London (AFP) – Norway’s football chief told The Times they are set to make a formal complaint to FIFA over the suspension of Folarin Balogun’s World Cup ban because it has put “the whole game at risk”. Lise Klaveness, the president of the Norwegian Football Federation (NFF), says she will seek the backing of her board to lodge the complaint with FIFA’s ethics committee over an incident that “should not have happened”.
The NFF have already formally complained over FIFA president Gianni Infantino awarding football’s governing body’s inaugural Peace Prize to US President Donald Trump, which was widely ridiculed. “I will bring it to a board meeting and discuss with my board, and then we do it,” Klaveness told The Times in an interview published on Thursday. “To me, it should be in the same sphere of ethical complaint.”
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Trump’s involvement in the Balogun affair sparked the controversy. Balogun’s red card in the last-32 win over Bosnia and Herzegovina resulted in an automatic suspension for the match with Belgium. But FIFA stepped in and suspended his ban, leading to widespread condemnation, especially when it emerged that Trump had intervened by phoning Infantino. Belgium appeared inspired by the row and thrashed the co-hosts 4-1.
“When you bend a rule like this, you’re on a slippery slope that will put the whole game at risk,” said Klaveness. “It is a worry for the game when you compromise fundamental rules of the game. First of all, it should not have happened. It is very important now to have honest communication around it. We all know that this verdict was influenced from external forces and did not have the proper process. We need our leader in FIFA to say that this was an error,” she added.
Klaveness, a former Norway international who has been head of the NFF since 2022, said bending over for a head of state was a dangerous precedent. “If you start to adapt in such a way towards state leaders and state politics, you will move your behaviour and the organisation’s behaviour, and also the red line of what states’ leaders should interfere with,” she said. “And that happened.”
Klaveness was unimpressed too that, according to The Times, the decision to suspend the ban had been taken solely by the chairman of FIFA’s disciplinary committee, Mohammad al-Kamali, who did not consult the other members. “When you make controversial decisions, and when there has been an external, very powerful voice in your ear, it’s very important that you have more voices (making the decision),” she said. “And if you don’t, it’s a mistake.”
Klaveness said the issue could not just be laid to rest and forgotten about. “To try to sweep this under the carpet now will not fly,” the 45-year-old lawyer said. “Too many felt this…coaches, players, fans…that this was too close to the game.” Klaveness, who says she is not a contender to take on Infantino in the presidential election next year, is equally critical of the proposal by South America to increase the finals from 48 to 64 teams.
Norway enjoyed a successful return to the finals after a 28-year hiatus, losing to England in the quarter-finals. “Smaller nations like ourselves, that haven’t been there for 20 years, showed the World Cup could be extended to 48 teams,” said Klaveness. “It’s not in football’s interest, or even reasonable, to now start to talk about 64 teams — 48 teams was a big change. If you bring the discussion now to 64, and powerful people say it, you will create distrust. The World Cup should not interfere with the domestic leagues, or the confederations, more than it does today.”
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