Lise Klaveness, the Norwegian thorn in Infantino’s side
OSLO: A rare woman in the top echelons of football, the head of Norway’s federation Lise Klaveness has been a thorn in FIFA’s side for years. Now, some would gladly see her take over the leadership of football’s international governing body from Gianni Infantino. The 45-year-old lawyer and former footballer who played 73 matches for Norway has been highly vocal about international football’s woes under Infantino. The Swiss-Italian has been mired in controversy since his plan to open FIFA competitions, including the World Cup, to private investors was swiftly rejected last week. On Friday she called for him to resign. When he was elected FIFA president in 2016, “he was a candidate who had been elected on a reform program focused on good governance,” she told AFP. “Then things quickly deteriorated: from keeping a distance, we moved to giving up, and even backtracking, all against a backdrop of a lack of independence from heads of state and other influential figures, particularly from World Cup host countries,” she said. She fired her first salvo at Infantino in 2022, just after she was appointed head of the Norwegian federation. The following year, Norway refused to back Infantino in his re-election bid, signalling its dissatisfaction with his leadership. Klaveness “was in a way the first standard-bearer for much of this criticism that many others now share when it comes to the way Infantino runs FIFA,” said Mina Finsted Berg, a sports commentator for Norwegian channel TV2. She “is very committed to ensuring that rules and decisions are respected,” she added.