Norway’s association president Lise Klaveness wanted to be the first woman to be elected to the UEFA Executive Committee without a quota. She lost despite a remarkable campaign.
The most important body in European football will remain with its previous proportions, in which 19 of the 20 members are male. Klaveness ran a very public election campaign, appeared frequently in the media and campaigned for more femininity in the committees, but also for other issues. The 41-year-old spoke to around 40 of the 55 association presidents in Europe and visited UEFA President Aleksander Ceferin in Slovenia.
But Klaveness lost to male competitors at the UEFA Congress in Lisbon on Wednesday (April 5th, 2023). She only got 18 votes out of a possible 55.
Award of the women’s EM as an indication
It was already clear the day before that Klaveness’ trip would be less than successful. When it came to awarding the women’s European Championship 2025, a joint bid submitted by Norway, along with Denmark, Sweden and Finland, lost 4:9 to Switzerland in the last ballot. Karl-Erik Nilsson from Sweden and Jesper Möller from Denmark sit on the Executive Committee, two participants who obviously could not use their influence.
Perhaps this Scandinavian representation was also a problem for Klaveness. Nilsson is elected until 2025. Next to Klaveness, Möller stood for re-election. It was previously considered unlikely that two applications from Scandinavia would be successful at the meeting.
| person | country | Voices |
|---|---|---|
Armand Duka* | Albania | 45 |
Jesper Moller* | Denmark | 42 |
Peter Fousek* | Czech Republic | 40 |
Levan Kobiashvili* | Georgia | 40 |
Luis Rubiales* | Spain | 40 |
Philippe Diallo* | France | 37 |
Andrii Pavelko* | Ukraine | 31 |
Hugo Quaderer | Liechtenstein | 25 |
Bjorn Vassallo | Malta | 25 |
Lise Klaveness | Norway | 18 |
Rod Petrie | Scotland | 15 |
* chosen
** In addition, drew Laura McAllister (Wales) unopposed for the female seat on the board. Hans-Joachim Watzke (Germany) is standing unopposed for the remaining two years of Rainer Koch’s (Germany) term, who resigned from the committee at the request of the DFB.
Klaveness: fight for human rights in FIFA
Klaveness has repeatedly challenged FIFA publicly, whether on stage with a speech at the Doha Congress in Qatar or most recently with conducting an investigation into human rights violations in the course of preparations for the 2022 World Cup in Qatar. She was seen as a stone in FIFA President Gianni Infantino’s shoe when it came to Qatar.
“It’s also the biggest sport in the world for women”Klaveness had said in an interview with the sports show: “It’s not a men’s sport, so women have to be there.” If it’s not enough, it was at least worth trying.
UEFA’s statutes provide for a quota place for a woman on the Executive Committee. But Klaveness applied specifically for one of the other places. Got the only seat reserved for a woman Laura McAllister out of Waleswhich was elected unopposed.
There is now a second woman from Europe on the FIFA Council
On the other hand, there will be two women from Europe on the FIFA Council, on which UEFA has nine seats. Evelina Christilin from Italy holds the quota place for a woman. There is also another type of quota place for the associations from the United Kingdom – England, Northern Ireland, Wales and Scotland are generally entitled to a place on the FIFA Council according to their statutes, which is also a position as vice-president of FIFA. The Northern Irishman David Martin had englands Greg Clarke replaced after a racism scandal.
English FA Chair Debbie Hewitt
meanwhile is Debbie Hewitt Chair of the English FA and, in a vote against Martin, reclaimed the British quota place for England. She won 39:16.