Klaveness actually wanted to meet Infantino himself, but the Fifa president was not present at Sunday’s meeting. The Norwegian football president wanted clarifications about the president’s comments and what was actually said. Secretary General Fatma Samoura represented Fifa at the meeting. – He (Infantino) mentioned something about a compensation fund and something about a migrant center and many other things that we were worried about, says Klaveness to news. She explains that it is special that the UEFA countries meet the Fifa leadership on the opening day of the World Cup, but missed the president in the meeting. DID NOT ATTEND: Infantino was not present at the meeting with Klaveness on Sunday. Photo: DYLAN MARTINEZ / Reuters – Of course we wish Infantino was there, because of course it is highly political. But we met the general secretary and talked about what Fifa actually commits to around compensation funds and migrant centres, says Klaveness to news. – Did you feel that you got an understanding and that the compensation fund will be implemented? – No, we did not get such a clear answer. It is the first time Fifa has said anything publicly about it, and it is deliberate. They know that we are going to pursue this and got confirmation that it was a deliberate statement, and the same with the migrant centre, explains the Norwegian football president. – We can state that there is some kind of progress on the field and then we have to wait. We won’t know the answer until after the WC, and we will continue our involvement, says Klaveness. – Respect for him meeting his critics Where Infantino himself chose not to attend the meeting, World Cup manager Hassan Al Thawadi met the Norwegian football president in a separate meeting. After Klaveness’ speech at the Fifa congress, Al Thawadi was concerned that the Norwegian football president should have been asked to meet ahead of the criticism. MEETING: World Cup manager Hassan Al-Thawadi met Lise Klaveness on Sunday. Photo: Darko Bandic / AP – We have done that accordingly. We have met him once before and met him today. I respect the fact that he faces his critics, says Klaveness. She believes the Fifa president should learn from his colleague in Qatar’s World Cup committee. – Infantino should also do that as our shop steward. Hassan Al-Thawadi does it every time we ask. We respect that and it is clear that there are conversations where we disagree about many things, but we try to raise this about compensation funds, migrant centers and not least how we can use Qatar’s experiences going forward, says Klaveness. – We are very worried Klaveness says that major changes have taken place internally in Fifa since Sepp Blatter and 15 others of those who awarded the championship to Qatar had to leave the organization due to, among other things, corruption. Among other things, the awarding criteria for future championships have been changed. – On paper, there have been big, big changes, but we are very concerned about the statements recently. I and several Uefa countries agree, believe that you do not use the opportunity you have when you meet the world press and your members to really say that universal human rights are the basis for all our activities, says Klaveness and continues: – It is not politics , there is a framework around what we do. Infantino was elected on that, and that must apply to the organization. Instead, they use the opportunity to push back and that worries us a lot, she concludes.
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Klaveness confronted the Fifa management after Infantino’s speech – news Sport – Sports news, results and broadcasting schedule
