Latest news with #LiseKlaveness
Daily Mail
15-05-2025
- Politics
- Daily Mail
Gianni Infantino sparks fury among FIFA members as they WALK OUT of key meeting after he turned up three hours late following visit with Donald Trump
Angry FIFA members turned their back on president Gianni Infantino as they dramatically walked out during his speech at the organisation's congress, after he turned up late following events he attended alongside Donald Trump. Infantino had joined Trump on the US president's trip to Qatar and Saudi Arabia this week, which he prioritised over the annual gathering of FIFA's membership in Paraguay. The Swiss, 55, took a private jet from Qatar to Asuncion but arrived at the meeting several hours late, sparking a furious reaction from delegates. And Infantino suffered the embarrassment of several officials walking out in protest, including eight members of the ruling FIFA council and the head of the FA, Debbie Hewitt. Norway Football Federation president Lise Klaveness criticised Infantino and said his late arrival was 'disappointing' and 'concerning'. 'I understand the frustration and disappointment from European Fifa members, and we feel sorry for the excellent hosts in Paraguay,' Klaveness said in a statement. 'We now expect Fifa to explain this situation to its members and ensure that the voices of the member associations are heard and respected going forward.' UEFA were also unhappy, blasting the late change to the congress schedule for 'what appears to be simply to accommodate private political interests'. Infantino, who had delayed the congress by three hours, apologised to FIFA's membership but defended his trip to the Middle East with Trump. 'Let me just start by presenting my apologies for the inconvenience for having to move the Congress kick-off time,' he told delegates. 'Also for having arrived later than what I would have wanted... As president of FIFA, I decided to be for the last two of days in the Middle East, knowing that the 2034 World Cup will be in Saudi Arabia, the 2022 World Cup was in Qatar and that the 2025 Club World Cup in the United States and the FIFA World Cup 2026 will be in the USA, Canada and Mexico. 'Obviously some important discussions took place there with regards to the World Cup with some world leaders in politics and economy and I felt like I had to be there to represent all of you, to represent football. 'I thought I could make it on time but unfortunately we had a little issue with our flight, which caused this delay.' Trump had met with Saudi Arabian crown prince Mohammed Bin Salman and the Qatari emir Tamim Bin Hamad Al Thani during the trip to the Middle East, with Infantino joining the meetings. Infantino has regularly been pictured with Trump ahead of the US, Canada and Mexico hosting the 2026 World Cup. The US president has described Infantino as 'my good friend for a long time', while the FIFA head defended his relationship with Trump in February, insisting it was 'crucial for the success of a World Cup'. Infantino appeared at the White House a little over a week ago in the first public meeting of the Trump administration's 2026 World Cup taskforce.
The Guardian
15-05-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
Delegates walk out of Fifa congress after Infantino arrives late from Trump trip
Representatives from several European Fifa member associations walked out of the governing body's annual congress in Paraguay in protest of president Gianni Infantino's late arrival to the proceedings on Thursday. Infantino had been in the Middle East this week along with Donald Trump visiting leaders from Saudi Arabia and Qatar, and arrived in Paraguay hours late for a scheduled 10.30am start time to his organization's annual meeting. The departing members included eight European members of the Fifa Council – the main decision-making body that sets the agenda for the wider congress. Uefa's representatives on the Council to have walked out include Uefa president Alexander Čeferin and Football Association chair Debbie Hewitt. Other delegates to have left proceedings in protest include Norway Football Federation president Lise Klaveness, who called Infantino's late arrival 'disappointing' and 'concerning.' 'The annual congress is the single most important body to ensure good governance of international football,' she said in a statement. '210 member associations have traveled from all over the world to participate at this Congress here in Paraguay, expecting professional leadership and dialogue at the highest level. I understand the frustration and disappointment from European Fifa members, and we feel sorry for the excellent hosts in Paraguay … We now expect Fifa to explain this situation to its members and ensure that the voices of the member associations are heard and respected going forward.' Infantino had prioritized meetings in the Middle East this week, as the Fifa president appeared at events involving the leaders of countries that hosted the previous World Cup (Qatar), the next men's World Cup (co-hosted by the US), and the 2034 edition (Saudi Arabia). Infantino's delay meant the annual meeting started three hours late. Infantino apologized to his audience several times after his arrival, citing issues with his flight for the delay and insisting it was important he represented soccer at the political meetings. 'As president of Fifa my responsibility is to make decisions in the interests of the organization,' Infantino said. 'I felt that I needed to be there to represent football and all of you.' Infantino's Middle East visit comes a little more than a week after he appeared at the White House in the first public meeting of the Trump administration's 2026 World Cup taskforce, nominally tasked with ensuring the smooth operation of next year's tournament. At that event, members of Trump's cabinet joked about World Cup visitors being subjected to arrest should they overstay their visas – jibes made amid the backdrop of the administration's illegal deportations of permanent residents and citizens to foreign detention facilities. 'We want them to come, we want them to celebrate, we want them to watch the game,' said US vice-president JD Vance of World Cup visitors. 'But when the time is up, they'll have to go home. Otherwise they'll have to talk to [Homeland Security] Secretary [Kristi] Noem.' Sign up to Soccer with Jonathan Wilson Jonathan Wilson brings expert analysis on the biggest stories from European soccer after newsletter promotion Infantino seemed to address those remarks in his address after he arrived to the Fifa Congress on Thursday, saying that all who wanted to visit for the men's World Cup or this year's Club World Cup in the United States would be welcome. However, he said, 'Those who want to come to create trouble, like in every country in the world, well, they are not welcome, they are not welcome anywhere in the world. Actually, let me be clear about that as well – they are not welcome in football. We don't want troublemakers in football. We want troublemakers out of football.'
New York Times
22-03-2025
- Sport
- New York Times
Haaland, Odegaard and Norway's desperate quest to end decades in the wilderness
Sitting in the Allianz Arena on the opening night of last summer's European Championship, Lise Klaveness could not quite stave off her sense of regret. As the game's powerbrokers mingled in the corporate suites, fireworks crackled in the night sky above Munich, and Germany bulldozed past Scotland, the President of Norway's Football Federation felt, in her words, 'depressed'. Advertisement The source of Klaveness' sadness was not simply that Norway had not qualified for the tournament. Like the rest of the country, she has grown used to that. Norway's women's team, twice European and once world champions, are a genuine powerhouse. The men, by contrast, have not so much as qualified for a major finals since the turn of the century. What made this absence particularly painful, though, was her sense that Norway would not simply have been in Germany to make up the numbers. 'It was the feeling that you have a team good enough to be there, living their dream,' she told the BBC this week. 'We had years when we could have come but we knew we wouldn't play decent football. It is different now.' There is no great mystery as to why it should feel that way. Erling Haaland, the Manchester City striker, might be the best Norwegian player of all time; he is almost certainly the most famous player the country has ever produced, a genuine global superstar. Martin Odegaard, captain of both Arsenal and his national team, ranks a close second. Most striking of all, though, is the quality of their supporting cast: Haaland's club team-mate Oscar Bobb, the Atletico Madrid striker Alexander Sorloth, Borussia Dortmund's Julian Ryerson, Benfica's Andreas Schjelderup, as well as a host of others, all familiar faces from high-profile teams in Europe's elite leagues. Nobody in Norway has used the cursed term 'golden generation', Klaveness said, on the admirably modest grounds that the country 'hasn't qualified for anything yet'. But then they do not need to, not really; it is apparent, to those inside and outside the national team, that horizons have shifted, aspirations changed. 'Having Martin and Erling, these artists, on our team makes me shiver,' Klaveness said. 'It means we have to change, in terms of security and logistics. They can't be in airports, for example. People would flock around them. We have always had popular national teams, but this is a different level. We expect more. People expect more.' Advertisement That means, too, that there is an unavoidable but unfamiliar sort of pressure on Stale Solbakken, the country's head coach, and his team as they begin their attempt to qualify for the 2026 World Cup over the next few days. It is their job to end Norway's long wait for a place in a major finals. It is their task to fulfil the hopes and dreams of a nation. But it is also their duty to ensure that two of the sport's brightest lights are present and correct on its greatest stage in North America next summer, that yet another tournament does not kick off without them. 'There is a sense that it is our turn now,' said Klaveness. 'That spring is coming, after a long winter.' In many ways, the idea that Norway might have spent the last quarter of a century underperforming by not qualifying for major men's tournaments is not really historically accurate. Before the 1990s, Norway had only ever played one game at either the World Cup or the European Championship. It was in 1938, in Marseille. They lost to Italy. After extra time. There was no group stage, so they were eliminated immediately. They would not return to the World Cup until 1994. They have advanced from the groups just once, in 1998. They had to wait until 2000 to make their debut in the European Championship. Their experience there was brief, too — they were knocked out of the group stage on a head-to-head tiebreaker — and, with that, the curtain closed on their heyday. Norway have not been back since. The period when they qualified for tournaments was the exception; their absence has always been the rule. Establishing how that golden age came about is easier than explaining the years of scarcity that followed. Norway, in the 1990s, benefited not just from the domestic and European success of Rosenborg, a fixture in the early editions of the Champions League, but from the country's status as a natural market for English teams only just experimenting with the radical idea of employing foreign players. Advertisement Most significant, though, was the presence of Egil Olsen, a manager derided as a dinosaur at the time but who looks, in hindsight, an awful lot like a pioneer. Olsen, an early adopter of data and analytics, particularly in terms of physical output, took charge of the national team in 1990. He was a tactical non-conformist, deploying tall, powerful forwards on the wing (a role that may have become more fashionable had he referred to it as the 'false seven'). He played unashamedly direct football. He encouraged Norway's authorities to arrange as many friendlies as possible in order to game the FIFA ranking system and at one point his side was officially the second-best team in the world. He turned Ullevaal, the national stadium in Oslo, into a fortress. Now 82, Olsen might self-deprecatingly refer to himself as an 'old man', but he remains fiercely active. He will conduct interviews with TV2, a national broadcaster, from his home both before and after Norway's game with Moldova on Saturday (Israel, Estonia and one of Germany or Italy make up the rest of the qualification group). He is in regular contact with Solbakken, one of his many former players. They talk, mainly, about 'how to organise a defence,' Olsen said. He inclines towards diplomacy when asked to explain why Norway faded in the years that followed the end of his first spell as national manager. 'It is difficult to give an exact answer,' he said. As time has passed, many have come to accept that perhaps the country was a little too keen to move on from the style they had developed under Olsen and his both chronological and ideological successor, Nils Johan Semb. 'We got a bit bored of that long ball style,' said Thomas Karlsen, a journalist and author who has written extensively on Norway's decline in the 21st century. 'It had gone out of fashion. There was an idea that we should try to be a little bit more like Denmark, to play with a little more flair.' The problem, by that stage, was that the landscape had changed. Norway had, as Klaveness put it, 'lost the competitor advantage'. The country had been an early adopter of output data; soon, all of its rivals had just as much information. Norway lost its physical edge. 'Everyone can run a lot and jump a lot,' she said. At the same time, its pipeline of players stopped producing. 'The great Rosenborg team had faded,' Karlsen said. 'We had a few players in big teams abroad: John Arne Riise, Brede Hangeland, Morten Gamst Pedersen. But there were not that many Norwegian players at the top level in Europe.' That, in part, was down to the changing tastes of the Premier League; by the mid-2000s, England's clubs were shopping in the boutiques of France and Italy rather than hunting in the wilds of Scandinavia. Norway found itself with limited resources, stripped of its traditional advantages, trying to play an unfamiliar style of football. 'We lost our identity a bit,' Klaveness said. 'On the Viking side.' This time last year, when Solbakken gathered his players for the first time since they had missed out on yet another major tournament, he told them there were two words which would be crucial in ending Norway's exile from the World Cup. The first, 'alarm', had been suggested to him by Hangeland, a member of his coaching staff. Norway's squad needed to recognise when they were in 'a situation where all alarm bells must ring', he told NRK, another national broadcaster. (Or, to put it more evocatively: 'It is about seeing when the toilet is burning,' he said.) Advertisement The second was lidelse: suffering. South American teams, Solbakken said, have a 'willingness to sacrifice and an ability to enjoy being pushed a little against the wall at times. That is what will always happen to the Norwegian national team forever. We might as well enjoy the suffering during those periods'. For the first time in a generation — at least — Norway boasts a squad brimming with attacking talent. There is no technical deficit, testament to the country's investment in coaching and facilities, the benefits not just of Norway's wealth but a sporting culture that has turned a country of only 5 million people into a powerhouse in everything from track and field to beach volleyball. 'It is the first time we have ever had actual world-beaters,' said Karlsen, the author. 'Players who could play for any club in Europe. In the rest of the world, it must look like it should be easy for Norway to qualify for the World Cup.' The problem, everyone agrees, is that the country's resources are uneven. Karlsen describes it as a 'soft underbelly'. Olsen puts it characteristically bluntly: 'We have two of the best players in the world, but we are not strong enough defensively.' Even Klaveness concedes that as Norway has been churning out artists, it has 'lost the defenders'. In the background, the country is doing what it can to redress that balance. Hangeland, as a player the embodiment of Norway's historic virtues, has felt the absence of his natural successors keenly. Solving the problem is complex — he feels, in part, that the fact so many Norwegian players play largely on artificial turf is a hindrance — but he has launched a program to try to do so anyway. He has called it a national dugnad, a Norwegian word that describes a sort of communal spring cleaning: a chore, undertaken collectively, something that nobody necessarily enjoys but that must, nevertheless, be done. Solbakken, though, does not have the luxury of time. Norway's defensive frailty cost the country a place in Germany last summer. In qualifying for Euro 2024, 'Scotland had four chances in Glasgow and scored three goals,' Solbakken told NRK. 'Georgia had two chances and scored one. Cyprus had one, scored one. Scotland created two chances at Ullevaal and scored both.' It has left his players, he said, bearing a form of 'trauma'. Advertisement Karlsen, for one, suspects there must be a link between the expectation around Norway and the team's tendency to collapse under pressure; he is convinced the failing is as much psychological as it is tactical. 'This generation feels the heat,' he said. 'They know this is something we have to achieve.' The country expects them to be in North America next summer; they are sure, now, that the long winter is about to end. The world, too, perhaps shares that view; it is strange to think of the World Cup taking place without some of the game's biggest stars. But more importantly, the players themselves know they should be there, really, that for the first time in a long time, Norway belongs on that stage. 'It would be a pity if Haaland, a player who is such a force of nature, is not there,' he said. 'It would be sad if he has to spend another summer sitting on a beach.'
The Guardian
01-03-2025
- Politics
- The Guardian
VAR retained in Norway after grassroots clubs swing vote on technology
Norway will continue to use VAR in its top flight after a vote among clubs across the country's football system came out in favour of retaining the technology. An emotive saga that has caused severe ructions iconcluded at the Norwegian Football Federation's general assembly with 321 votes in favour of VAR and 129 against. The outcome was effectively decided by grassroots clubs who do not use VAR. Those in the top two divisions had already formally recommended that it be discontinued. The outcome spells victory for the NFF and its president, Lise Klaveness, who had argued vigorously to keep using VAR in the face of widespread protests at Eliteserien games. The federation had backed its retention despite a vote in January, passed by 19-13, by the country's top 32 clubs to cease its deployment. A long and impassioned debate at Ullevaal Stadion in Oslo, which rumbled for more than two hours, was followed by the vote. It fell to those present among Norway's lower-division and amateur clubs, who traditionally have tended to vote in line with the NFF's recommendations, to swing the balance in either direction. Before the discussion, the leaders of the NFF's influential 18 district associations had all come out in favour of the status quo. It means Norway, which adopted VAR in 2023, will not become the first country to approve its abolition. Questions will rage about the process behind Saturday's vote and particularly the fact that it overrules those to whom VAR holds most relevance. Many of VAR's opponents feel the NFF should have acted in accordance with the leading clubs, who made their decisions after internal votes by their members. Klaveness said in August that their stance would 'carry weight' in the NFF's recommendation to the general assembly. Klaveness has previously acknowledged the VAR process requires improvement, while arguing that Norway's referees may be hamstrung in their ambitions to work in Uefa competitions if they are not using it at home. Sign up to Football Daily Kick off your evenings with the Guardian's take on the world of football after newsletter promotion Protests against VAR in Norway have included tennis balls and fishcakes being thrown on to pitch in top-flight matches. This year's Eliteserien season will begin on 29 March. Norway's neighbour Sweden stands alone as the only European country to have rejected VAR.
The Independent
27-02-2025
- Sport
- The Independent
The country that could be about to scrap VAR
Norwegian football stands poised to make a significant decision this weekend: whether to abandon Video Assistant Referee (VAR) technology in its top league, the Eliteserien. The vote comes after two years of turbulent implementation, sparking debate about the technology's impact on the game. The outcome will be closely watched internationally, given VAR's widespread influence since its official introduction to football in 2018. The potential rejection of VAR by a top-tier league raises questions about the technology's efficacy and acceptance within the sport. While intended to improve accuracy in officiating, VAR has been met with mixed reactions globally, often criticised for disrupting the flow of matches and generating controversial decisions. Norway 's experience reflects these broader challenges, leading to the upcoming vote. The Norwegian soccer federation brought in video technology in 2023, in a way some found controversial. That's because the decision was reached before Norway's member-run clubs could establish a unified position on whether they wanted VAR, leading to disgruntlement among some fans who felt the democratic process in the Norwegian game had been undermined. Disillusionment increased in the early months of VAR's adoption, with the technology taking seven minutes to decide on an offside call in one match. Disillusionment about VAR quickly led to active protests about the use of the technology – and some were very quirky in their nature. A match between Rosenborg and Lillestrøm was suspended – and later abandoned and restaged behind closed doors – after fans threw fish cakes and then tennis balls onto the field soon after kickoff. In the second tier, fans of Lyn disrupted a game by throwing champagne corks onto the pitch in what was viewed as a protest against VAR. Amid such strident anti-VAR sentiment at certain clubs, the federation agreed to set up a working group to look further into the issue. And in a vote in January of the 32 clubs making up the top two leagues in Norway, 19 voted to scrap VAR and 13 to keep it. A recommendation was sent to the federation to support the clubs' majority decision and remove VAR "as soon as possible." The federation's response In a blow to anti-VAR campaigners, the Norwegian Football Association came out in favour of the technology a week later, with president Lise Klaveness saying the association acknowledged processes needed improving but wanted to retain video officials. "The governing body unanimously concluded that the best thing for Norwegian football is to maintain and develop it," Klaveness said. For Anders Kjellevold, chairman of the Norwegian supporters' alliance, it felt like a betrayal, saying most people thought the vote of the top clubs would be decisive. "If we end up with a decision where the FA decides not to listen to the affected clubs in this issue, then we are undermining club democracy and club democracy is a bulwark against many of the negative aspects of football," Kjellevold said. The final decision on whether to scrap VAR will be taken at a vote at the federation's congress taking place over Saturday and Sunday. All clubs which are active members of the federation are allowed to vote, along with leaders of the federation's counties and members of the federation board. A majority decision is needed either way. Anti-VAR campaigners fear many clubs who vote will end up siding with the view of the federation, as is the tradition in major decisions in order to maintain good relations with the governing body. The vast majority of clubs which will be voting aren't affected by VAR because the technology is used only in the top division. Why are so many supporters unhappy? According to Kjellevold, anti-VAR sentiment lingers because the technology "is incompatible with the intention of the game of football." It ruins "the experience of football as a live spectator," he said, "because it brings up these stoppages in the game, it takes away some of the euphoria of a goal, which is just vital to a game and how we live it when we use so much of our time and effort to follow the game." Kjellevold is just as unhappy at how the whole process has been handled, chiefly how the teams most affected by VAR might not get their voices heard. The potential impact of the vote The result of the vote is significant on a wider level because Norway scrapping VAR might influence supporters in other countries to step up protests about the technology in an effort to remove it from their leagues. Premier League clubs voted in June to continue using VAR after being asked to consider scrapping the technology following controversies last season. Sweden is one of the few countries in Europe to have decided against introducing VAR to its league.
