Smooth Transition from Professional Athlete into Diversifying the Cabinets

Having represented Finland women’s football national team in 100 games during 17 years and twice in the UEFA Women’s European Championships, I’ve been loving the possibility to represent my country, only in a different setting – as the 1st Vice President.

The transformation from the pitch into the Cabinet turned out to be pretty natural. During my career, I was always either the team captain or one of the co-captains. So, being involved with decision making has been part of my role since I’ve been young, and I’ve never been afraid to voice my opinion. Towards the end of my career I served five years in the board for the Football Player’s Association, and after finishing my career, four years as a board member in the biggest sporting club in Finland.

However, for a while I thought my career in football cabinets was over. This resulted from an incident where I, as the youngest and least experienced board member, stood up for something that did not follow good governance guidelines, and neither did it represent my values. However, standing up to my values and challenging the high authority figures turned out to be something people really valued in the end.

During my 15-year professional career abroad in the USA, Sweden, Germany and Norway, I was able to earn both my Bachelor’s and Master`s degrees in Business and also to start my Ph.D studies. However, not everything can be learned in school. Football has taught me many things: perseverance, team work, adaptability, networking, and cross-cultural skills, to name a few.

No need to reiterate how masculine the World of football really is. Throughout history, most, if not all, positions of real power have been held by men in FIFA, UEFA, and also on a National Association level. Even in a progressive country such as Finland, for the first time in 2018, when I was elected as the 1st Vice President of the FA of Finland, there was a female among the Presidents.

I am also the first female member ever in the UEFA Football Committee, an overarching committee, and I’ve been asked to be a part of different UEFA working groups – even a strategic think tank, consisting of only eight people from all over Europe.

Whereas I feel like I want to achieve even greater things, at the same time I do feel like I need to step up to the plate. Not only for me, and for my personal aims and ambitions, but also for every girl who dreams of being a professional footballer one day. And every woman who feels their voice is not heard. I feel like I owe it to the women who never had this chance.