Karen Espelund

Karen Espelund (born 1 February 1961 in Trondheim, Norway) is a former Norwegian football player and a former football official.

Espelund started her football career at the SK Trondheims-Ørn and played 300 matches[1] between 1976 and 1985. In 1981 and 1982, she played twice for the Norwegian national women's team.

Later she held several management positions at the Football Association of Norway (NFF). From 1988 to 1996 she served as Director, thereafter until 1999 as Vice President [2] and then, until 2009 as General Secretary.[3]

She became a member of the UEFA Women’s Football Committee in 1990. In 2011, she got a two-year mandate to serve as UEFA Women's Football Committee Chairman in Michel Platini's inner circle.[4]

As of 2012, she was a member of the executive committee of UEFA.[5] In May 2016, Florence Hardouin was elected as her successor.[6]

  1. ^ "Women's development programmes top UEFA's agenda". Association Internationale de la Presse Sportive. 29 June 2013. Retrieved 7 November 2016.
  2. ^ "Speakers' biographies" (PDF). Council of Europe. 17 November 2015. Retrieved 7 November 2016.
  3. ^ "The Post War Development of Football for Females inEngland: A Cross Cultural and Comparative Study with the United States of America and Norway" (PDF). University of Leicester. 2002. Retrieved 7 November 2016.
  4. ^ "Espelund brings high ideals to UEFA". deseretnews. 15 August 2011. Archived from the original on 8 November 2016. Retrieved 7 November 2016.
  5. ^ "Uefa's Karen Espelund praises Women's Super League". BBC. 23 May 2013. Retrieved 7 November 2016.
  6. ^ "The news that the nation have been accepted as the 55th member nation after a close vote means their application to join FIFA could now be fast-tracked in the coming months". goal. 3 May 2016. Retrieved 7 November 2016.