On the December day in 2010 when Fifa named Qatar to host this World Cup, Norwegian football pundit Lise Klaveness said she would boycott the tournament. Qatar’s regime does not afford basic human rights to gay people like herself, migrants and others. Its bid to host the tournament had also generated allegations of bribery.
Today, Klaveness is president of Norway’s football federation, arguably the sport’s most vocal campaigner against Qatar. Yet even Norway finally decided against boycotting the World Cup. (In the event, their team failed to qualify.) No other country or individual player is boycotting either.
Klaveness won’t attend the tournament. Will she enjoy the football, at least? “Personally, that’s difficult to feel now, for me,” she says. “I will keep updated. I am a football president. I should know what happens, but I will not have the sound on.”