Alain Courtois (; born 12 June 1951) is a Belgian politician. Born in

Schaerbeek (French language, French, ; former History of Dutch orthography, Dutch spelling) or (modern Dutch language, Dutch, ) is one of the List of municipalities of the Brussels-Capital Region, 19 municipalities of the Brussels, Brussels-Capital Reg ...

, he is Secretary General of the

Belgian Football Association The Royal Belgian Football Association (RBFA; ; ; ) is the governing body of football in Belgium. It was a founding member of FIFA in 1904 and UEFA in 1954 and was based in Brussels, not far from the King Baudouin Stadium. Since October 2021, the ...

(URBSFA). He has served as a replacement minister on several occasions. He was the federally appointed

Reformist Movement The Reformist Movement (, , MR) is a liberal French-speaking political party in Belgium, which includes social-liberal and conservative-liberal factions. Stemming from the Belgian Liberal Party founded in 1846, the MR is one of the oldest par ...

—

Citizens' Movement for Change Citizens' Movement for Change (, , MCC) is a Christian-democratic political party in the French Community of Belgium founded by Gérard Deprez in 1998. Deprez was the leader of the Francophone Christian Social Party (PSC) from 1982 to 1995. He l ...

representative of the

Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde Brussels-Halle-Vilvoorde (; ) is a judicial arrondissement encompassing the bilingual— French and Dutch—Brussels-Capital Region, which coincides with the administrative arrondissement of Brussels-Capital and the surrounding Dutch-speaking ...

district from 26 June 2003 to 12 February 2004, replacing

Daniel Ducarme Daniel Ducarme (; 8 March 1954, Liège – 28 August 2010) was a Belgian politician and former Minister-President of the Brussels-Capital Region. Background and political affiliation Starting his political career in the Liberal Reformist Party ...

, who became

Minister-President of the Brussels-Capital Region The minister-president of the Brussels-Capital Region (; ) leads the government of the Brussels-Capital Region of Belgium. (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) The post is appointed for five years a ...

and minister of Arts, Letters and Audio-visual of the

French Community of Belgium In Belgium, the French Community (, , CFB) refers to one of the three constituent constitutional linguistic communities. Since 2011, the French Community has used the name Wallonia-Brussels Federation (, , FWB), which is controversial because ...

. From 19 February 2004 to 28 June 2004 he served as a replacement for Jacques Simonet, who replaced Ducarme in the Minister-President post following a scandal. Since 1 July 2004 he has served as a replacement for Martine Payfa, who was elected to the

Belgian Federal Parliament The Federal Parliament (; ; ) is the bicameral parliament of Belgium. It consists of the Chamber of Representatives (lower house) and the Senate (upper house). It sits in the Palace of the Nation in the centre of the nation's capital, Brussels ...

from the

Brussels-Capital Region Brussels, officially the Brussels-Capital Region, (All text and all but one graphic show the English name as Brussels-Capital Region.) is a region of Belgium comprising 19 municipalities, including the City of Brussels, which is the capital ...

. He was elected as a member of the

Belgian Senate The Senate ( ; ; ) is one of the two chambers of the Bicameralism, bicameral Belgian Federal Parliament, Federal Parliament of Belgium, the other being the Chamber of Representatives (Belgium), Chamber of Representatives. It is considered to be ...

in 2007. Courtois is a supporter of

football in Belgium Association football is the most popular sport in Belgium, which has been played since the end of the 19th century. The national association was founded in 1895 with the intention of bringing some order and organization to the sport. The fir ...

, and is a frequent commentator on the

RTL RTL may refer to: Media * RTL Group, a European TV, radio, and production company *** List of RTL Group's television stations (including part-owned channels) *** List of RTL Group's radio stations ** RTL Lëtzebuerg, usually referred to simply a ...

sports radio program "Vasyavoirdusport." He led the organizing committee of

2000 UEFA European Championship The 2000 UEFA European Football Championship, also known as Euro 2000, was the 11th UEFA European Championship, a football tournament held every four years and organised by UEFA, the sport's governing body in Europe. The finals tournament was ...

, which was held jointly in Belgium and the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

. In 2006, he was named to lead the

Benelux The Benelux Union (; ; ; ) or Benelux is a politico-economic union, alliance and formal international intergovernmental cooperation of three neighbouring states in Western Europe: Belgium, the Netherlands, and Luxembourg. The name is a portma ...

bid for the

2018 FIFA World Cup The 2018 FIFA World Cup was the 21st FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial world championship for national association football, football teams organized by FIFA. It took place in Russia from 14 June to 15 July 2018, after the country was awarded t ...

, known as Beltomundial. He also led Brussels' successful bid to host the '' Grand Départ'' of the

2019 Tour de France The 2019 Tour de France was the 106th edition of the Tour de France, one of cycling's three Grand Tour (cycling), Grand Tours. The -long race consisted of 21 race stage, stages, starting in the Belgian capital of Brussels on 6 July, before movi ...

References

1951 births Football people in Belgium Living people Members of the 51st Chamber of Representatives (Belgium) Members of the Senate (Belgium) People from Schaerbeek Reformist Movement politicians {{Brussels-politician-stub