NFF with violent salary boom: – the reason for asking questions

At the same time that the Norwegian Football Association lost $40 million last year, the federation’s salary expenses have risen dramatically in the past 10 years.

This is shown by the numbers obtained by VG from the annual reports of the Football Association since 2013.

The number of employees at the National Football League has increased by 64 people over ten years.

Meanwhile, the NFF’s salary expenses rose from NOK 110.5 million per year in 2013, to NOK 200.1 million last year.

This is a growth of 81 percent. In comparison, price growth in the community was 28 percent in the same period.

– I would not call these numbers a danger signal, because we are aware of the efficient use of funds in Norwegian football. It’s about making arrangements for good activity. But there is a reason to ask questions. We do this internally as well. There has been more staff, but it’s a conscious priority. However, it is always healthy to have discussions about how we as an organization can collectively use our resources as efficiently as possible, says Secretary General Karl-Peter Lücken.

His “salary” is almost the same as it was ten years ago: the Secretary General of the National Football Association received a salary of NOK 2.5 million last year, including “other benefits” and retirement expenses.

President Lise Klavinis earns more than two million kroner a year, if you apply the same conditions. This is a strong increase from NOK 1.38 million ten years ago. Salary has been previously discussed at VG.

International sports policy has become a priority area after the election of Lise Klavinis as the new president of football. You have hired Magnus Borgen to a newly created position as Personal Advisor.

In addition, Christian Borgersrud became the new chief of staff shortly after Klavinis took over as Head of Football. As far as VG understands, the position was never advertised, but Borgersrud was already working for the union – after applying for and landing a management position in 2019.

Borgersrud previously worked with Lise Klavinis at Norges Bank.

-As in other workplaces, we also make changes in the organization as employees’ work tasks and job instructions are changed. These are the measures we take to develop the organization in line with the tasks we have to solve, and for employees to have internal career opportunities, says Lokken.

We lived for a period without an administrative resource, after the former retired. Therefore, there is no tremendous growth within this sector. He added: I will not comment on individual appointments, but I will still say that Christian is an incredibly good man, and a great resource for the Nigerian Federation.

– Then Reyes will come to resign As national team manager, a new position was created for her in the National Football Association. Is it true that you can only find new jobs for people when they are needed?

– Absolutely. Hughie has stepped into a role that has been in demand in recent years. Even Bellerud had an almost similar role in the past, and he was missed. There is also an element that pushes us harder on the women’s side. We will see that following the WC this summer. We’re happy that Heggie wants to work for the NFL, and she’s also working to get the severance pay she deserved. So it’s a win-win.

Karl Peter Lukin believes more time spent sitting and playing means the Football Association should spend more resources on recruitment.

He talks about how we are increasingly dealing with incitement and threats, and that this requires new resources. And about the VAR ruling, which is also an increase in expenses.

We must realize that yesterday’s answer is not necessarily tomorrow’s answer. Development is going fast. This also includes providing resources for areas or functions that we didn’t have before, he says.

At the same time, there is every reason to believe that salary expenses will continue to grow: because expenses for the relatively recent project called “Summit Europe” are not included in the 2022 figures that VG presents today. It will only become visible in the annual report scheduled to be issued next year.

The European Top is a project on which the National Football Association and the Norwegian Top Football Committee each spend NOK 15 million annually, while the Top Football Women committee spends NOK 1.5 million on. Thus NOK 190 million was set aside over six years.

Today, eight people associated with the project work.

We must invest more – not less – in the future to maintain and hopefully increase the number of people who want to play football, which is the most important public health movement in Norway. We also have to invest more if we are to be able to meet increasingly tough international competition – to take the lead on the women’s side and improve on the men’s side, says Secretary General Karl Peter Lücken.

He leads the largest private association in the country to date. Last year, before the former Rosenborg player was brought to the Ullevaal Stadium, the NFF lost NOK 40 million.

This was due to, among other things, an overspend on the women’s national team of NOK 9.5 million, as well as an overspend on the Ståle Solbakken national team of NOK 6.4 million.

– What do this year’s accounts look like?

– Lukin says: – We are not planning any deficit this year.

– Surely all associations have this ambition?

– This is true, but we aim to ensure that we do not lose money in 2023, says the President of the Nigerian Federation.

note. The Norwegian Football Association entered on Group levelwhich includes Ullevaal Idrett AS, AS Ullevaal Stadion and Idrettens Helsesenter AS, amounted to NOK 870 million in 2013. By 2022, the figure had risen to NOK 1.2 billion.