Norway’s football federation says sport can drive sustainability; cites coach training and street-football rehab

Lisa Clavenas, president of the Norwegian Football Federation, said the federation joined Football for the Goals at its launch in July 2022 and served as a pilot, and that the initiative has become a central part of the organization’s strategy.

"We joined right from the launch, and we were also asked to be a pilot," Clavenas said. "It's been a big part of our strategy up till now. So it's perfectly aligned."

Clavenas told the audience that football’s mass reach and emotional pull make the sport well suited to advance sustainability goals. "When you have a World Cup final — men or women — billions of people watch at the same time," she said, adding that the sport can move people's hearts in ways other sectors cannot.

She described three programs the federation emphasizes: long‑running international projects that train female coaches, a street‑football league tied to top leagues that supports people recovering from addiction, and a unified national sustainability strategy that includes professional and grassroots football, rights holders and player organizations.

"The things we do that makes me most proud would be, first of all, the projects we have done now for over 20 years in different countries where we educate female coaches on the ground in Africa, in the Middle East, in Asia, also in Europe," Clavenas said. She added the work includes training female refugees to serve as coaches and managers and that those partnerships are reciprocal rather than one‑way.

Clavenas described the street‑football league as "a league for people connected with the top leagues" that focuses on early addiction problems, alcohol and drug abuse. "It's working really well, and it's really the best initiative in Norway for rehabilitation after drug addiction," she said. She credited football — coaches, practices and matches — with shifting participants from shame to pride.

On domestic organization, Clavenas said the federation has gathered Norwegian football behind a single sustainability strategy that covers men’s and women’s programs, professional and grassroots organizations, media rights holders and player associations. She acknowledged the work is complex and requires balancing competing stakeholder interests.

Looking ahead, Clavenas said the federation will host the 2026 Women’s Champions League final and intends to place sustainability at the center of the event’s planning and public messaging. She also said the federation plans to scale its coach‑training work to include female sports directors and leaders and to seek private funding to expand the program beyond its current public funding model.

Clavenas spoke candidly about the practical and ethical dilemmas of using sport to advance sustainability. She noted the federation itself contributes to emissions through travel and apparel, and she emphasized the need for authenticity: "The only stress we have is that it needs to be real all the time ... that we can bring value add to our clubs and really lean into the dilemmas."

She advised other sports leaders to ground sustainability work in the core mission of their sport, to collaborate with peers, and to prepare for a long effort. "Sleep, train, and speak to other wise people," she said. "It's a marathon."