March 2 – Lise Klaveness has been re-elected as chair of the Norwegian FA (NFF), but grassroots motions about the discontinuation of the FIFA Peace Prize and the suspension of Israel fizzled out at the organization’s annual congress.
One of few female leaders and outspoken officials, Klaveness will serve a new two-year term at the head of Norwegian football. She came to power in 2022 and, mandated by the NFF Congress, delivered a speech that year highlighting the plight of migrant workers and the LGBTQ+ community in Qatar at the FIFA Congress in Doha. It earned her plaudits, but FIFA boss Gianni Infantino and local organisers were less complimentary and cold-shouldered her and Norway.
This year’s annual NFF Congress had the potential to force Klaveness’s hand to speak out again, but instead, on the day that the World Cup co-hosts the United States and Israel attacked World Cup 2026 participants Iran, appetite for holding the game and its officials accountable was muted among the Norwegian grassroots.
Local club Kringlebotn IL had submitted motions about discontinuing Fifa’s Peace Prize and about suspending Israel because of its clubs in the West Bank. The proposals from Kringlebotn had received backing from the human rights organizations FairSquare and Amnesty.
However, Kringlebotn amended the motions asking the NFF board to consider supporting the human rights organisation FairSquare’s complaint at the FIFA Ethics Committee against Gianni Infantino and to see that other European football associations do the same.
FairSquare has argued that Infantino repeatedly broke his duty of neutrality by expressing support for the policies of US President Donald Trump. Klaveness said: “So, if we support [FairSquare’s initiative], it must be based on our objective assessment of its content.”
The second motion, Kringlebotn requested, should become a part of the NFF’s revision of its international strategy.
Klaveness has indicated that, when it comes to Israel, she wants to work behind the scenes.
Last April, the Norwegian boss was, on her second attempt, elected to the UEFA executive committee and ever since she has taken a more cautious, diplomatic approach when navigating football politics – even if her support for the Palestinian cause is a public secret. The NFF, the Congress decided, will give 500,000 Norwegian kroner (NRK) ($55,000) to causes in both Palestine and Ukraine.
The NFF’s finances are booming, not in small part because of the country’s qualification for the 2026 World Cup, Norway’s first global finals since 1998. Gross turnover was NRK 1.9 billion ($199 million) for the past book year. The NFF enjoyed a profit of NRK 13.2 million ($1.38 million).
It leaves the focus firmly on the action on the field. Klaveness has ruled out taking the floor at the FIFA Congress in Vancouver in April, not even to protest the FIFA Peace Prize which Infantino awarded to Trump in December at the World Cup draw.
During her opening speech at the NFF Congress, Klaveness recalled the moment: “Recently I sat in Washington, in a room full of football presidents, and felt the painful feeling of being hostage to something that is obviously wrong. The feeling that the emperor is not only walking without clothes – but that he is leading us in a dangerous direction, and that at the same time I cannot stop it. Not there and then, at least.”
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