"The problems go beyond the president as an individual." That's Lise Klaveness, president of the Norwegian Football Association, and if that sounds carefully calibrated, it is. She's been running this play for three years — principled, persistent, and precise — and FIFA is finally starting to look like it might crack around her.
Klaveness, a 45-year-old lawyer and former Norway international with 73 caps, has been one of the loudest critics of Gianni Infantino's presidency since she took over Norway's FA in 2022. She used her platform at the Qatar World Cup to publicly call out FIFA's failure to put human rights and gender equality "in the starting lineup" when awarding the tournament. Norway withheld its vote at Infantino's 2024 re-election. Now, with Infantino's plan to open FIFA to private investors collapsed and his relationship with Donald Trump drawing serious scrutiny, she's moved from criticism to a direct call for his resignation.
What's Actually Fuelling the Crisis
It's not just one thing. FIFA handed Trump a "Peace Prize." Infantino intervened — alongside the U.S. president — to lift the ban on forward Folarin Balogun ahead of the 2026 World Cup. The private investor plan, which would have fundamentally altered how the world governing body operates financially, was rejected outright.
Norway's FA has now formally brought these allegations before FIFA's Ethics Committee. That's not a press release move. That's escalation.
Klaveness's argument is that the rot predates any single controversy. "When Infantino took over in 2016, he was elected on a reform platform based on good governance," she told AFP. "Then the situation deteriorated rapidly: distancing turned into acquiescence, even a complete reversal." That arc — reformer to accommodator — is the heart of her indictment.
Could She Actually Run FIFA?
Her name is circulating as a potential successor, with commentators flagging her "strong moral compass" as exactly what the institution needs. Even Sepp Blatter — whose own FIFA tenure was hardly a governance masterclass — posted on X that "the time has come for a woman to take the helm." Draw your own conclusions about the value of that endorsement.
The obstacles are real. Outside Europe, she's seen as too radical. And being a woman, as Norwegian TV2 commentator Mina Berg puts it bluntly, "could work against her in many regions of the world." Within UEFA itself, she failed to win an Executive Committee seat in 2023 — she didn't get on until 2025, running unopposed for the seat reserved for women.
- Klaveness has 73 international caps as a player and a law degree — she knows the game from both sides
- Norway's recent World Cup run, reaching the quarterfinals before losing to England, has given her a stronger platform
- FIFA's presidential election is scheduled for 2027
- Infantino has announced he's running for another term
Klaveness herself brushes off the succession talk. "We're not there yet," she says. Whether that's genuine or strategic patience is difficult to tell. But the pressure on Infantino is building — and she's been applying it longer than almost anyone else.
