Lise Klaveness (born 19 April 1981) is a Norwegian lawyer and former

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played 73 matches for Norway's national team between 2002 and 2011. She is currently the president of the

Norwegian Football Federation The Norwegian Football Federation ( nb, Norges Fotballforbund, nn, Noregs Fotballforbund; NFF) is the governing body of football (soccer), football in Norway. It was formed in 1902 and organises the Norway national football team, men's and Norway ...

. Since assuming her leadership role in March of 2022 Klaveness has advocated for change within

Fifa FIFA (; stands for ''Fédération Internationale de Football Association'' ( French), meaning International Association Football Federation ) is the international governing body of association football, beach football and futsal. It was found ...

, particularly as related to the upcoming 2022 World Cup in

Qatar Qatar (, ; ar, قطر, Qaṭar ; local vernacular pronunciation: ), officially the State of Qatar,) is a country in Western Asia. It occupies the Qatar Peninsula on the northeastern coast of the Arabian Peninsula in the Middle East; it sh ...

. In response to reports of harsh labor practices which led to the deaths of thousands of migrant workers, Klaveness pushed for safe conditions and fair pay for migrant workers. Klaveness has also spoken out against Fifa's decision to allow Qatar to host the Cup, citing the country's human rights violations including anti-

LGBT ' is an initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an umbrella term for sexuality and gender identity. The LGBT term is a ...

laws and societal

oppression Oppression is malicious or unjust treatment or exercise of power, often under the guise of governmental authority or cultural opprobrium. Oppression may be overt or covert, depending on how it is practiced. Oppression refers to discrimination w ...

of women.

Club career

Her clubs include

IL Sandviken Idrettslaget Sandviken is a Norwegian sports club from the neighborhood of Sandviken in Bergenhus borough, Bergen. It has sections for basketball, football and handball. It was mostly known for its women's football team that played in the To ...

, Bjørnar (now

Arna-Bjørnar Arna-Bjørnar Fotball is a Norwegian football club from Arna, Bergen. It was founded in late 2000 as a merger between the football branches from ''IL Bjørnar'' and ''Arna T&IL'', and replaced Bjørnar IL in the league system from 2001. The w ...

) (2000),

FK Athene Moss FK Athene Moss was a Norwegian women's football club from Moss. It is named after Athena in Greek mythology. It was founded in 1996, replacing SK Sprint-Jeløy which was a former successful club from Moss. Athene Moss played in the Toppserien u ...

(2001),

Asker Asker ( no, Asker), properly called Askerbygda in Norwegian, is a district and former Municipalities of Norway, municipality in Akershus, Norway. From 2020 it is part of the larger administrative municipality Asker, Viken (also known as Greate ...

(2002–2005, 2008) and, in 2006/07,

Umeå IK Umeå IK () is a professional association football club based in the city of Umeå, in northern Sweden, and currently playing Damallsvenskan, the first tier of women's football in Sweden. They were one of the most successful football clubs in ...

where she was vice-captain for the 2007 season. At the end of her time in Umeå she went on holiday to West Africa where she contracted serious food poisoning with a body temperature of 42 degrees C. In her own words, "I met the man with the scythe" (i.e. the

Grim Reaper Death is frequently imagined as a personified force. In some mythologies, a character known as the Grim Reaper (usually depicted as a berobed skeleton wielding a scythe) causes the victim's death by coming to collect that person's soul. Other b ...

). In 2008, she returned to Norway and played again for Asker, and was also the club's physical trainer as well as qualifying as a lawyer and beginning full-time work for a law firm in

Oslo Oslo ( , , or ; sma, Oslove) is the capital and most populous city of Norway. It constitutes both a county and a municipality. The municipality of Oslo had a population of in 2022, while the city's greater urban area had a population of ...

. At the end of 2008 when Asker became bankrupt most first-team players including Klaveness transferred to

Stabæk IF Stabæk Idrætsforening is a Norwegian multi-sports club in Bærum, a municipality bordering on Oslo in the west. It has sections for football, bandy, handball and alpine skiing. While the football team Stabæk Fotball is the most prominent, the m ...

, the nearby top sports club, to set up Stabæk Fotball Kvinner (SFK). Stabæk therefore became the first Norwegian club to have men's and women's teams playing in the two elite divisions, the

Tippeligaen Eliteserien () is a Norwegian professional league for association football clubs. At the top of the Norwegian football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. Contested by 16 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion ...

and the

Toppserien The Toppserien is the top level of women's association football in Norway. It was founded in 1984. History Women's league football was introduced on a county basis in 1977. These leagues acted as qualification for the regional (South) league in 1 ...

. Despite retiring from international football in 2011 Klaveness was contracted to continue playing for SFK in 2012. But she announced her retirement from all football in March 2012 after her enthusiasm waned.

International career

Klaveness played in Norway's team in the

2003 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup was the fourth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, the quadrennial championship of women's national soccer teams organized by FIFA. It was held in the United States from September 20 to October 12, 2003, at s ...

tournament in the USA, and in the

UEFA Women's Euro 2005 The 2005 UEFA Women's Championship, also referred to as UEFA Women's Euro 2005, was a football tournament for women held from 5 June to 19 June 2005 in Lancashire, England and Cheshire, England. The UEFA Women's Championship is a regular tournament ...

, also known as the European Cup competition, played in England. She played on the Norwegian team that finished fourth at the

2007 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup, the fifth edition of the FIFA Women's World Cup, was an international association football competition for women held in China from 10 to 30 September 2007. Originally, China was to host the 2003 edition, but th ...

in China, but retired from the Norwegian national team at the end of the 2007 season having played 51 matches and scored six goals. The manner of Klaveness' departure was controversial, as coach

Bjarne Berntsen Bjarne Berntsen (born 21 December 1956) is a Norwegian football coach and former player. He is the elder brother of fellow football coach Alf Ingve Berntsen. Playing career Bjarne Berntsen began his football career at local club Figgjo IL. He ...

told her she was no longer required in the

airport lounge An airport lounge is a facility operated at many airports. Airport lounges offer, for selected passengers, comforts beyond those afforded in the airport terminal itself, such as more comfortable seating, quieter environments, and often better acc ...

immediately after the long flight home from the World Cup in China. This shocked and upset Klaveness and some of her teammates. She was recalled in 2009 after

Eli Landsem Eli Landsem (born 22 March 1962) is a Norwegian former international footballer who was the coach of the Norway women's national football team between 2009 and 2012. Career As a player, Landsem won 15 caps for Norway, scoring one goal. She made ...

replaced Bertsen as the team's trainer. In October 2009 she was recalled to the women's national team for two matches in the qualification stage of the

2011 FIFA Women's World Cup The 2011 FIFA Women's World Cup was the sixth FIFA Women's World Cup competition, the world championship for women's national association football teams. It was held from 26 June to 17 July 2011 in Germany, which won the right to host the even ...

. Eventually she completed a further 22 matches for Norway.

Post-playing career

As a specialist in employment law Klaveness has sometimes been involved with disputes between football clubs and their employees. She also served on the management committee of

NISO The National Information Standards Organization (NISO; ) is a United States non-profit standards organization that develops, maintains and publishes technical standards related to publishing, bibliographic and library applications. It was found ...

, the union for sports people in Norway. Klaveness announced her retirement from football in March 2012. Further to her career as an attorney, she is also serving as a deputy judge in the Oslo court. Since her playing retirement, Klaveness has also worked as a television football

pundit A pundit is a person who offers mass media opinion or commentary on a particular subject area (most typically politics, the social sciences, technology or sport). Origins The term originates from the Sanskrit term ('' '' ), meaning "knowledg ...

. She was a studio commentator for

NRK NRK, an abbreviation of the Norwegian ''Norsk Rikskringkasting Aksjeselskap, AS'', generally expressed in English as the Norwegian Broadcasting Corporation, is the Norwegian government-owned radio and television public broadcasting company, and ...

's coverage of the 2014 en'sWorld Cup, after which she was subject to

sexist Sexism is prejudice or discrimination based on one's sex or gender. Sexism can affect anyone, but it primarily affects women and girls.There is a clear and broad consensus among academic scholars in multiple fields that sexism refers primaril ...

criticism by

internet trolls In slang, a troll is a person who posts or makes inflammatory, insincere, digressive, extraneous, or off-topic messages online (such as in social media, a newsgroup, a forum, a chat room, a online video game), or in real life, with the in ...

. In 2018, Klaveness was hired as director of elite football in the

(NFF). On 7 March 2022, Klaveness was elected as

(NFF) president. She is the first woman to lead NFF in their 120-year organization history. She represents her childhood club IL Kvernbit. During FIFA's Congress in Doha in March 2022, Klaveness gave a speech arguing that the international football community should do more to "help migrant workers in Qatar, more to protect LGBTQ+ supporters at the World Cup, more to make the global game welcoming to all". Both the speech and the trip to Doha itself, had to be cleared by the Norwegian government. Since Klaveness is married to a woman,

Ingrid Camilla Fosse Sæthre Ingrid Camilla Fosse Sæthre (born 19 January 1978) is a Norwegian footballer who played as a forward for the Norway women's national football team. She was part of the team at the 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup. On club level she played for Arna- ...

, she risked 7 years in prison in Qatar just by traveling there. The conclusion from the

Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs The Royal Norwegian Ministry of Foreign Affairs ( Norwegian (Bokmål): ''Det kongelige utenriksdepartement''; Norwegian (Nynorsk): ''Det kongelege utanriksdepartement'') is the foreign ministry of the Kingdom of Norway. It was established on June ...

and

Embassy A diplomatic mission or foreign mission is a group of people from a state or organization present in another state to represent the sending state or organization officially in the receiving or host state. In practice, the phrase usually deno ...

, was that as long as she did all of her statements in public, it should be safe for her to travel. Soon afterwards, Fritt Ord announced that they would award Klaveness the

Fritt Ord Honorary Award Fritt Ord Award consists of two prizes awarded by the Fritt Ord Foundation (''Stiftelsen Fritt Ord''). Two prizes are awarded in support of freedom of speech and freedom of expression; the Fritt Ord Award ( no, Fritt Ords pris) and the Fritt Or ...

for the speech.

References

External links

Lise Klaveness's speech
at the FIFA Congress in March 2022 * *
Stabæk club profile
{{DEFAULTSORT:Klaveness, Lise 1981 births Living people People from Meland Norwegian women's footballers Norway women's international footballers Arna-Bjørnar players Stabæk Fotball Kvinner players Norwegian expatriate footballers 21st-century Norwegian lawyers Umeå IK players Damallsvenskan players Norwegian association football commentators Asker Fotball (women) players SK Brann Kvinner players Athene Moss players Expatriate women's footballers in Sweden Norwegian expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Norwegian women lawyers Women's association football midfielders Women's association football forwards 2007 FIFA Women's World Cup players 2003 FIFA Women's World Cup players Norwegian sports executives and administrators