"The problems go beyond the president as an individual." That line from Lise Klaveness tells you everything about how she's playing this — and why she's more dangerous to Gianni Infantino than anyone else currently in world football governance.
The Norwegian Football Association president has been calling out FIFA's dysfunction since she took office in 2022. She did it from Doha, mid-World Cup, in front of cameras, criticising the fact that human rights and gender equality were never "in the starting lineup" when Qatar was awarded the tournament. While most federation heads were shaking hands and posing for photos, Klaveness was on record. That took nerve.
Now, with Infantino's plan to open FIFA to private investors having collapsed in spectacular fashion, she's gone further. She's calling for his resignation — and the Norwegian FA is taking its allegations directly to FIFA's Ethics Committee.
What She's Actually Accusing Him Of
The charge sheet is long. FIFA handing Donald Trump a "Peace Prize." Infantino's conspicuously close relationship with the U.S. president. The lifting of Folarin Balogun's ban for the 2026 World Cup after a presidential intervention. And a broader pattern of what Klaveness describes as "acquiescence" and "a complete reversal" from the reform platform Infantino ran on in 2016.
"Distancing turned into acquiescence, even a complete reversal — against a backdrop of a lack of independence from heads of state and other influential figures," she told AFP. That's a precise and damaging summary, and it's hard to argue with a single word of it.
Norway didn't vote for Infantino's re-election in 2023. The FA flagged its dissatisfaction formally. This isn't a sudden pivot — it's been a consistent, documented position.
The Succession Question Nobody Wants to Answer Yet
Inevitably, her name is being floated as a replacement. Even Sepp Blatter — not exactly a neutral party, but someone who knows the FIFA machine inside out — posted on X: "She was the only one who always took a clear stand and didn't go with the flow. And at FIFA, the time has come for a woman to take the helm."
Klaveness, a 45-year-old lawyer with 73 caps for Norway, is dismissing the candidacy talk for now. "We're not there yet," she says. Which is the correct answer — leaning into a succession battle would undercut her argument that this is about governance, not personal ambition.
But the obstacles are real. Norwegian TV2 commentator Mina Berg is frank about it: outside Europe, Klaveness is seen as "extremely radical" — and being a woman will count against her in several voting blocs that carry serious weight in FIFA elections. She also failed to win a UEFA Executive Committee seat in 2023, only getting there in 2025 as the sole candidate for a reserved spot. That's not a ringing endorsement from her own confederation.
- Klaveness first publicly criticised FIFA governance in 2022, speaking from Doha during the Qatar World Cup
- Norway withheld its vote in Infantino's 2023 re-election
- The Norwegian FA is now bringing allegations before FIFA's Ethics Committee
- Norway reached the quarterfinals of the most recent World Cup before losing to England
- Infantino is standing for re-election again in 2027
The 2027 FIFA presidential election suddenly looks a lot less like a formality. Whether Klaveness runs or not, she's already shifted what the conversation is about — and Infantino, for the first time in years, looks genuinely exposed.
