Room-temperature X-ray absorption measurements were carried out at the Ga K-edge in order to characterize the gallium environment in amorphous gallium phosphate thin films obtained from the "pyrosol process". The comparison between amorphous deposits and crystalline references have allowed us to determine the Ga surrounding of the thin films before and after annealing. The qualitative X-ray absorption near-edge structures results suggest that for P-rich thin films, Ga atoms exhibit both tetrahedral (GaO4) and octahedral (GaO6) environments, while GaO6 sites are predominant in Ga-enriched deposits. These results are confirmed by our extended X-ray absorption fine structures analysis, in the case of deposits enriched in phosphorus, the GaO6 and GaO4 proportions are close to 50%, while about 100% of Ga atoms are present as GaO6 in Ga-rich films.