Colin Jackson: What does your role at UEFA involve?

Sebastien Leclerc: I am in charge of the team that implements all the marketing rights. What this means is that when we sign with our partners we give them some rights by contract.

These rights do not appear automatically when we organise a football match and some rights are an improvement or an enhancement of some form. Our job is to ensure that, in addition to the normal setup of a football match, we also have all the elements to bring the marketing rights to their full value for our partners.

CJ: Working for UEFA must be an incredible experience?

SL: Yes, absolutely. What's really magic is our competitions. I don't think many people understand really what UEFA does. I think what people see as a product of UEFA is our top competitions such as the Champions League, UEFA Europa League, European Championships, but also women's football, Under 21 and all the youth competitions.

Our competitions are very close to the audience, that's what we do. Football is a magical and fantastic sport to work in.

CJ: What's magic about these events?

SL: It's when you go to a match, such as the European Championships, and you see at the end of a knock-out stage, grown-up adults sitting on the stand and crying. When you look at pictures, in Lisbon, in London, in Munich and you see all the people in the streets; when you have a penalty shoot-out for a decider or a semi-final of Euro, it feels like Europe holds it's breath until the ball is in the net or out. It's not just a sport it's beyond that.

CJ: Have you always worked in football?

SL: No, I started my career in cycling. I would say that on the starting line of a cycling race or just before a match on the football pitch, it's got that feeling of electricity in the air, which as a former athlete I'm sure you would also recognise.

CJ: How important is teamwork in UEFA as an organisation?

SL: It's critical, we can't do anything alone. The shear scope of any project, especially on the bigger events, makes it impossible for one person to do it.

Whether it's preparing the stadiums, preparing the teams, the interaction with partners, with the broadcasters, talking to the media, talking to the authorities and coordinating security, which is a huge aspect, all these social responsibilities require a lot of experts and people.

CJ: Although you're from France, is it good working in Switzerland?

SL: I think Switzerland is a fantastic country. It's got a huge tradition of hosting international federations, the International Olympics Committee is here, the United Nations as well as FIFA. This infrastructure allows us to do our job in a fair and transparent way.

CJ: For young people looking at following your career in sport, what would be your advice?

SL: Well it's a long process, but it's also a very straight line. I would say a lot of my colleagues working here for UEFA have a great passion for football and they have a high idea of what football should be.

If you listen to the conversations of colleagues in the canteen, they talk about football. So here you've got the chance. People leave their working desk to go and have a break with their friends and colleagues and talk about football, and then they stop eating and go and work for football. That's the magic.