Sport fans in France are in mourning - the French Football commentator and presenter Thierry Gilardi is dead.

He died on March 25, 2008 of a heart attack. He was preparing to commentate on the France v England friendly in Paris. A minutes silence was held before the kick-off and the atmosphere in the Stade de France was not the same, the French players wore a black armband and Patrick Vieira said few words to the family before the match because Thierry was appreciated by all the players.

Thierry Gilardi was born July 26, 1958 in Saint-Germain-en-Laye and had Italian grand parents on his fathers’ side. He was married and was father of three children.

Thierry had a Politic-Science diploma; in 1982 he started his career at the radio France Inter before going to television. In 1986 he joined Canal + where he learned his job with Charles Biétry. He began commentating Ligue 1 games and also Champion's League games. He was the presenter of "Jour de foot", "L'équipe du dimanche" and the Champions League nights with his good friend Michel Platini. He was also the director of the Sports on Canal +.

In 2004 he joined TF1 to present the famous "Téléfoot" and in 2005 he started to commentate on games involving the French International team. He continued to commentate on Champions League games on TF1, and commentated on for the World Cup in France.

He had a passion for Sport but even if Thierry Gilardi is a name in the world of Football, his biggest passion is Rugby. He was the president of the St-Germain-en-Laye Rugby Club, and was the vice-president of the Stade Français Rugby Club since 1997.

Thierry was known for his kindness, his human warmth, his humility, for his knowledge in Sport (he was reading "l'équipe" since the age of 6) and for his knowledge in general (he presented the morning news on LCI from 6H30 to 9H00).

I'm not journalist but I admired him.

R.I.P. Thierry, we will miss you.