February 21 – She may not have much chance of success but when Lise Klaveness runs for a position on UEFA’s executive committee in April, she will attempt to change years of male domination.
While Florence Hardouin of France will be replaced by Wales’ Laura McAllister in the one seat especially reserved for women, Klaveness (pictured) will try to do the impossible: winning a slot traditionally the property of male candidates.
The Norwegian Football Federation president is one of 11 European officials who vying for seven available places on the 20-strong UEFA executive committee.
Klaveness’ bold attempt to be elected has added extra interest in the UEFA Congress on April 5 where Aleksander Ceferin will be unopposed for re-election to the presidency he has held since 2016.
Back in March Klaveness made global headlines in a blistering speech slamming both FIFA for staging the World Cup in Qatar and the host country for its record on migrant workers and the LGBT Community.
At the FIFA Congress in Doha, Klaveness took to the floor towards the end of a two-hour congress that had descended into another Gianni Infantino-centred show with no dissent or discussion.
Five months on from her powerful address that called for inclusion, reparations for workers’ families who died during the construction of World Cup stadia and the defence of the basic principles of human rights, Klaveness could easily have contested the female-only seat on the UEFA exco but opted to take the riskier option.
“I would find it demotivating to block another woman,” she told Britain’s Guardian newspaper. “I got a lot of advice that I should go for the female seat, that it’s a lower threshold [and easier to win], but it is crucial for me to walk the walk.”
Klaveness accepts that her chances of success have been drastically reduced by her outspoken intervention in Qatar even though privately she is said to have won considerable support.
“People tell me it’s too difficult, and that I am impatient, but to me it’s a responsibility because I can help a lot of countries with development of girls’ and women’s football and the building of stronger grassroots clubs.”
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