LEIPZIG, Germany (AP) — Former National Women's Soccer League director Tatjana Haenni will join Leipzig as chief executive next month, making her one of the most high-profile female executives working in European men's soccer.
A former Swiss national team player, Haenni was NWSL Chief Sporting Director from 2023 until earlier this year and before that headed up FIFA's work on women's soccer and the Women's World Cup.
Leipzig said Wednesday that Haenni will start as CEO on Jan. 1. She will oversee a club with men's and women's German Bundesliga teams and which reached the men's Champions League semifinals in 2020.
“I can’t wait to get started in January and to get to know the club on a deeper level,” Haenni said in a statement. “Together, we want to continue on what is already a successful path, and achieve our ambitious goals.”
As part of the wider Red Bull network of clubs around the world, Haenni is set to work together with ex-Liverpool coach Jürgen Klopp, who has been the drinks giant's head of global soccer since last year.
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FILE - Tatjana Haenni, FIFA deputy director of the competitions division and head of women's football, listens during the opening news conference for the FIFA Women's World Cup in Vancouver, British Columbia, on Thursday, June 4, 2015. (Darryl Dyck/The Canadian Press via AP, File)
OSLO, Norway (AP) — Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado will miss the ceremony to award her the Nobel Peace Prize in Oslo on Wednesday, the head of the Norwegian Nobel Institute said.
Machado last appeared in public 11 months ago. Nobel Institute director Kristian Berg Harpviken told public broadcaster NRK the Venezuelan opposition leader was not in the Norwegian capital on the day of the ceremony and her daughter will accept the prize on Machado’s behalf.
“We confirm that she will not attend the Nobel ceremony, but we are optimistic about her presence on the rest of the day’s agenda,” said Machado's spokesperson, Claudia Macero. She did not give information on Machado's current location.
Prominent Latin American figures planned to attend Wednesday's ceremony in a signal of solidarity with Machado, including Argentine President Javier Milei, Ecuador’s President Daniel Noboa, Panama's President José Raúl Mulino and Paraguayan President Santiago Peña.
Machado has been living in hiding and has not been seen in public since Jan. 9, when she was briefly detained after joining supporters in a protest in Caracas, Venezuela’s capital.
The 58-year-old’s win for her struggle to achieve a democratic transition in her South American nation was announced on Oct. 10, and she was described as a woman “who keeps the flame of democracy burning amid a growing darkness.”
Machado won an opposition primary election and intended to challenge President Nicolás Maduro in last year’s presidential election, but the government barred her from running for office. Retired diplomat Edmundo González took her place.
The lead-up to the July 28, 2024 election saw widespread repression, including disqualifications, arrests and human rights violations. That increased after the country’s National Electoral Council, which is stacked with Maduro loyalists, declared the incumbent the winner.
González sought asylum in Spain last year after a Venezuelan court issued a warrant for his arrest.
U.N. human rights officials and many independent rights groups have expressed concerns about the situation in Venezuela, and called for Maduro to be held accountable for the crackdown on dissent.
Five past Nobel Peace Prize laureates were detained or imprisoned at the time of the award, according to the prize's official website, most recently Iranian activist Narges Mohammadi in 2023 and Belarusian human rights advocate Ales Bialiatski in 2022.
The others were Liu Xiaobo of China in 2010, Aung San Suu Kyi of Myanmar in 1991 and Carl von Ossietzky of Germany in 1935.
“There is a long tradition that when a Peace Prize laureate cannot be present, close family members represent them," Harpviken said. "That happened with Narges Mohammadi, and with Ales Bialiatski; both were imprisoned at the time. And the same will happen with Maria Corina Machado today. The daughter will deliver the statement her mother has written.”
Ana Corina Sosa, center, daughter of Nobel peace prize laureate Maria Machados, arrives at the Grand Hotel in Oslo on Monday, Dec. 8, 2025. (Lise Aserud/NTB via AP)
FILE - Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado greets supporters during a protest against Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro the day before his inauguration for a third term in Caracas, Venezuela, Thursday, Jan. 9, 2025. (AP Photo/Matias Delacroix, file)
From left: Colombia's former vice president Marta Lucía Ramírez, Pedro Urruchurtu Noselli and Magalli Meda, who are collaborators with the Nobel Prize winner, Venezuelan opposition leader María Corina Machado, are seen at the Grand Hotel in Oslo, Tuesday Dec. 9, 2025. (Cornelius Poppe/NTB Scanpix via AP)
FILE - Opposition leader Maria Corina Machado displays vote tally sheets during a protest against the reelection of President Nicolas Maduro one month after the disputed presidential vote which she says the opposition won by a landslide, in Caracas, Venezuela, Wednesday, Aug. 28, 2024. (AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos, file)
