Colin Jackson: What does Head of Communications actually mean?

Rob Faulkner: One of the main things we do is look after all UEFA's communications with the press and the media. There's a huge amount of interest, mainly in our competitions, but also in our President, Michel Platini, so we have a lot of interview requests. We arrange time slots and interviews and we also take care off all publications for UEFA such as competition information and what we do as an organisation.

CJ: Have you always been interested in football?

RF: Yes, football was always my sport, but I took a bit of a circuitous route to get here! I first worked for a sports PR agency on motor sport projects, then I worked for some car manufacturers in a more corporate position to see what that was like, but then decided I really wanted to get back into sport and that was what drove me. I was lucky enough to get a job here in UEFA.

CJ: What part of the world are you from?

RF: I was born just outside London and then I lived in Italy for a number of years when I was smaller. I finished my education in Nottingham and then worked in London for five or six years. I've been travelling ever since, Brussels, Amsterdam and now finally here in Switzerland.

CJ: Undoubtedly Switzerland is a beautiful part of the world, but how did you end up in UEFA? Is it your dream job?

RF: It was actually a bit of luck. I was looking through one of the trade magazines with a view to moving and I didn't really know what I wanted to get back into, but I think I wanted to get back to sport and just saw the UEFA job advert. I applied, came for an interview, came for a second interview and that was it! That was now eight years ago.

CJ: Do you speak any other languages?

RF: Yes. As I lived in Italy, I speak fluent Italian and when I lived in Brussels I went to a French school so I also speak French. I'm currently learning Spanish. Languages help a lot.

CJ: How important is it to learn languages for your job?

RF: Here at UEFA it does help a lot. We have three official languages: English, French and German. Also, being a European Association of 53 member countries, it's very important to be able to communicate.

I have colleagues who speak up to five, six or seven languages, so it's one of the assets working for an international organisation. An interest in sport, being keen and motivated is great, but you also need certain skills. If you have the opportunity to learn languages and other skills like that it can help later on, definitely.

CJ: What are the lows of this job?

RF: It's like anything, you have ups and downs. We do so many diverse things and we have such a busy schedule. The football calendar is so busy with the Champions League and the new Europa League. The group stage alone has 144 matches!

The most frustrating thing is just finding the time to plan and to do things properly. A lot of the time the agenda is led by incidents on the field, which we have to act on. We have to keep the media informed, so sometimes my working day is completely set by what happens on the pitch the night before and the reactions in the media that we then have to respond to.

So my day, which is all planned out, goes out of the window, but that's also the exciting part of working in sport. Depending on results, unusual things are always happening and there's an incredible appetite that seems to grow the whole time for sport and for football in particular at the moment.

CJ: What are the highs of this job?

RF: I think the best and luckiest aspect of this job is being able to go to some of the big matches, particularly in the UEFA Champions League, and of course to be involved behind the scenes in a final. It's a huge operation and you remember all of them, but just being there, not only for the match, but being involved with a huge group of people and seeing how it gets arranged and put on is something quite special.

The downside, to be honest, is that you look at a football match in a different way. Most of my colleagues will tell you the same thing, you don't just watch the match, you're always looking in the background at other things, what people are doing, who should be somewhere else, you're almost distracted from the game. Normally we watch it later on a DVD at home to really watch it as a fan, but going to matches is still the best thing.

CJ: In football it's easy to judge whether it's a good game or not, but how do you know in your job if you've done a good performance?

RF: That's a tricky one because sometimes it's very hard to know. In some aspects, for example, when we're writing press releases about why we have suspended a player or why there's been a problem in the match, we have to make sure our message gets across and that people have understood the news. If we've managed to do that, we've done our job.

CJ: How about the team of people around you, how much do you rely on their support?

RF: I rely on them a lot, simply because of the number of calls we have from the media. I have three people that work in the press office on the media desk who are answering calls from the media five days a week. They also help put together all of the communications, the press releases, and the text on the website when we put stories on there. We have a few people who work in the publication side, and then we have four people who are dealing with matches, looking after the media at matches with accreditations and so on.

We spend a lot of our time making sure that our communication to the outside is done, but one of the hardest things is achieving good internal communications, speaking to each other and understanding what everyone else is doing. Managing a team is not easy when most of your time is spent communicating outwards, but teamwork is a huge part.

CJ: You are in a dream job, but do you have time to enjoy a match, and if you do which is the best match that you've actually seen?

RF: The one that stands out is the Champions League match at Old Trafford in 2008. It was one of the first times I was there while I was working at UEFA and I had time to actually enjoy the match. In the space of 20 to 25 minutes Christiano Ronaldo scored three goals and he was applauded off the field which was really quite special and something that I remember.

CJ: Do you realise how lucky you are sometimes? Do you pinch yourself and think 'I can't believe I'm here, I'm in this job and I've the opportunity to actually get paid to see this?'

RF: Yes, you try to remember all of that, but you do also have busy days and hectic days and stressful moments. If you like football, working for UEFA in this environment and with good colleagues is great. I try and remember that most days.