Time for more women at UEFA's top table, says Norway's Klaveness

By Philip O'Connor

STOCKHOLM (Reuters) - The time has come for more women at the highest level in football and not just representing the women's game, Norwegian Football Association (NFF) president and UEFA executive committee candidate Lise Klaveness told Reuters.

The 41-year-old former Norway international said that she did not want to be appointed to the highest committee of European soccer's governing body, known as ExCo, and instead is aiming to break new ground by being elected by the other national associations.

"I'm the first female president to ever run for an ExCo election, which is pretty critical when you consider that it's the biggest sport for girls and women in the world, so we need a board that reflects that," she said in a telephone interview.

Part of the Norway team that finished fourth at the World Cup in China in 2007, Klaveness played 73 times for her country and served as Norway's technical director before being elected NFF president a year ago.

"Men's football is just as close to my heart as women's football, I find that technical competence has to be represented in the boardrooms, alongside business skills and entertainment skills and investment skills, but the technical aspect needs to be very well-represented, and I'm ready to do that," she said.

Having climbed to the highest post in her country's football association, Klaveness is looking for broader female representation across the board.

"I am for a system where you're elected because of merit, so the reason why I talk about female representation is that I think it's a very important thing for football structures," she explained when asked why other nations should vote for her.

GOOD INSIGHT

"I will be ready to do a good job in the ExCo because I have good insight to the game -- I've spent my life in football, both on the women's and the men's side," she said.

"I was the first female to ever commentate on the men's game in Norway, on the World Cup and Premier League, and then the first technical director to lead the men's national team, and now the first female president."

A qualified lawyer specialising in employment law, Klaveness gave a fiery speech at FIFA's congress in Doha in March last year, urging delegates to consider the situation of migrant workers and LGBT people ahead of the World Cup in Qatar, which took place in November and December.

While she says she has seen progress in football in terms of equality over the last two decades, the former midfielder said there is still work to be done.

"I definitely see the progress and it inspires me, but it does not change that, on some level, it's going the opposite direction - for example, gaps increasing between bonus payments between the men and women," she said.

The elections to UEFA's executive committee will take place at the governing body's congress in early April, and Klaveness is hoping that its members will be ready to give their votes to a female candidate.

"I think it's time, and it's an important step ... I think that, if we want diversity down the (football) pyramid, we need to walk the walk at the top level," she said.

(Editing by Toby Davis)