FIFA’s wound had apparently made many uncomfortable. “I had the feeling that many thought, ‘Okay, now you’ve said it. Now try to talk about other things.’ Overall, it was not a welcome event.”
FIFA President Gianni Infantino, whom Klaveness had also clearly criticised, had told the Norwegian several times beforehand. The day before the speech, she had “addressed my intention because I don’t want to be a fake person, but he didn’t respond. “
Klaveness also takes a clear stance on her motivation for giving the speech in the podcast. The backstory, she says, began while she was still Technical Director. At an extraordinary congress of the Norwegian association in 2020, a boycott of the World Cup in Qatar was voted against, but a more far-reaching initiative was taken – “one of which was to criticise FIFA at the congress,” says Klaveness. “After I was elected president, I immediately started writing the speech.”
Because there wasn’t much time: Klaveness had only been in office as president of the association for about three weeks when she stood up to the establishment in Doha. By her own admission, she had previously “said no three times” to the Norwegian election committee. The reason: “I never wanted to be a politician. I was afraid of not saying what we think.” She quickly dispelled this concern – at least for herself.
