Football Association President Lise Klaveness and General Secretary Karl-Petter Løken have written an opinion piece in VG to thank the Norwegian people.

How nice. How sincere. How eloquently written.

How dishonest.

Because if this had truly been a thank-you, it would simply have said, “Thank you very much, Norway.” Full stop. Instead, it is wrapped around a list of what Klaveness wants. A national training centre. More funding for youth national teams. More funding for women’s football. More funding for inclusion, integration, referees, coaches, and everything else that fits her agenda.

Norway has just enjoyed the World Cup. A World Cup that united the entire country in a way we have scarcely witnessed since the days following liberation. But now Norway is expected to pay. That is the entire message.

Klaveness is highly skilled at this. She has perfected the art of conflating a national celebration with political activism. She calls it unity. She calls it inclusion. She calls it “the Norwegian model”. What she is really talking about is her own list of priorities.

And that is where it becomes truly provocative.

Under Klaveness, the Football Association has become a political platform. She has used the presidency to speak out against Qatar’s human rights record, against Norwegian racism, against Donald Trump, against Israel, and against everything else that fits neatly into the established political left’s worldview.

She has, among other things, said that she is “concerned” about what Trump’s policies will mean for the 2026 World Cup, as though it were the responsibility of the president of Norwegian football to hold opinions on American presidents.

She has used her office to moralise, not to unite.

When Tamima Nibras Juhar was murdered, she was among the first to interpret it as an example of Norwegian racism. Yet when Zaniar Matapour murdered two people during Pride in 2022, there was, by contrast, a striking silence from the Football Association president’s office. Racism is a problem she sees in one particular direction. Violence is a problem she sees in one particular direction.

Oslo, 14 July 2026.
Men’s national team head coach Ståle Solbakken greets King Harald during a reception for the Norway men’s national football team hosted by the Royal Family at the Royal Palace.
Photo: Amanda Pedersen Giske / NTB

We see it most clearly in the way she comments on a Facebook post by a person who is effectively beyond mention for those of us who do not share the same opinions. Klaveness expresses her deepest sympathy and shock over the “Norwegian racism” to which this individual, apparently in his own perception, is being subjected.

Then we come to “the Norwegian model”, the slogan she repeatedly invokes.

The way she phrases it is by no means accidental. “The team does not come from one place. It comes from all of Norway.” It sounds inclusive. But the subtext is something quite different. It is not merely about Oslo, Bergen and Bodø being represented. It is also about Norwegian football being filled with more foreign-born players, about recruitment reflecting a more diverse Norway, and about clubs opening their doors to even more players from other cultural backgrounds.

This is not stated explicitly. It is not written in plain language. But it is the very premise on which she builds her vision. “As many as possible, for as long as possible”, as the slogan goes, means in practice that Norwegian football is to serve as an arena for integration rather than an arena for performance. The two are not mutually exclusive, but in Klaveness’s formulation the former clearly overshadows the latter.

Norwegian football deserves better than this. Norwegian football deserves a president who unites rather than politicises. A president who thanks the Norwegian people without simultaneously sending them the bill. A president who is proud of the players without using them as a moral yardstick against those who do not share her political views.

Oslo, 6 July 2026.
Norwegian supporters celebrate in Palace Square and along Karl Johans gate after Norway’s victory over Brazil in the Round of 16 at the 2026 FIFA World Cup.
Photo: Javad Parsa / NTB

Norway has enjoyed a fantastic football summer. The players have delivered. Ståle Solbakken has delivered. The supporters have delivered. Now Klaveness is delivering as well, but in the field at which she excels most: using a national celebration as a showcase for her own agenda.

“Thank you very much, Norway,” writes Klaveness.

No, Lise. Thank you very much to the players. Thank you very much to Ståle. Thank you very much to the volunteers baking waffles in local clubs. Thank you very much to all the Norwegians who became the World Cup’s biggest sensation by rowing like Vikings.

There is no reason to thank you.