- Incredibly upset to be seen as a problem - NRK Sport - Sports news, results & broadcast schedule

– I often find out what my reputation is. As presented, I have a reputation for being principled, and to some, problematic.

Liz Klavenice, president of the Norwegian Football Association, is on the verge of a long election campaign to try to secure a place on the UEFA Executive Committee, the most powerful governing body in European football.

The election campaign was hectic, she spent an inordinate amount of time lobbying to secure the necessary votes. Of the 55 presidents who will vote in Lisbon on Wednesday, Clavenice has held meetings with at least 40 of them, she estimates.

She needs 28 votes to be elected. The NFF chief himself estimates that there is more opportunity for her no selected from it.

But the encounter with football politics at the highest level was not just a joy and a sadness for the 41-year-old, who in a short time has become a popular figure here at home.

While she is praised in Norway for being honest and honest abroad, she feels punished internationally.

“Did I go too far?”

Klaveness has become dangerously visible on the radar after the explosive speech she gave during the FIFA Congress in Qatar last year. There it took a strong stance with FIFA and its designation of Qatar as the host country for the FIFA World Cup.

It was her first taste of a culture for which she had little left. She has done, by openly criticizing, something no one else should.

After the speech, she noticed that few of them dared to appear near her. Debbie Hewitt, England’s first female president of football, was an exception.

– hThe UN was the first to sit next to me on the bus afterwards. Then she said it was a nice letter. I asked her if she thought I went too far, and she said yes Then I wouldn’t sit next to you.. She was the first to do so. We’ve kept in touch all year, says Clavenice, and I have the greatest respect for her.

– FDid he protect you?

– I was pretty new so I didn’t know what to expect from the culture. There was a lot of global interest in this speech, and I got many inquiries from various teams, but not many from football chiefs. I noticed this in Doha, and perhaps expected that we would talk about it, or that my colleagues would bring it up. But you probably do it with your hands, so that was a hard lesson on that Business culture as usual In football politics, you say.

– YuMaybe uncomfortable

Klavenis describes himself as an emotional person. The NFF president feels it on her body when she goes upstream.

– I find it very uncomfortable for you to be seen as a problem. But I understand the culture and don’t take things personally, I play a part. I have also been a judge in court, and it is never nice to imprison someone, for example. I thought about that every time. It does not change the motivation to do the right thing. Not feeling the same in a room makes you feel pressured, but it goes away when you leave the room and analyze that you’ll do it all over again, she says.

Rather than fearing bullets, Klaveness chose to continue down the same path. Her campaign for a place on UEFA’s governing body has been marked by great openness about who she is and what she stands for.

– swearing and irritation

As she herself says: I have become Visible on sensitive matters and speaks openly about these things in the media.

– But there is no culture for this, you do not run open election campaigns and present your problems. But then I wonder, how do you know who to vote for? you ask rhetorically.

Klaveness says she gets touched when people tell her she’s too visible. She believes that it should not be the case that honesty in opinions is punishable.

She suspects that this is exactly what is happening. If you mean something too loud or aggressive, it will quickly be used against you.

Fear of not winning a championship, or fear of losing power and positions, prevents people from saying what they think, the president of the National Football Association believes.

– I get frustrated, because I think it’s wrong for it to be this way. There is cursing and irritation inside me. You think it has become a destructive system that we are holding in place for the wrong reasons.

A very strong culture of fear

Klaveness fully understands that there are good reasons not to criticize oneself externally. But there has to be room for that if the criticism is constructive, she says.

– DrAnd she asserts that there is a very strong culture of fear now.

– What do you think that?

– I think it’s counterproductive and uninnovative. You are very limited when you have to guess what penalties you will incur in a completely different area. If you’re inedible, you’re not a good sham, but when you’re making a reasonable critique of something in a completely different field, there should be no connection (with the consequences you get). ag is not certain that it is. It is very important to change this, and many people want it. It’s great to work somewhere where you trust each other, where you can separate it from the person. I think there are many wonderful, respectful people out there, so I believe in change, she says.

She declined the chance to stand for election in the female category as there was only one opponent. Clavenese would, for reasons of principle, prefer to run in the open category where 11 candidates are vying for seven seats on UEFA’s 20-person council.

He reached a settlement with the Danish president

Therefore, the path to the plate becomes more complicated. Among other things, she is fighting against Danish football president Jesper Müller, who is running for re-election.

Klavenice was previously so outgoing that she found it difficult to hold a conversation with Mueller when she had to decide in January whether or not to run for re-election.

– This is not someone I know, but we got to know him. I was disappointed we didn’t talk before the deadline. She responded, “For various reasons, he wasn’t there, and that’s the way it is.”

During a FIFA congress in the Rwandan capital, Kigali, in mid-March, she took the opportunity to say this directly to Mueller himself.

– I said we could talk earlier, because I was anxious to know if he would stand for election. I read that in the media. sits “exco” (UEFA Council, “executive committee”) and feels that he represents Norway and administers power on our behalf. Then I think it’s important that we talk together, so I think that was disappointing. Clavenice says he may have had his reasons.

– What did he tell you?

– I never indicate from the talks, but we cooperate closely in the Nordic countries. It was just a matter of leaving it behind. I wanted to talk while the colleagues were listening thinking we should talk together. I spoke and he wrote it down.

The Danish Football Association does not acknowledge the conspiracy that Müller was not available when she wanted to speak with him.

All of this had to be due to a misunderstanding, Jakob Hoyer, the head of information at the Danish Football Association, told news agency Ritsau earlier this winter.

– Aftenposten recently described Müller as “a person who has had a lot of power over many years without raising his voice too much.” What do you think of the way he used his position internationally?

– I’m not going to criticize Mueller, I just didn’t follow him closely enough. Other bosses will stir between us and each other, and I have a different appearance in the way I manage my leadership. She replied that Denmark and Norway basically agree on many things.

– amazing to me

But this is also where Klaveness comes in with one of his clearest stances. The composition of the UEFA Council is more geographically based than I previously thought, and it speaks against it that Müller also represents the North region.

Klaveness believes it is wrong to emphasize where in the world the candidates come from rather than what they represent and what experience they contribute.

It reacts strongly to the fact that many football associations in Europe seem more interested in it Geographical balance of gender balance.

Football is vThe largest women’s sport in the world, but it is not represented at all on the UEFA governing body. I feel a responsibility to stand, of course because I am eligible, but also because I am the first female president from Norway to stand for election. It’s surprising to me that other balancing factors are so important, Klavenis says, but not this one.

I think Ceferin may be the key

On Wednesday, elections will be held in Lisbon. NRK sports commentator Jan Petter Saltvedt doesn’t think Klaveness is as obviously hopeless as many had already predicted.

– I think the key here has to do with the president of UEFA (Alexander Severin) He himself is so interested in bringing in a casual woman that he has sent stronger signals in internal discussions and more informal forums that it is time to bring in both a woman, and at the same time someone who is unorthodox in her approach to coddling football. In any case, this campaign is a good investment in positions in the next election, when her chances could be much better, Saltvedt speculates.

The NFF chairwoman admits she’s excited.

– It’s a secret election so I don’t want to believe anything about the result, I’m just going in strong. We’ve given it all up along the way, because we want to get in. There is less chance of getting in that way, but we still do. If I did not participate, it was the beginning of the next campaign, as you say.