– In an ideal world, Ståle Solbakken tells NRK, I would fully agree that there should be equality before the law in all such cases.
The Norwegian national team manager received criticism from Culture and Equality Minister Annette Trettbergstein, who on Wednesday came out strongly against the fact that there are still salary differences between the coaches of the Norwegian Football Federation (NFF) national team..
Head of football Liz Clavins revealed to NRK on Wednesday that the new director of the women’s national team, Heig Reis, will receive the same pay as the head of football. VG You could learn earlier this year that this salary is around NOK 1.7 million.
By way of comparison, NRK can tell that Solbakken earns almost three times as much as the NFF, about five million kroner. When NRK confronted him with numbers, the national team manager answered as follows:
– Don’t miss a lot there.
The upshot: Solbakken thinks he could triple and quadruple his salary if he had another coaching job.
Photo: Håkon Mosvold Larsen / NTB
Market forces come into play
Solbakken knows there will be backlash in the wake of the salary differences on the coach’s part. However he says:
– There is likely to be some very heavy market forces that have come into play and come into play over a long period of time.
– sAnd I think NFF is very advanced. I think Hege is very happy and I am very happy. I got the salary that Terje Svendsen offered me when I became the national team manager, without actually negotiating at all, continues Solbakken.
– Do you realize this might bother you?
– Yes, I have no difficulty believing that. I also think a lot of people understand and see the whole picture. I feel like the NFF is probably the soccer league in the whole world, next to the US, which has come at the furthest point in terms of equality. Then it could definitely be better and different. It will be so, and as time goes on and as women’s and girls’ football grows bigger and bigger, he responds.
Discussion: Heig Rhys and Liz Clavins.
Photo: Trond Reidar Teigen / NTB
– I’ll get better
Solbakken describes the inequality that existed between men and women in football from a historical perspective as “Intense”. The 54-year-old admits that he earns well as a national team manager.
– Working in NFF, with the financial resources it entails, I earn well. I think Haig does that too. I think both of us can earn a lot in other places. Hege was in England, he would certainly have been ambitious to coach some of the big English clubs and he certainly doubled his salary a lot.
– What do you think about the difference of about three million kroner between you and Heiji Rice’s salary?
– I think this will gradually improve for girls’ and women’s soccer. It’s probably more step-by-step than some might like. Because we all want it to be the same in all parameters. Maybe it’s not just about NFF, but maybe also about historical perspective and market forces not least.
reacts vigorously
the next day still kCulture and Equality Minister Trettebergstuen ready in his speech. She thinks the wage differentials are too big.
He stated: Anette Trettebergstuen has criticized Lise Klaveness and the Norwegian Football Association, and believes that the salary of the Hege Riise national team is too low.
Photo: Geir Olsen / NTB
Pointing out that a coach is paid less than a man’s coach supports that women’s soccer is less valuable. It’s old fashioned and not true. I think Norwegian football should take the lead because Norwegian sport is taking the lead in equality otherwise, Trettbergstein tells NRK.
She is backed by Toppserien’s top football manager Hege Jørgensen, who is also disappointed by the inequality in pay.
– There can be some degree of difference in salary level with regards to stress, days of travel etc, it probably will be. But we think the FA should really take the lead when it comes to equal pay for women’s football, Jorgensen tells NRK.
Decisive: Toppserien Best Football Manager Hege Jørgensen.
Photo: Harald Thingnes
The top football manager does not agree with the argument that it is market forces that control salaries in the NFL.
– It is not market forces that determine the salaries of the national team managers in the federation, but the FA itself that does so. Thus, they can choose what level they should get from the salary of the coach of the women’s national team, as opposed to the men’s team. Nobody else decides that. She believes that it is the Norwegian football economy that finances this salary, not market forces themselves.
– Serves more than the previous one
NRK NFF has faced off with Jorgensen’s criticism. Head of football Liz Clavins now asserts that Hege Riise earns no less than his predecessor Martin Sjogren did as national team manager.
Now when we had to appoint a new manager for the women’s national team, we wanted to raise the bar for Reis’ predecessor and offer a salary that we believe reflects this is a very important position in Norwegian football. So we decided to set the salary at the same salary level as the NFF’s highest-ranking captain, which is the president’s honor. That’s a very competitive salary compared to the market we’re competing in when we have to bring in the best coaches for the women’s side and a salary higher than that of Higgs Reese’s predecessor, Clavins says.
She agrees that the NFL decides salaries, but still notes that they work in two different markets when they hire men’s and women’s coaches.
Although it is the NFF of course that decides the salary for each of the national team managers, the truth is that somehow we have to deal with two fundamentally different markets. We are working towards parity, but at the same time we have to compete in two very different markets in Norway and in the world in many ways, also when it comes to wages, says Clavens.
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