UPDATE 23.2.2024: The event is fully booked and registration is now closed. If you would like to be added to our waiting list please email us at info@finncult.be
Join us for our annual International Women’s Day Nordic Breakfast Discussion with a group of inspiring professionals from on and off the football field. Our panel will share their view from a Nordic perspective on issues regarding gender equality in football.
Practical Info
CHANGING THE GAME: Gender equality in football
International Women’s Day Nordic Breakfast Discussion
Date: Friday, 8 March, 8:30 – 10:30 CET
Location: The Embassy of Finland in Brussels, Av. de Cortenbergh 80, 1000
Programme:
8:15 Doors Open
8:30 Breakfast
Welcome by Jouko Leinonen, Finnish Ambassador to Belgium and Luxembourg
9:00 – 10:30 Panel discussion with Q&A
Meet our speakers
Milla Majasaari, Goal keeper for the Finnish National Team and RSC Anderlecht
Milla Majasaari is a 24-year-old Finnish professional football player. She has played in Sweden for AIK and IK Uppsala Fotboll and since January 2024 plays n Belgium for RSC Anderlecht.
Besides playing football she has studied Sport Management in Södertörns Högskola in Sweden and graduated as a Bachelor of Science in Business Administration. Equality in sports as a topic is very close to her heart.
“During my studies I got more acquainted with the different faces of this subject and it became clear for me that I want to do my part and speak for more equal environments in sports. Equality in women’s football has taken big steps during the past few years but we still have a long way to go. We need to invest in women’s and girls football and give it the appreciation that it deserves.”
Follow Milla Majasaari on Instagram.
Eyðvør Klakstein, Faroese football midfielder who currently plays for KÍ Klaksvík Sports Club
Eyðvør Klakstein has a Master of Science in Sports and Exercise Psychology, and her Master’s thesis examined why Faroese female players quit playing football. Eyðvør runs her own sports psychology consultancy, Mente, and she works with both athletes and teams.
Eyðvør is a midfielder and currently plays for KÍ – Klaksvíkar Ítróttarfelag. She has played 45 matches for the Faroe Islands National Team, as well as 26 UEFA Women’s Champions League matches. She has also played football in Spain for three years. Eyðvør was voted Player of the Year in the Faroe Islands in 2023.
Follow Eyðvør Klakstein on LinkedIn.
Vanda Sigurgeirsdóttir, Former President of the Football Association of Iceland and Assistant Professor of leisure and social science, University of Iceland
Vanda Sigurgeirsdóttir started playing football at a young age. She played on the national teams of football and basketball, and was captain of the women´s national football team for six years. She then worked as a football coach for about 30 years, and holds 17 national and cup championship titles as a player and coach in football, with two in basketball. Sigurgeirsdóttir was also the coach of a men’s football team in division three, the only woman in Iceland that has ever coached a men’s team. Furthermore, she coached the women’s youth national teams and was the first woman to coach the women’s A national team in Iceland.
Sigurgeirsdóttir was the president of the football association of Iceland from fall of 2021 and until the 24th of February this year. She is the first woman in Iceland and in Europe to be president of a football association.
Shanga Aziz, Co-Founder of Locker Room Talk, Sweden
Shanga Aziz is a Swedish opinion leader, social entrepreneur and activist in gender equality, sports, culture and international education issues. He is also one of the co-founders of the non-profit organization Locker Room Talk which wants to create the next generation of role models and athletes by making the boys’ locker room a safer place with target group-adapted methods based on gender equality in sports, value-based leadership and emotional intelligence.
Locker Room Talk received, among other things, the first Zlatan Ibrahimović “Number 10” scholarship, which is a scholarship established by Volvo Cars Sweden and the Swedish Football Association together with Ibrahimović.
Aziz has been praised on several occasions for his leadership with, among others, the Compass Rose from the King of Sweden, Carl XVI Gustaf, Foundation for Young.
Follow Shanga Aziz on Instagram.
Lykke Friis, Director of Denmark’s Think Tank Europa, former Danish minister of climate, energy, and gender equality
Lykke Friis is the Director of Think Tank EUROPA. From 2009 to 2011 she was Danish Minister for Gender Equality, Climate and Energy. She is a member of the National Team Committee of the Danish Football Association and spearheaded the Danish FA’s commission on women’s soccer together with former Prime Minister Helle Thorning Schmidt. She is a big football fan – both of men’s and women’s football.
Her previous positions include Prorector of the University of Copenhagen and Director of European Affairs at the Confederation of Danish Industries (DI). She has taught international relations at both the University of Copenhagen and at the Copenhagen Business School. She holds a Ph.D. in Political Science from the University of Copenhagen and a Master of European Studies from the London School of Economics.
Follow Lykke Friis on Instagram.
Moderation by Brussels based culture journalist Ana Fota
Ana Fota is a culture journalist based in Brussels. Her work has been published by The New York Times, Euronews, Politico and others. She also writes a newsletter for art lovers called Nap At The Opera.
She began her career working in the New York Times’ Manhattan newsroom, where she wrote various stories of local interest — including one on a historically inaccurate diorama at the Natural History Museum, which went viral online and garnered over 400,000 views.
Three years ago, she moved to Brussels to join POLITICO Europe’s growing newsroom, where she reported on Romanian and general news, while also helping develop the publication’s social media strategy. She is now not only a freelance reporter, but also an event moderator, organizer and social media strategist.
Further info about the event
Accessibility
The event takes place in English.
The building is wheelchair accessible. The event takes place on the ground floor and an accessible toilet is located next door.
Safer Spaces
This event follows the Finnish Cultural Institute for the Benelux’s Safer Spaces Principles. By registering for this event, you commit to following these principles.
The Safer Spaces contact person for this event will be indicated at the start of the event.
Organisation
The International Women’s Day Nordic Breakfast Discussion is organised by the Embassy of Finland in Brussels, the Finnish Cultural Institute for the Benelux, the Embassy of Sweden, the Norwegian Embassy, the Embassy of Denmark, the Embassy of Iceland, and The Mission of the Faroes to the European Union.
Image: Finnish goalkeeper Milla Majasaari. Photo by Jyri Sulander / Suomen Palloliitto.