Lise Klaveness’s “other life” as a criminal lawyer and judge helped make up her mind to take to the stage in Doha a fortnight ago. “In everything I do, I fear not talking about real things,” said the 40-year-old of her blistering speech, which left Fifa and Qatar chiefs squirming in their seats. 

A “big precondition”, she explained, for stepping away from the Oslo district courts and into the role as Norwegian football president had been her right to explain her misgivings. “We did not want to be self-righteous,” adds the 73-times capped former international. “But we wanted to tell people clearly where we actually are.” 

Since saying her piece about the World Cup being delivered to Qatar in “unacceptable ways with unacceptable consequences”, Klaveness said the reaction from counterparts has been “mixed”. There had been an immediate rebuke inside the congress hall from Jose Ernesto Mejia of Honduras. 

Hassan Al Thawadi, the secretary general of Qatar’s Supreme Committee, also bit back at her during his own speech, blaming “stereotypes and assumptions”. Al Thawadi then tracked Klaveness down the next day, midway through the razzmatazz of the World Cup draw, to express his hurt. 

“He was disappointed that I went to the country and to the stage without addressing him personally,” Klaveness explained of their private conversation. “I told him that our intention was to criticise Fifa and ourselves, and try to call for a gathered action in this case and also generally. But he was clear that he took it as criticism so I just thanked him for coming over, and that we could have a meeting later.” 

One of those meetings is likely to be in May when Klaveness, who sets one of her main targets as a migrant worker rights drop-in centre, revisits Doha as part of a trip with Uefa. However, with Norway failing to qualify for the World Cup, she says the baton will be with England, and other leading European nations, to maintain the pressure when the tournament begins. 

She is heartened that Debbie Hewitt, the Football Association’s chairwoman, was among those in Doha to approach her to congratulate her on her courage for speaking out. “She was encouraging, interested and very good to talk to,” Klaveness said. 

“I also had conversations with Germany and others, who expressed support and gave a good spirit and energy. I do feel that it was mixed overall, but from the nations I mentioned there and also the Nordic countries, the support is fundamental and great. For us, it’s very important as a team that has not qualified that there are other teams going there, of course to perform, but also to be agents of change.”