Karen Espelund (born 1 February 1961 in

Trondheim Trondheim ( , , ; ), historically Kaupangen, Nidaros, and Trondhjem (), is a city and municipality in Trøndelag county, Norway. As of 2022, it had a population of 212,660. Trondheim is the third most populous municipality in Norway, and is ...

Norway Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...

) is a former Norwegian football player and a former football official. Espelund started her football career at the

SK Trondheims-Ørn Rosenborg Ballklub Kvinner (previously known as Sportsklubben Trondheims-Ørn) is a Norwegian women's professional football club in Trondheim, Trøndelag. History The club was founded as a multi-sports club on May 18, 1917, and became a mem ...

and played 300 matches 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 The Norwegian Football Federation (, ; NFF) is the governing body of football (soccer), football in Norway. It was formed in 1902 and organises the Norway national football team, men's and Norway women's national football team, women's national te ...

(NFF). From 1988 to 1996 she served as Director, thereafter until 1999 as Vice President and then, until 2009 as General Secretary. She became a member of the

UEFA The Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; ; ) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs football, futsal and beach soccer, beach football in Europe and the List of transcontinental countries#A ...

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 Michel François Platini (; born 21 June 1955) is a French association football, football Administrator (business), administrator and former player and manager. Regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time, Platini won the Ballon d'O ...

's inner circle. As of 2012, she was a member of the executive committee of UEFA. In May 2016, Florence Hardouin was elected as her successor.

References

External links

UEFA profile
1961 births Living people Footballers from Trondheim SK Trondheims-Ørn players Members of the UEFA Executive Committee Norwegian women's footballers Norway women's international footballers Norwegian sports executives and administrators UEFA officials Women's association football players not categorized by position 20th-century Norwegian sportswomen {{Norway-women-footy-bio-stub