“Is there something you’re missing?” asked the man next to me. It was in Nyon, Switzerland, at the beginning of November, and I stood gazing at a stone wall on the ground floor of a large, elegant building right down on the shores of Lake Geneva, with a view across to Mont Blanc on clear days. This was one such. The minimalist glass building is the headquarters of the European football confederation, Uefa. On the stone wall hung a number of portraits, 20 in number. 19 of them were men. I glanced again at the man in a suit next to me. It was the president of Uefa, Aleksander Ceferin. UEFA PRESIDENT: Ceferin has been president of Uefa since 2016. Photo: LEONHARD FOEGER / Reuters “Perhaps it should have been possible to make room for more women,” I replied. “I promise you we’ll try, but it’s not that easy to find the right ones”. Ceferin looked down at my nameplate, with the Norwegian flag, and smiled. “Maybe you know someone?” The portrait was of Uefa’s so-called executive committee. The innermost core of European football. Among these a Swede, a Dane, a Qatari – and a single woman, Florence Hardouin, a former fencer from France. She is also quotated. The statutes for the committee state that at least one member must be female. The one Ceferin was referring to, who could perhaps be number two, is of course Lise Klaveness. A frustrating attempt Since then, Lise Klaveness has spent the start of the World Cup having meetings with other football leaders, in the hope of putting further focus on human rights issues in the country hosting the World Cup. The look on her face when she returned didn’t exactly indicate that she felt she had succeeded. Klaveness never got the desired meeting with Gianni Infantino. And she probably managed to feel even more the powerlessness Western Europeans have been exposed to the whole world since the World Cup started, before she came home and just became the president of a football association that is not qualified for the World Cup again. On Thursday, she instead spoke about possible changes to the play-off arrangement for the Toppserien during a press meeting at the Ullevaal stadium. Because it has never been clearer than now who decides in the big world of football. Infantino’s excellent instincts Fifa president Gianni Infantino started the World Cup with a speech that sometimes appeared slightly absurd. THUNDER SPEECH: Infantino held an almost hour-long monologue at the start of the World Cup. Photo: MATTHEW CHILDS / Reuters Where many instead thought he would reduce the level of conflict and encourage football parties and toleration, he instead went for a frontal attack on Western Europe. Where many thought this could trigger a backlash, in the form of a kind of revolution against a corrupt and autocratic Fifa board, the opposite has happened in many ways. Where many thought Europe should show the world how important the fight for universal human rights is to football, their statements have instead been accused of being racist and imperialist. The world has turned on Europe in anger – and only Infantino saw it coming. The apparent Germans And if the morale of the battle for the World Cup trophy was about a few rainbow-coloured captain’s armbands, the seven European countries in question lost long before it came to extra time. Because Fifa made vague threats of sanctions that could in the worst case mean a yellow card. Yellow card. That was all it took to end the game. The only form of protest of this kind that has been seen during the World Cup is a German team photo with their hands in front of their mouths, as a symbol of a lack of freedom of expression. Germany also apparently threatened to take Fifa to the sport’s highest court, CAS, to have the captain’s armband ban reviewed. Which they never did. Instead, a smiling German Chancellor Olof Schultz announced the conclusion of a 15-year agreement with Qatar for the supply of liquefied natural gas. Since then, no Germans said anything more about human rights. But Gianni Infantino could tell the world that this had been “the best group stage ever” in a World Cup. When the final comes on Sunday, Infantino would have already told the world that this has been the best World Cup ever. MARKERTE: This is how the German national team players posed before the World Cup match against Japan. Photo: INA FASSBENDER / AFP Infantino until 2031 Gianni Infantino’s position in Fifa has never been stronger. During the next Fifa congress, the one in Rwanda in March, he will be re-elected without an opponent. MDG’s newly elected leader Arild Hermstad thought here at home that Lise Klaveness should run herself. If that had happened, it would have been a victory if she had received support from a double-digit number of member states. Out of 211. The Nordic countries have actually tried to find a counter-candidate, but without success. Not surprising. The only one with a real possibility of getting some support had been the aforementioned Uefa president, Aleksander Ceferin, who has criticized Infantino several times. But the time to challenge him is not now, and Ceferin knows that well. In another four years, Infantino will be re-elected again. Only in 2031 will a new president take over. After Infantino has had 15 years to secure his legacy, also in the form of the heir. Champions League under pressure For Ceferin, the most important thing now will be to strengthen the position of Uefa at club level. Because their crown jewel, the Champions League, is under constant pressure – from those who want to create a super league, as we saw last year, but also from Fifa, which is toying with plans to expand its Club World Cup quite significantly – and through this could be a much bigger competitor for the Champions League. ANGRY: The plans for a super league were not well received by fans when it was launched last year. Photo: Geoff Caddick / AFP The first plans for an expanded Club World Cup had China as the intended organiser. Now Saudi Arabia is a much more likely host. And in the long run, there is no reason why there will not be an attempt to make this an ongoing tournament for the biggest club teams in the world. All the most important, best and most lucrative football outside the World Cup is still European. The best players in the best clubs in the best leagues. But the club names are no longer symbols of true love, they are pure brands. Symptomatically, two of the biggest clubs in the world are now more or less officially put up for sale, Liverpool and Manchester United. The potential buyers come from the Middle East, India and the USA. No one from Europe is mentioned. Europe – football’s outdated nobility Europe represents in many ways the old, inherited money, the outdated nobility. Where it is no longer the case that it is barons, counts and dukes who rule the world, but instead more and more of their venerable castles are bought up by fresher capital from other parts of the world. And get owners who like to show off their almost limitless wealth a little too much – and not least the friends who come with it. Of the Gianni Infantino type. NEAR: Infantino sat with the crown prince of Saudi Arabia, Mohammed bin Salman during the opening ceremony of the World Cup. Photo: MANAN VATSYAYANA / AFP He who has been living in Qatar for some time now. And uses every opportunity to brag freely about his friends in neighboring Saudi Arabia. Anyone who still thinks it is unlikely that the World Cup could end there in 2030, i.e. in just eight years, must think again. And in that case, the biggest football festival of all is out of Western European hands until at least 2034. It certainly doesn’t help to strengthen Europe’s position either. The way up the wall These are the challenges that Lise Klaveness will now be involved in and take on. The momentum she brought with her from her speech during the Fifa congress in Qatar earlier this year is about to disappear. When the World Cup is soon over and Qatar is once again left to fend for itself, she and Europe will have to think again. For our football president, the first goal on the road should be to become the second woman in UEFA’s executive committee. If something like that is to happen, either Swedish Karl-Erik Nilsson or Danish Jesper Møller will probably have to go out. The latter had a moment of clarity when he surprisingly went out against Fifa at a press conference in Qatar, but has otherwise been criticized for a long time, especially in his own home country, for being too servile, too vague and too vague. Lise Klaveness would mean renewal and new dynamics within Uefa. And that she can take a place on the wall in Nyon – as a woman who is not quota-wise, which happens to be another one of these things that we here in Europe believe the world would have benefited from learning from.
ttn-69
Next match for Klaveness – news Sport – Sports news, results and broadcasting schedule
