William Gaillard is the director of communications and Public Affairs for Union of European Football Associations (UEFA). He is also the Senior Advisor to the President of UEFA Michel Platini.

He came to wide prominence following the condemnation that UEFA suffered in the wake of the 2007 Champions League Final.

Before UEFA

In addition to his career at UEFA, he has also been Director of Corporate Communication for the International Air Transport Association and the UN International Drug Control Program.

His role within UEFA

William Gaillard is the Senior Adviser to the UEFA President Michel Platini 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^[1]

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.^[2]

William 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 Englands game in 2004 against Spain when players were subjected to racial abuse, he stated that players should not leave the pitch:

He is an active partner with Britain's Kick it Out campaign^[3] and UEFA's own uniteagainstracism^[4]

2007 Champions League Final

At the 2007 UEFA Champions League Final trouble occurred after thousands of ticketless Liverpool supporters stormed the turnstiles, meaning some 2000 fans with genuine tickets were denied entry. 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;^[5] despite earlier saying that both sets of supporters 'have a tradition of good behaviour'.^[6] 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".^[7] 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 as entering into the blame game.^[8][9] This also resulted in Gaillard being heavily criticised^[10] by Liverpool co-owner Tom Hicks.

British Sports Minister Richard Caborn, on June 5, 2007 met with UEFA president Michel Platini, after which the Frenchman denied that Liverpool supporters are the worst in Europe^[11].

See also

• 2007 UEFA Champions League Final
• UEFA

References

External links

• Caborn and Parry hit back at Uefa
• Under the tenets of collective responsibility, William Gaillard and Michel Platini are to blame
• Gaillard figures don?t add up
• Taylor wanted England to walk off
• Aviation's continuing crisis
• Uefa blames Reds fans for chaos
• William Gaillard Quotes

ro:William Gaillard

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