UEFA and the French Football Federation (FFF) have created a joint venture, EURO 2016 SAS, which is chaired by Jacques Lambert, the chief executive of the 1998 FIFA World Cup organising committee. He was director general at the FFF between 2005 and 2010.

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Jacques Lambert, EURO 2016 SAS chairman

EURO 2016 SAS will be responsible for all operational aspects of the final tournament. This new organisational model gathers, under the same umbrella, UEFA EURO 2016 activities that in the past would have been split between UEFA and the local organising committee(s). All competition matters and commercial rights, such as media and marketing rights, remain under UEFA's control.

EURO 2016 SAS was founded in January 2011 under French law and registered in Paris. The company is owned by UEFA (a 95% share) and the FFF (5%). Several times a year, a steering group meeting will take place bringing together the key stakeholders in the planning of the tournament – UEFA, FFF, French government and host cities – to deal with strategic or sensitive issues connected with preparations for the event.

Structure
The eight-member steering group consists:
Jacques Lambert (chairman)
Noël Le Graët (FFF President)
Valérie Fourneyron (French sports minister and government representative)
Maurice Vincent (host cities' representative)
Borislav Mihaylov (UEFA Executive Committee member)
Peter Gilliéron (UEFA Executive Committee member)
Gianni Infantino (UEFA general secretary)
Theodore Theodoridis (UEFA deputy general secretary)

Michel Platini, the UEFA President, will regularly take part in the meetings and work of the steering group.

Responsibilities
EURO 2016 SAS will take care of the implementation of the tournament and its associated events, handle private safety and security, and promote the competition.

The French government and local authorities will provide the stage, infrastructure, public services and transport. They will also be in charge of public safety and security, and handle promotion of the country and the host cities.