Olympique de Marseille
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia - 7/2014
Full name:
Olympique de Marseille
Nicknames:
• Les Phocéens
• L'OM
Founded:
1899
Ground:
Stade Vélodrome
Capacity:
67,000
Owner:
Margarita Louis-Dreyfus
Chairman:
Vincent Labrune
Manager:
Marcelo Bielsa
League:
Ligue 1
2013-14:
6th position
Olympique de Marseille; also known as l'OM or simply Marseille, is a French association football club based in Marseille.
Founded in 1899, the club play in Ligue 1 and have spent most of their history in the top tier of French football.
Marseille have been French champions nine times and have won the Coupe de France a record ten times.
In 1993, the club became the first and only French club to win the UEFA Champions League.
In 1994, Marseille were relegated because of a bribery scandal, losing their domestic trophy, but not the UEFA Champions League title.
In 2010, Marseille became French champions again, under the stewardship of former club captain Didier Deschamps.
Marseille's home ground is the 67,000-person-capacity Stade Vélodrome located in the southern part of the city, where they have played since 1937.
The Stade Vélodrome is renowned for its lively atmosphere.
The club have a large fan-base having regularly averaged the highest all-time attendance in French football.
Marseille's average home gate for the 2008-09 season was 52,276, the highest in Ligue 1.
The stadium underwent renovation in 2011, going from its previous capacity of 60,031 to 42,000.
Following completion in August 2014, the final capacity will be 67,000 ahead of France's hosting of UEFA Euro 2016.
The club is sixteenth globally in terms of annual revenue, generating €135.7 million in 2012.
Marseille's traditional kit colours were white shirts and shorts with blue socks until 1986.
Since 1986, Marseille have played with white shirts, white shorts and white socks, and the blue color became lighter due to Adidas marketing but in 2012-2013, the club returned to its original kit, wearing blue socks.
The club's current badge was adopted in 2004.
The club's motto Droit Au But (French for "Straight to the Goal") appears under the badge and a star representing the victory in the Champions League is featured on the top.
In 1997, Marseille was purchased by Franco-Swiss businessman Robert Louis-Dreyfus.
Following the death of Louis-Dreyfus, his widow Margarita became the club's majority shareholder in 2010.
HISTORY
Olympique de Marseille were founded by René Dufaure de Montmirail, a French sports official, in 1892, as an omnisport club.
Known as Sporting Club, US Phocéenne, and Football Club de Marseille in the first five years after their foundation, the club adopted the name Olympique de Marseille in 1899.
In honour of the anniversary of Marseille's founding by Greeks from Phocaea some 25 centuries earlier, with the name Olympique, coming from ancient Olympic Games and the colours (reversed flag of Greece) chosen to represent the club.
At first, rugby union was the most important team sport of the club, the motto Droit au but coming from rugby.
Affiliated with the Union des Sociétés Françaises de Sports Athlétiques (USFSA) since 1898, it was only in 1902, thanks to English and German people (according to André Gascard), that football began to be played by Olympique de Marseille.
Richer and better organised than other football teams of Marseille (Sporting, Stade, Phocéenne).
Olympique de Marseille, playing at the Stade de l'Huveaune, took the leadership in the city.
In 1904, Olympique de Marseille won the first Championnat du Littoral, opposing teams from Marseille and its suburbs, and took part in the final rounds of the eleventh French championship.
At that time, the word "football" applied to rugby, and people used the word "Association" (which would be soccer in North America) for football.
During the twenties, Olympique de Marseille became an important team in France, winning the Coupe de France in 1924, 1926 and 1927.
The team won the French championship in 1929, defeating Club français.
The Coupe de France in 1924 was the club's first major title, won against FC Sète which dominated French football at the time.
In the twenties, numerous French internationals such as Jules Dewaquez, Jean Boyer or Joseph Alcazar played for Marseille.
In 1930, Marseille lost against Sète, which would be the winner, in the semi-final round.
In 1931, the team became champion of the South-East, with victories against rivals such as Sète.
In the Coupe de France, l'OM lost in 5 matches to Club français, winning the second match which was cancelled due to the disqualification of the Marseille striker Vernicke.
Even though the 1931-32 season was less successful, Marseille easily entered professionalism.
In 1932, the team became a member of the union of professional clubs.
On 13 January 1932 at 9:15 pm, at the Brasserie des Sports, Mr. Dard, Mr. Bison, Dr. Rollenstein, Mr. Etchepare, Mr. Leblanc, Mr. Mille, Mr. Anfosso, Mr. Sabatier, Mr. Seze, Mr. Bazat, Mr. Molteroj, and Mr. Pollack elected the following committee:
Honorary presidents:
• Paul Le Cesne
• Fernand Bouisson
President:
• M. Dard
Vice-Presidents:
• Mr. Leblanc
• Mr. Bison
• Mr. Etchepare
• Dr. Rollenstein
• Mr. Anfosso
General Secretary:
• Mr. Possel-Daydier
Treasurer:
• Mr Bison (assisted by Mr Ribel).
For the first championship, Division 1 was divided into two pools. Marseille finished second in the first, behind Lille.
For its first match of the championship, Marseille defeated the future champion, Lille.
In 1937, Marseille won its first professional French championship thanks to goal difference (+30 for Marseille, +17 for FC Sochaux-Montbéliard).
The arrival of Vasconcellos made the defence stronger, whereas former goalkeeper Laurent Di Lorto shone with Sochaux and France.
In the meantime, Marseille won the Coupe de France in 1935 and 1938 but failed a double success in 1934, due to FC Sète.
In 1938, Larbi Ben Barek signed with Marseille and became "the black pearl" for the team. World War II would cut his career short.
The 1942-43 season was full of records: 100 goals in 30 matches, including 20 in one match (20:2 against Avignon), in which Aznar scored 9 goals, including the first 8 (Marseille was leading 8:0), playing only 70 minutes.
Aznar scored 45 goals in 30 matches, plus 11 in cup games, for a record of 56 goals in 38 matches.
With the minots (young players) of the moment (Scotti, Robin, Dard, Pironti), Marseille won the cup in two matches against Bordeaux (4:0).
In 1948, thanks to a draw against Sochaux, Marseille became the champions of France.
The two last victories at the Stade Vélodrome against Roubaix (6:0) and FC Metz (6:3) were important, as Aznar and Robin's returned in spring.
In 1952, Marseille were about to be relegated, but Gunnar Andersson saved his team, finishing as top scorer with 31 goals.
The team won (5:3) on aggregate against Valenciennes.
The same year, Marseille lost at the Stade Vélodrome against Saint-Étienne 10:3, but Liberati was injured.
In 1953, Gunnar Andersson would take the record of goals scored in one season with 35.
Marseille was runner-up in the Coupe de France (Nice won 2:1) in 1954 and the Coupe Drago in 1957 to (Lens which won 3:1).
Marseille were struggling at the time and were relegated for the first time in 1959.
From 1959 to 1965, the team played in the second division, except during the 1962/63 season, finishing 20th out of 20 in the first division.
In 1965, Marcel Leclerc became president.
Marcel Leclerc era and crisis
The first period of Olympique de Marseille's domination of the French League started in the early '70s under Marcel Leclerc's presidency (1965-1972).
His ambition allowed Marseille to return to the First division in 1965-66.
They went on to win the Coupe de France in 1969 as well as the First division in 1971 with a record of 44 goals by Josip Skoblar, helped by Roger Magnusson.
The arrival of Georges Carnus and Bernard Bosquier from Saint-Étienne helped them to win the Ligue 1 and the Coupe de France in 1972.
Marseille played in the European Cup in 1971-72 and 1972-73 but were defeated by AFC Ajax of Johan Cruijff and Juventus.
However, success was not to last.
Marcel Leclerc was forced to leave the club on 19 July 1972.
The president was a stubborn man, and he threatened the whole league by threatening to withdraw his professional team from Ligue 1 because the federation refused to accept three foreign players in one team.
Leclerc wanted to acquire the Hungarian star Zoltán Varga but he had already the maximum number of two foreigners in his team.
But Marseille decided, instead of following Leclerc against the league, to fire him.
Then followed an era of crisis with Marseille only winning a Coupe de France in 1976 and being relegated to the second division, where they played with a bunch of young local players: the Minots who allowed the team to return to First division in 1984.
Éric Di Meco was one of them.
Bernard Tapie era and OM/VA bribery scandal
On 12 April 1986, Bernard Tapie became president, thanks to Marseille mayor Gaston Defferre, and promptly built the greatest team ever seen in France.
His first signings were Karl-Heinz Forster and Alain Giresse, who were bought after the 1986 FIFA World Cup.
Tapie signed a large number of highly regarded players over the next few years in his pursuit of the European Cup, such as:
• Jean-Pierre Papin
• Chris Waddle
• Klaus Allofs
• Enzo Francescoli
• Abedi Pelé
• Didier Deschamps
• Basile Boli
• Marcel Desailly
• Rudi Völler
• Eric Cantona
As well as appointing high-profile coaches like:
• Franz Beckenbauer
• Gérard Gili
• Raymond Goethals.
Between 1989 and 1992, Olympique de Marseille won 4 League titles in a row and the French Cup.
The highlight of the club's history is winning the new format Champions League in 1993.
Basile Boli scored the only goal against Italy's A.C. Milan in the final held in Munich's Olympic Stadium.
That triumph was the first time ever for a French club and it made Didier Deschamps and Fabien Barthez the youngest captain and goalkeeper, respectively, to capture the title.
This triumph, however, was followed by a decade of decline.
In 1994, due to financial irregularities and a match fixing scandal involving then president Bernard Tapie, they suffered enforced relegation to the second division, where Marseille stayed two years before returning to the First division.
Moreover, they lost their 1992-93 Division 1 title and the right to play in the UEFA Champions League 1993-94, the 1993 European Super Cup and the 1993 Intercontinental Cup.
This scandal, called l'affaire VA-OM (VA for Union Sportive Valenciennes-Anzin and OM for Olympique de Marseille), was exposed by Valenciennes, whose players Jacques Glassmann, Jorge Burruchaga and Christophe Robert were contacted by Marseille player Jean-Jacques Eydelie, to let OM win and, more importantly, not to injure any OM player ahead of the UEFA Champions League final.
Return to success
Marseille returned to the top flight in 1996 with backing from Adidas's owner Robert Louis-Dreyfus.
He chose Rolland Courbis as coach, signed Fabrizio Ravanelli, Laurent Blanc, and Andreas Köpke, and Marseille finished 11th for his return.
For the 1998-99 season, the team celebrated their centenary and built a team of stars: Robert Pirès, Florian Maurice, and Christophe Dugarry, culminating in a second place finish in the French championship, behind Bordeaux and an appearance in the UEFA Cup Final in 1999, losing to Parma.
Courbis left the team in November 1999, after a poor start to the season.
The closest Marseille got to another trophy was when they reached the UEFA Cup Final in 2004, impressively beating Dnipro, Internazionale, Liverpool, and Newcastle United along the way.
But they were beaten in the final by newly crowned Spanish champions Valencia and once again fans were forced to continue waiting for the next trophy to come along.
In 2005, Marseille succeeded in winning the Intertoto Cup, beating the likes of Lazio and Deportivo La Coruña in doing so, and earning another shot at the UEFA Cup.
In January 2007, there was negotiation between Dreyfus and Jack Kachkar, a Canadian doctor and businessman (CEO of pharmaceutical company Inyx), about selling the club.
As Jack Kachkar took too much time to buy the team, Robert Louis-Dreyfus decided on 22 March 2007 not to sell to the Canadian businessman.
Another close call to glory was in the Coupe de France final against Sochaux in May 2007.
However, they lost on penalties after a 2:2 draw after extra time, to the disappointment of everyone linked with the club, but they soon wiped all that disappointment away by qualifying for the 2007-08 UEFA Champions League group stage, after securing 2nd place with a game to go.
In the Champions League, Marseille became the first French team to win at Anfield when they beat 2007 runners-up Liverpool 1:0, and the team took 6 out of 6 points from their opening two games.
They only drew one more match, and in a winner-takes-all final group game they lost 4:0 to Liverpool, who became the first English team to win at the Stade Vélodrome.
Marseille, coming third in the Champions League Group A, then joined the UEFA Cup.
Marseille finished the 2008-09 season with a second place finish in Ligue 1, following a tight race with Bordeaux for the title.
This earned them direct entry into the group stages of the UEFA Champions League, their third consecutive season in the competition.
Marseille won the 2010 Coupe de la Ligue Final beating Bordeaux 3:1 at the Stade de France in March 2010.
This was their first major title since their Champions League triumph 17 years earlier.
Two months later, Marseille won their first league championship for 18 years with two games to spare after beating Rennes 3:1.
Marseille defeated PSG on penalties to win the 2010 Trophée des Champions at Stade 7 Novembre in Rades, Tunisia before the season began.
Marseille then became the first team to win back-to-back Coupe de la Ligue successes when they won the 2011 edition by beating Montpellier 1:0 on 23 April.
Before that, they qualified for the last 16 of the UEFA Champions League for the first time since their historic success, but lost 2:1 at Old Trafford to Manchester United.
They also set a Champions League record by thrashing Žilina 7:0 in what was the biggest away win in the competition's history.
In 2011, Marseille lost the Ligue 1 championship title but qualified for the UEFA Champions League for the fifth time in a row, a club record.
On 27 July 2011, Marseille won the 2011 Trophée des Champions title by beating Lille 5:4 at Stade de Tanger in Morocco.
The result was significant as OM were 3:1 down with 5 minutes to go, only to embark on a remarkable comeback which saw 5 goals scored in the last five minutes with Andre Ayew scoring a hat-trick.
2011-2014: Deschamps, Baup, Anigo
The club struggled in the 2011-12 season, going to the bottom of the Ligue 1 table after six matches.
Nevertheless, Marseille rebounded, winning 3:0 against Borussia Dortmund in the Champions League, as well as a 3:0 success over rivals PSG in November of that year.
Marseille ended 2011 with a good sequence, and qualifying for the knockout stages of the Champions League for the second season running.
In February 2012, Marseille embarked on 13 games without victory, but rallied to qualify for the quarter-finals of the Champions League for the first time since winning the competition in 1993.
Despite an indifferent club form, OM lost to eventual finalists FC Bayern Munich, and slumped to an overall 10th place finish in Ligue 1.
However, the club retained the Coupe de la Ligue for the third year running, beating Olympique Lyonnais 1:0 in the final.
In the summer of 2012, Deschamps resigned, and later taking on the France job. Elie Baup took over, leading the club to a surprising second place finish in the 2012-13 Ligue 1 season, despite selling off many players - including Loic Remy, Cesar Azpilicueta and Stephane Mbia.
Marseille returned to the Champions League, spending close to €40 million on the likes of Dimitri Payet, Florian Thauvin and Giannelli Imbula. The club were top of the table at the end of August 2013.
But OM proceeded to lose all six games in Europe, and suffered the ignominy of becoming the first French team, and the biggest European team to date, to have picked up zero points in a Champions League group stage.
Baup was sacked on 7 December 2013, following the 1:0 defeat to FC Nantes at Stade Velodrome.
He was replaced on an interim basis by Jose Anigo.
In Anigo's brief tenure, OM went out of the two cups, and struggled, leading to continued protests and jeers by fans.
The club finished sixth in the 2014 season, missing out on an important European competition place for the first time in ten years.
Anigo left the club soon after, taking on an ambassadorial/scouting role in North Africa, his first post outside of the city for more than four decades.
2014-present: Bielsa era
Marseille announced on 2 May 2014, an agreement with Marcelo Bielsa, who will take the managerial hotseat for the 2014-15 season.
Bielsa will be the club's first Argentine coach, and the first coach to lead the team into the renovated Velodrome, which will open in August with a fixture against Montpellier HSC.
Le Classique
Le Classique is a football match that is contested between Paris Saint-Germain and Olympique de Marseille.
The term Classique is modelled on El Clásico, contested between Real Madrid and Barcelona.
Like all the game's major rivalries, the antipathy between PSG and Marseille extends outside the pitch.
The so-called French clásico has a historical, cultural and social importance that makes it more than just a football game, pitching capital against province and "Provence" and the chosen ones of French football against its enfants terribles.
With PSG being located in the north in the French capital and Marseille located along the Mediterranean coast, the rivalry is often referred to as "the North versus the South."
PSG and Marseille are the only French clubs to have won European trophies, having won the UEFA Cup Winners' Cup in 1996 and the UEFA Champions League in 1993 respectively, and were the two dominant forces before the emergence of Lyon at the beginning of the 21st century.
However, despite their recent ups and downs, PSG and Marseille remain fierce rivals, giving this match a special atmosphere.
"Le classique" is also well known as "Le Classico". Most of French people use this term nowadays.
Players