– I often find out what reputation I have. As I am presented, I have a reputation for being principled, and for some problematic. Lise Klaveness, president of the Norwegian Football Association, is on the verge of a long election campaign to try to secure a place on UEFA’s executive committee, the most powerful board in European top football. The election campaign has been hectic, she has spent an enormous amount of time on lobbying to secure the necessary votes. Of the 55 presidents who will vote in Lisbon on Wednesday, Klaveness has had meetings with at least 40 of them, she estimates. She needs 28 votes to be elected. The NFF president himself estimates that there is a greater chance that she will not be elected, than that she will be. Lise Klaveness is one of eleven candidates for seven board seats during the Uefa congress on 5 April. Photo: Annika Byrde / NTB But the meeting with football politics at the highest level has not only been joy and sorrow for the 41-year-old, who in a short time has become a popular personality here at home. While she is praised in Norway for being honest and sincere on the outside, she feels that it is being punished internationally. “Did I go too far?” Klaveness became seriously visible on the radar after the thunderous speech she gave during the Fifa congress in Qatar last year. There she took a strong stand with Fifa and their allocation of Qatar as host nation for the football World Cup. It was her first taste of a culture she doesn’t have much left over for. She had, by directing criticism publicly, done something one should not do. After the speech, she noticed that few dared to show themselves near her. Debbie Hewitt, England’s first ever female football president, was an exception. – She was the first to sit next to me on the bus afterwards. Then she said it was a nice speech. I asked if she thought I went too far, and then she said that “then I wouldn’t have sat next to you”. She was the first to do it. We kept in touch throughout the year, and I have great respect for her, says Klaveness. NFF president Lise Klaveness believes that international football is characterized by a culture of fear on the confederation’s side. Photo: Heiko Junge / NTB – People shunned you? – I was completely new, so I didn’t know what to expect from culture. There was a lot of global interest in this speech, I received many inquiries from various teams, but not so many football presidents. I noticed that in Doha, and I probably expected that we talked about it, or that colleagues brought it up. But you probably do that on a two-man basis, so it was a hard lesson in the “business as usual culture” in football politics, she says. – Incredibly unpleasant Klaveness describes himself as an emotional person. The NFF president feels it on her body when she goes against the flow. – I find it incredibly unpleasant to be perceived as a problem. But I understand the culture and don’t take things personally, I play a role. I have also been a judge in the court, and it is never pleasant to imprison someone, for example. I thought about that every time. It does not change the drive to do the right thing. Not feeling the same in a room makes you feel a pressure, but it goes away when you leave the room and analyze that you would do it again, she says. Instead of getting scared of bullets, Klaveness has chosen to continue in the same track. The election campaign she has run to get a place on the Uefa board has been characterized by great openness about who she is and what she stands for. Lise Klaveness is completely open about who she is and what she stands for. Photo: Norwegian Football Association – Swearing and irritation As she herself says: She has become visible in sensitive matters and speaks openly about these things in the media. – But there is no culture for this, you don’t run open election campaigns and present your issues. But then I wonder, how do you know who to vote for? she asks rhetorically. Klaveness says that she is triggered when people tell her that she is too visible. It should not be the case that it is punishable to be honest about views, she believes. She suspects that this is exactly what is happening. If you mean something highly, or are too aggressive, it will quickly be used against you. The fear of not being awarded a championship, or the fear of losing power and positions, prevents people from saying what they think, believes the NFF president. – I get frustrated, because I think it is wrong that it is like this. There is cursing and irritation inside me. It has become a destructive system that we keep in place for the wrong reasons, she believes. On Wednesday, UEFA’s new board will be elected at the congress in Lisbon. Lise Klaveness (41), here together with Ståle Solbakken, is excited about the outcome. Photo: Fredrik Varfjell / NTB – A very strong culture of fear Klaveness fully understands that there are good reasons why one should not criticize oneself externally. But there should be room for that if the criticism is constructive, she states. – There is a very strong culture of fear now, she asserts. – What do you think about that? – I think it is counterproductive and not very innovative. You are very limited when you have to guess what sanctions you will receive in a completely different area. If you are inedible, you will not be a good figurehead, but when you offer reasonable criticism of something in a completely different field, there should be no connection (with what consequences you get). And it is not certain that it is. It is extremely important to change this, and many people want it. It’s cooler to work in a place where you trust each other, where you can separate the matter from the person. I think there are many cool and decent people, so I believe in change, she says. She declined the opportunity to stand for election in the female category where there had been only one opponent. Klaveness would rather, for reasons of principle, run in the open category where 11 candidates are fighting for seven places on a Uefa board that has a total of 20 people. Made a settlement with the Danish president Therefore, the path to the board is also far more complicated. Among other things, she is fighting against Denmark’s football president Jesper Møller, who is up for re-election. Klaveness has previously been open that she found it difficult to have a conversation with Møller when she had to decide in January whether to stand for election or not. – This is not a person I know, but we have become acquainted. I was disappointed that we didn’t get to talk before the deadline. For various reasons, he was not available, and that’s the way it is, she replies. Lise Klaveness will soon stand for election at the Uefa congress in Lisbon. Photo: Javad Parsa / NTB During the Fifa Congress in Rwanda’s capital Kigali in mid-March, she took the opportunity to say this directly to Møller himself. – I said we could talk earlier, as I was keen to hear if he was going to stand for election. I read that in the media. He sits on the “exco” (the Uefa board, “executive committee”) and feels he represents Norway and manages power on our behalf. Then I think it’s important that we talk together, so I think that was disappointing. But he may have had his reasons, says Klaveness. – What did he say to you? – I never refer from conversations, but we collaborate closely in the Nordics. It was just a matter of leaving it behind. I wanted to speak while colleagues were listening that I think we should talk together. I spoke up and he made a note of it. The Danish Football Association does not recognize the plot that Møller was unavailable when she wanted to talk to him. It all had to be due to a misunderstanding, said Jakob Høyer, head of information at the Danish Football Association, to the news agency Ritzau earlier this winter. – Aftenposten recently described Møller as “someone who has had a lot of power over many years without raising his voice to any great extent”. What do you think of the way he has used his position internationally? – I will not criticize Møller, I have not followed him closely enough. The other presidents are going to pit us against each other, and I have a different appearance in how I conduct my leadership. Basically, Denmark and Norway agree on many things, she replies. – Amazing to me But this is also where Klaveness comes up with one of his clearest positions. The composition of the Uefa board is more geographically based than she thought in advance, and it speaks against her that Møller also represents the Nordic region. Klaveness believes it is wrong to emphasize where in the world the candidates come from rather than what they stand for and what expertise they contribute. She reacts strongly to the fact that many football associations in Europe seem to be more concerned with geographical balance than gender balance. – Football is the world’s biggest women’s sport, but is not represented at all on the UEFA board. I feel a responsibility to stand, of course because I am qualified, but also because I am the first female president from Norway to stand for election. It is surprising to me that other balance factors are very important, but not this one, says Klaveness. Thinks Ceferin could be the key On Wednesday, the election will be held in Lisbon. news’s sports commentator Jan Petter Saltvedt does not think it is as obvious that Klaveness is as hopeless as many have predicted in advance. – I think the key here is whether the Uefa president (Aleksander Ceferin) himself is so interested in bringing in a non-quota woman that he has sent stronger signals in internal discussions and more informal forums that it is time to bring in both a woman, and at the same time one who is so untraditional in her approach to football pampering. In any case, this election campaign is a good investment in positions for the next election, where her chances can quickly be much better, speculates Saltvedt. The NFF president admits that she is excited. – It’s a secret election, so I don’t want to believe anything about the outcome, I just go in with energy. We have given everything all the way in, because we want to get in. There is less chance of getting in this way, but still we did. If I don’t get in, this has been the start of the next campaign, she says. The Uefa congress is expected to start at 10:00 Norwegian time and last until 2:00 p.m. The candidates for the seven open seats on the Uefa board Jesper Møller Christensen* (Denmark) Philippe Diallo (France) Armand Duka* (Albania) Petr Fousek (Czech Republic) Lise Klaveness ( Norway) Levan Kobiashvili (Georgia) Andrii Pavelko* (Ukraine) Rod Petrie (Scotland) Hugo Quaderer (Liechtenstein) Luis Rubiales* (Spain) Bjorn Vassallo (Malta) *Running for re-election
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