William Gaillard is the director of communications and public affairs for the

Union of European Football Associations Union of European Football Associations (UEFA ; french: Union des associations européennes de football; german: Union der europäischen Fußballverbände) is one of six continental bodies of governance in association football. It governs f ...

(UEFA). He is also the Senior Advisor to the President of UEFA

Michel Platini Michel François Platini (born 21 June 1955) is a French football administrator and former player and manager. Regarded as one of the greatest footballers of all time, Platini won the Ballon d'Or three times in a row, in 1983, 1984 and 1985, a ...

. Gaillard, who was born in

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

, came to wide prominence following the condemnation that UEFA suffered in the wake of the

2007 Champions League Final The 2007 UEFA Champions League Final was the final match of the 2006–07 UEFA Champions League, Europe's primary club football competition. The showpiece event was contested between Liverpool of England and Milan of Italy at the Olympic Stad ...

Before UEFA

In addition to his career at UEFA, Gaillard has also been Director of Corporate Communication for the

International Air Transport Association The International Air Transport Association (IATA ) is a trade association of the world's airlines founded in 1945. IATA has been described as a cartel since, in addition to setting technical standards for airlines, IATA also organized tariff ...

and the UN International Drug Control Program.

His role within UEFA

William Gaillard is the Senior Adviser to the UEFA President

as well as the UEFA's Director of Communication and Public Affairs. He advises the UEFA President on political issues and oversees all external communications Gaillard heads UEFA's Communications and Public Affairs Division, which is responsible for all activities involving UEFA's relations with the media, as well as for the production of UEFA's various publications and reports and the UEFA charity portfolio. Gaillard has been highly visible since joining UEFA; indeed, he is perhaps the most prominent of UEFA's senior officials, along with President Michel Platini. Gaillard has been highly active in anti-racism work within football. Following England's game in 2004 against Spain when players were subjected to racial abuse, he stated that players should not leave the pitch: Gaillard is an active partner with Britain's Kick It Out campaign and UEFA's own uniteagainstracism

2007 Champions League Final

Trouble occurred at the 2007 UEFA Champions League Final after thousands of ticketless Liverpool supporters stormed the turnstiles to the stadium; and about two thousand fans who were holding genuine tickets were denied entry as a result. Gaillard said that the problems in Greece were typical of the behaviour of some Liverpool supporters during the past four years, branding them the worst in Europe; despite having previously said that both sets of supporters 'have a tradition of good behaviour'. He accused Liverpool supporters of stealing tickets "out of the hands of children" and said "we know what happened in Athens and Liverpool fans were the cause of most of the trouble there". This was seen by some as UEFA attempting to avoid the blame for the disorganisation of the final, and they were accused by Richard Caborn, the British Sports Minister, as entering into a blame game. This also resulted in Gaillard being heavily criticised by

Liverpool Liverpool is a City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. With a population of in 2019, it is the List of English districts by population, 10th largest English district by population and its E ...

co-owner

Tom Hicks Thomas Ollis Hicks Sr. (born February 7, 1946), is an American private equity investor and sports team owner living in Dallas, Texas. ''Forbes'' magazine estimated Hicks' wealth at $1 billion in 2009, but it dropped to $700 million in 2010 ...

. Caborn met with UEFA president Platini on 5 June 2007, after which Platini replied 'No.' in answer to the question of whether Liverpool's fans behaved more terribly than those in rest of Europe.←(Archived web page from the

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)

Personal life

Gaillard has two sons, Alessandro and Francesco.

References

External links