LIse Klaveness marched out of Lisbon’s imposing Centro de Congressos with a scowl after her setback in the quest for equality. But the frustration over their crushing electoral defeat quickly gave way to fighting spirit. The president of the Norwegian Football Association switched to attack mode: “Of course I’m disappointed that it didn’t work out,” she said with some distance: “But I was prepared for it.”
She always knew “that the probability that I would not be elected was greater than that I would be elected. But I was always sure that this would be the beginning of the next election campaign,” she told the local television station NRK: “I will run again in 2025. I hope that it will then no longer be an issue that a woman will be elected.” After all, this time she has received a lot of supportive messages from women.
DFB President: “Diversity is important”
Klaveness, who is extremely committed to the fight for human rights and equal rights and who, for example, had clearly criticized FIFA and Qatar in an interview with the Frankfurter Allgemeine Sunday newspaper before the World Cup, wanted to make history and be the first association president to attack one of the “normal” mandates in the executive committee, but she failed painfully. With just 18 out of 55 possible votes from the member associations, she ended up in tenth place out of eleven, the men’s alliance was still far too strong to choose a second woman outside of the quota place.
“Just as we have already managed to do in the DFB, diversity would also be important in the international committees,” said DFB boss Bernd Neuendorf: “I would have wished that there had been a little more women on the committees.” Council worked. There, the English head of the association Debbie Hewitt clearly prevailed in the election for the vice-president of the British countries against the previous incumbent David Martin from Northern Ireland. For the first time, a woman hit a man in a continental election.
“That’s definitely remarkable,” emphasized Neuendorf. In addition, Welshwoman Laura McAllister, who had no opponent via the quota place, was appointed UEFA vice-president by the Executive Committee. President Aleksander Ceferin also emphasized this – and quickly dismissed the echo in Klaveness’s personnel: “I wouldn’t call it a mistake,” said the re-elected Slovenian. In a democratic election, the delegates would have decided: “That’s why it’s the way it is.”
Nevertheless, he was “sure that Lise is doing a good job and will have a bright future in our organization,” explained the Slovenian. But the numerous critics were hardly reassured by this. “It’s a shame,” said Norway’s star striker Ada Hegerberg, for example, “we finally have to make progress.” Klaveness himself finds it “unacceptable that we continue with the same imbalance” of 19 men and one woman on the Executive Committee.
However, the belief that this can be changed at some point remains unbroken for the Norwegian.
