Dave Richards

Sir David Gerald Richards (born 3 October 1943) is the former chairman of the FA Premier League, member of the Football Association's (FA) Board, chairman of the FA's international committee, president of the European Professional Football Leagues organisation, chairman of UEFA's Professional Football Committee, and former chairman of Sheffield Wednesday F.C.

Career Richards was a director of companies involved in engineering, telecommunications and water and waste treatment, several of which entered administrative receivership or were dissolved. He became a director of Sheffield Wednesday F.C. in October 1989 and chairman five months later, In March 2009, Richards was made Deputy Chairman of the England 2018 FIFA World Cup bid, a position he resigned that November.

Richards served as the inaugural chairman of the Association of the European Union Premier Professional Football Leagues (EUPPFL) from its foundation in 1997, and continued as chairman after it was incorporated as the European Professional Football Leagues (EPFL) in 2005, serving until 2013.

In the 2006 Birthday Honours, Richards was knighted for services to sport.

Controversies

2012 Qatar comments At a conference in Qatar in March 2012, Richards accused FIFA and UEFA of stealing football from the English.

Richards also dismissed suggestions were that the game of football could have originated in China, stating that "It started in Sheffield 150 years ago...The Chinese may say they own it, but the British own it, and we gave it to the rest of the world."

2012 Hillsborough Independent Panel Enquiry It emerged from the Hillsborough Independent Panel enquiry in September 2012 that Richards, who was the Chairman of Sheffield Wednesday from March 1990 to February 2000, had refused to put up a memorial at Hillsborough, on legal advice, for the 97 Liverpool supporters that died on 15 April 1989, in the disaster in Hillsborough. (David Conn at The Guardian)