With a no-nonsense look etched on her face, Ada Hegerberg stares straight into the camera and says: “Now it’s time for action.”
It’s fitting the Norwegian superstar was chosen as the face of a recently launched campaign aimed at improving the profile and standards in women’s soccer.
Not just because, as the first ever winner of the Women’s Ballon d’Or, she is the outstanding player in the female game.
But because she also is fighting her own private battle for equality and greater respect in the sport, a battle that will deprive soccer fans of the chance to see her at the Women’s World Cup, which kicks off in France on June 7.
Hegerberg hasn’t played for Norway for two years, ever since she decided to rule herself out of selection over what she perceives to be a general disregard for women’s soccer in the country. The crux of her frustration is the uneven pace of progress and strategy in the women’s game.
The Norwegian Football Federation has reached an agreement with Norway’s players’ association for an equal-pay deal between men and women. The deal, struck in December 2017, was held up as the first of its kind in international soccer.
The federation also now has a female sporting director-former international Lise Klaveness-who splits her time equally between the country’s men’s and women’s teams, and runs a project aimed at developing top women’s coaches. She is sure Norway invests more money in the women’s game than “most other federations”.
Still, Hegerberg won’t return for the World Cup.
“A lot of things need to be done,” she said in an interview with Associated Press last year, “to make the conditions better for women who play football.”
Norway coach Martin Sjogren said meetings were held in an effort to change Hegerberg’s mind ahead of the tournament. They were in vain.
“As a coach, you need to focus on the players who want to be a part of the team,” Sjogren said, “and Ada doesn’t.”
Klaveness doesn’t want the dispute with Hegerberg to leave a cloud over the Norwegian team but was keen to stress she has “not given up” on the country’s star player.
“We need to try to have a confidential relationship and just talk directly to each other so we can have common ground and maybe have her back after the World Cup,” Klaveness said in a phone interview with AP. “That’s where we are now.” And so, the best player in women’s soccer won’t be gracing the biggest tournament in women’s soccer.
