Extraordinary!

A courageous rebel and the ÖFB theater

Lise Klaveness and Klaus Mitterdorfer

(Bild: GEPA/NFF)

Erling here, Haaland there - all eyes are on the stormy elemental force at the ÖFB match today. But the boss of the Norwegian Football Association is also extraordinary, namely a woman: Lise Klaveness.

She had been in office for less than three weeks in 2022 when she gave a remarkable speech at the FIFA World Congress in Doha about corruption, equal rights and dead guest workers at the Qatar World Cup. She attacked FIFA President Gianni Infantino head-on.

Gianni Infantino

(Bild: AFP or licensors)

The applause came from all over the world, the courageous rebel was suddenly regarded as the Joan of Arc of soccer, a freedom fighter. The powerful officials at the FIFA meeting reacted with shock. "Some people wanted to stop me from speaking," Klaveness later recounted. "They had warned me that it would kill me politically." All the more reason for her to hold up a mirror to the bigwigs

"Any form of change leads to a perceived loss of power"
"I know her, a cool woman," says ÖFB President Klaus Mitterdorfer, delighted to welcome Klaveness to Linz today. After all, they tick in a similar way. "Any form of change leads to a perceived loss of power," says Mitterdorfer, referring to the intrigues within the ÖFB. He himself is calm: "You surprise people if you don't worry about securing majorities. Then you can achieve your goals." His re-election is of secondary importance to him.

Instead, his priority is the structural reform of the ÖFB with a three-person management board, which will be "negotiated" on Friday. The association is to become fitter for the future, more modern and leaner. This is not to the taste of all the ÖFB regional presidents who take themselves too seriously. Klaveness can only smile at their theatrics.