Klaveness is in the middle of an election campaign that will be decided at the Uefa congress in Lisbon on April 5. She has already met with a number of football presidents, and far more are on the way. The NFF and Klaveness have, according to their own words, gone “a little under the radar”. There has been an election campaign on social media, and she has given several interviews about her candidacy, including to The Guardian. It is perhaps a slightly surprising strategy for a president who turned down twice Norwegian football’s most important position. – I don’t like it. The reason, Klaveness explains, is because she wants attention around the issues. Facts about the NFF’s international strategy The proposal for an international strategy was unanimously adopted at the NFF parliament on 5 March. The strategy contains a number of prioritized tasks, including: Prepare international analysis and supplementary strategic plan, human rights policy and handbook for Norwegian football. Take an active part in, be clear and insight-based in international value debates that are relevant to football, including being a pusher for the football organizations to be proactive guardians of football and the basic values in it. Proactively build broad collaborations and coalitions with national and international authorities, business and other like-minded associations/nations to influence situations of social and geopolitical unrest and crises. Work actively to ensure that the international football organizations comply with regulations for openness, inclusion, anti-corruption and the protection of fundamental human rights, including when awarding championships. The strategy also involves working for equal opportunities for both sexes, the UN’s Sustainable Development Goals, and strengthening Norwegian football’s impact internationally by being represented in important international forums. Source: NFF, case file 2023. She tries not to see it as a personal election campaign. – I can’t do it, I haven’t done it before, and I know it’s about issues that are bigger than myself. So I try to arrange meetings with people, and that I don’t go and mingle, because I can’t do that, says Klaveness. Klaveness is honest about the fact that she is not that comfortable with promoting herself. When asked what it is like to run a personal election campaign, she replies: – No, I don’t like it. I don’t get energy from it, either. I get energy from the fact that I have faith in things. The football president explains that she has no desire to join the Uefa board if there is no pressure on the issues she and the NFF are passionate about. UP FOR ELECTION: Denmark’s football president Jesper Møller (left) is running for re-election as a Uefa board member. Here in dialogue with Fifa president Gianni Infantino during the Qatar World Cup. Photo: LEE SMITH / Reuters At the Football Parliament on 5 March, a united Football-Norway stood behind an international strategy, which will provide a clear direction for the NFF’s international involvement. The priorities involve work for human rights, participation and equality, and against sports laundering and corruption. At the same time, the NFF must work to gain international influence, and here, of course, a board seat in Uefa will be an important step. Thinks she is losing votes – We don’t have that much money, we don’t come in with capital other than commitment and knowledge. And our members’ commitment. Then it must come out clearly in the election campaign, and that is why we have chosen to go a little under the radar. Nobody else does it, so it’s probably not that tactical, says Klaveness. – Not tactical? – None of the other candidates go out on social media and talk to the press like we do. We are aware of it in order to get a certain movement and an openness in the culture, which is very closed and very one-on-one with the presidents. We think that is part of the problem. – Do they fear that it could turn out negatively? – Yes, of course it is when no one else does it. These are rational people, and when an arrangement is like that, it is probably because it is not wise. It is you who will vote for me, and if you notice that you are being pressured by one opinion, then you would like to vote for another. It’s one-to-one after all. It has not been an open commitment to anyone other than UEFA’s president. So then it would have been wise to lie low and make many friends, says Klaveness. She says that she does not feel that their more challenging line has made some enemies, but: – Ever since the speech, we continued to challenge a little publicly, so it will be… You lose some votes because of that, says Klaveness . Klaveness’s speech at the Fifa Congress in Doha last year can be seen here: Challenging Fifa The football world gathers at the Fifa Congress in Kigali in Rwanda on 16 March. Here, the NFF has challenged the congress to discuss whether Fifa complies with its guidelines for human rights. The backdrop is the Qatar World Cup, and if Congress believes that Fifa has not fulfilled its responsibility, the NFF wants to know how it can be. This is seen to be on the agenda in Rwanda, according to The Athletic. – We get the most and best energy from looking at the election campaign as a tool to raise those issues. If we can’t lift them properly, we’d rather try to get in next time. If it somehow cost us the table now. – But it has been a process to know it, then. We always end up there. Take Kigali (Fifa congress, jour. note) – is it so wise that we are the only ones to send that proposal after that speech when we run for elections? The other candidates agree on the proposal, but they don’t do it. It is not certain that it is what gathers votes, but we do it anyway because we think it is a very important part of the reason why we are going in. We have a somewhat principled understanding of this, then, says Klaveness. She points out that it is difficult to get in anyway. 19 out of 20 Uefa board members are men, and Klaveness has, as is well known, chosen to run for ordinary elections instead of competing for the quota women’s place. A choice which in itself helps to emphasize why she is running.
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Klaveness thinks she is losing votes in her own election campaign – news Sport – Sports news, results and broadcasting schedule
