Helmarit: Linda Sällström lost her faith in Fifa

Edinburgh

Finland the women’s national team’s all-time top scorer Linda Sällström36, greets cheerfully in an Edinburgh hotel. Sällström and Helmarit are in the city because the European Championship qualifying match against Scotland will be played there on Friday.

Soon, Sällström’s expression becomes serious, when the award-winning player-activist begins to go through football’s biggest grievances.

“A couple of weeks ago there were draws for the Nations League. We were drawn into the same group as Belarus, which I think is really problematic. Belarus should not be involved in these qualifiers,” says Sällström.

Belarus has been banned from the Olympics, among other things, because the country supports Russia in its war of aggression against Ukraine.

“I have emphasized for a long time that the responsibility rests with sports decision-makers. We athletes should not be put in a position where we have to make difficult moral decisions. An individual athlete should not have to wonder if he boycotted the games,” says Sällström.

Sällström talks naturally and gladly about football’s shortcomings. Sallström understands that people are asking about the topic, because he talks about it directly on his social media accounts, for example.

Football this week, the international umbrella organization of players’ associations, Fifpro, awarded Sällström with an award for player activism.

Sällström spoke strongly against discrimination based on gender or sexual orientation, among other things.

In March, Vittsjö, represented by Sällström, played an away match in Gothenburg. There, the supporters shouted misogynistic comments at Vittsjö’s players throughout the match. Sallström got hot and faced the fans after the match.

“In Sweden, there was a welcome big discussion about it. The audience culture has been going in a certain direction there for some time. After that, many people sent me messages thanking me for intervening as a football player,” Sällström says.

In men’s matches, hooliganism has become a bad mild phenomenon in Sweden. In the women’s series, the symptom is misogynistic shouting.

“Several people wrote to me that they no longer dared to take their children to football games in Sweden, because there many spectators behave so badly.”

“The language used in that game was really blatant and misogynistic. Fortunately, this is still not an everyday thing for me, that I would have to face it every day.”

Sällström does not feel that he is an activist in the official sense of the word. He doesn’t dig up grievances in football on his own initiative, but intervenes when he sees injustices.

He refuses to judge individuals even in blatant cases. Instead, Sällström pressures decision-makers and associations to act. When talking about the booing in the stands in Sweden, he wants to believe that the public debate he has sparked will help change attitudes.

“Those people who are abused in the stands have hopefully been able to reflect on their own behavior after the public discussion.”

“I wouldn’t even go to the cash register of a store to shout such things, so maybe it shouldn’t be done to football players either,” says Sällström.

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An individual athlete should not have to wonder if they are boycotting the Games.

Discourse turns from Sweden to Saudi Arabia. The country is very likely to host the 2034 men’s soccer World Cup.

Sällström laughs in disbelief as he ponders where to start with the deepened cooperation between Saudi Arabia and FIFA. According to his own words, he has lost faith in Fifa.

Same-sex relationships are prohibited by law in Saudi Arabia. This means that, for example, Sällström himself is not welcome in Saudi Arabia with his beloved.

Sällström was one of over a hundred players who signed a petition against Fifa when the organization signed a sponsorship deal with Saudi Aramco. Saudi Aramco is the state-owned oil company of Saudi Arabia.

“Fifa has its own human rights body in its organization. I don’t understand how such a sponsor could possibly pass that screen. I don’t understand how Fifa works. They say one thing and do completely another. It seems to me that nothing else matters if there is enough money,” says Sällström.

Finnish will face Scotland on Friday in Edinburgh in the first part of the decisive qualifier for the European Championship.

The winner of the 2025 Summer Games will be decided in the second leg at the Töölö football stadium on Tuesday, December 3.

Sällström’s season in Swedish Vittsjö was weak in terms of performance, but Finland has always been able to rely on Sällström in the national team.

Helmare’s all-time top scorer has scored 61 times in his career for Finland. The most recent hits came in the October qualifiers against Montenegro.