Soccer World Cup in Qatar; Lise Klaveness on speech to FIFA

II don’t remember whether I was able to fall asleep the night after the speech, but I know that the night before I had been struggling with my colleague over individual formulations for a long time. The next morning it felt good and safe to start with this speech, which was my own, I wrote it, but it was also ours, you could say Norway’s speech.

You can see that I haven’t given much thought to what to wear by the fact that I’m wearing the same blouse here in Oslo today as I did in Doha on March 31st. Normal trousers, comfortable shoes, and my hair loose – I like my hair, but I find it weird that people look at things like this: How does she wear her hair, what color is it? Would anyone say that about a man?

The mood there as I walked to the podium – yes, it was hostile. And the mood was even icier when I left the podium, there was a bit of applause but nobody came up to me and said anything. But I was prepared for that. But I didn’t feel lonely or isolated or ashamed, because – as I said – it wasn’t just my idea to give this speech there, it was ours. And I felt that approval from the Norwegian Football Association and Norwegians in general in Doha.

I have fun, special, challenging moments with my wife and our three children every day. I try not to let this day in Doha stand out with my speech. I have so much to do as a mother, wife and President of the Football Association of Norway! But of course the speech made me better known and gave me the opportunity to be heard in places I would never have gotten to otherwise. It was worth it – I would do it all over again.

Recorded by Frank Heike