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Olympique Marseille History
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Olympique de Marseille (also known as l'OM, Marseille or Les Minots from Occitan minòt for kid, apprentice) is a football team that plays in Ligue 1, the top level of the French Soccer League, based in Marseille. Founded in 1899, Marseille is the largest and most successful club in France. They are so far the only French team to have won the UEFA Champions League (in 1993), which rounded off their dominant run of five consecutive Ligue 1 titles. However, having suffered from scandalous financial irregularities in 1994 and the resulting relegation, the club has not won a major trophy in over a decade.
Nonetheless, the team is the best-supported club in France and regularly fill their imposing home of the Stade Vélodrome, which seats 60,013. Marseille's vast support continues to show unwavering and impressive loyalty to the club, despite having several average seasons since their return to the top flight. The fans continue to hope that Marseille will regain its former glory. Marseille also has the largest number of supporters associations outside its region in France.
The club's motto is Droit Au But, French for "Straight to the Goal". Nicknamed l'OM - sometimes pronounced phoenetically as l'Ohème, IPA [lo'ɛmɘ] - fans of the club can often be heard chanting "Allez l'OM, allez!" ("Go Marseille, go!").
History
Beginnings of the team
According to André Gascard a former OM player before WWI, coach and then archivist for the team, l'Olympique de Marseille, an omnisport club, is created in 1892.But the name Olympique de Marseille is adopted in 1899 (Football Club de Marseille since 1897, before Sporting Club and US Phocéenne).Rugby is at the beginning the most important team sport of the club. The motto « Droit au but » would come from rugby. Affiliated to USFSA since 1898, it's only in 1902, thanks to English and German (Still according to André Gascard), that football began to be played by l'OM.Richer and better organized than other teams of Marseille playing football (Sporting, Stade, Phocéenne. ..), l'OM, playing at the Stade de l'Huveaune, took the leadership in the city. In 1904, l'OM won the first Championnat du Littoral, opposing tems from Marseille and its suburb, 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, l'OM 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 is the club first major title, won against FC Sète which dominiated French football at the time. In the twenties, numerous French international such as Jules Dewaquez, Jean Boyer or Joseph Alcazar played for l'OM.[1]In 1930, Marseille lost against FC Sète, which would be the winner, at the semi-final round. In 1931, the team is champion of South-East, with victories against rivals such as FC Sète.In Coupe de France, l'OM lost in 5 matches to Club Français, winning the second match which was canceled due to the disqualification of OM striker Vernicke. Even though the season 1931/32 is less successful, Marseille easily entered professionalism. In 1932, the team is a member of the union of professional clubs. On January 13th, 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, Mr Pollack elected the following comitee:
Honour presidents : Paul Le Cesne et Fernand Bouisson President : M.Dard Vice-Presidents : Mr Leblanc, Mr Bison, Mr Etchepare, Dr Rollenstein et Mr Anfosso General secretary : Mr De Possel-Daydier Treasurer : Mr Bison helped by Mr Ribel. For the first championship, Division 1 is divided into two pools. Marseille finished second of the first, behind Lille OSC.For its first match of the championship l'OM defeated the champion to come, Lille OSC.
In 1937, Marseille won its first professional French championship thanks to goal average (+30 for Marseille, +17 for FC Sochaux-Montbéliard).The arrival of Vasconcellos made stronger the defense, whereas former goalkeeper Laurent Di Lorto shone with FC Sochaux-Montbéliard and France.In the meantime, Marseille won Coupe de France in 1935 and 1938 but fails double success in 1934, due to FC Sète.
In 1938, Larbi Ben Barek signed with l'OM, and became "the black pearl" for the team but WWII would cut his career. The season 1942/43 is full of record: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, 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 Champion of France. The two last victories at Stade Vélodrome against Roubaix (6-0) and Metz (6-3) were important, as Aznar and Robin's return at spring.
In 1952, Marseille is about to be relegated. But Gunnar Andersson save his team, finishing best scorer (31 goals).The team won (5-3) on aggregate against Valenciennes.The same year, Marseille lost at Stade Vélodrome against AS Saint-Étienne 10-3, but Liberati was injured. In 1953, Gunnar Andersson would take the record of goals scored in one season with 35.L'OM is runner-up of Coupe de France (OGC Nice won 2-1) in 1954 and of Coupe Drago in 1957 (RC Lens won 3-1).But Marseille struggled at that time and is first relegated in 1959.From 1959 to 1965, the team played in second division except the season 1962/63, finishing 20 out of 20 in first division. In 1965, Marcel Leclerc became president. ..
Marcel Leclerc era and crisis
The first period of domination of this club in the French League was on the early 70's, under Marcel Leclerc's presidency (1965-1972).His ambition allowed l'OM to come back in First division in 1965/66, and won Coupe de France in 1969 and 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 the AS Saint-Etienne helped to win First division and Coupe de France in 1972.Marseille played European Cup in 1971/72 and 1972/73 but were defeated by Ajax Amsterdam of Johan Cruyff and Juventus.Today, people in Marseille still appreciate this era which gave again titles to a struggling team. Marcel Leclerc was forced to left the team on 19 July 1972. The president was a stubborn man, and he threatened the whole league a few days ago to withdraw his professional team from Division 1 because the federation refused to accept three foreign players in one team (Leclerc wanted to acquire Hungarian Zoltán Varga but he had already the maximum number of two foreigners in his team). But OM's leaders were feared by the president and decided, instead of following him against the league, to fire him. Then followed an era of crisis, Marseille only won a Coupe de France in 1976 and was relegated in second division, that they played with a bunch of young local players: the "Minots" who allowed the team to come back in First division in 1984. Éric Di Meco was one of them.
Bernard Tapie era and OM/VA bribery scandal
On April 12th 1986, Bernard Tapie became president, thanks to Marseille mayor Gaston Deferre and promptly built the greatest team ever seen in France. He first signed Karl-Heinz Foster and Alain Giresse after the 1986 FIFA World Cup.Tapie is an ambitious man, his objective is clearly the European Cup, so that he got players such as Jean-Pierre Papin, Chris Waddle, Klaus Allofs, Enzo Francescoli, Abedi Pelé, Didier Deschamps, Basile Boli, Marcel Desailly, Rudi Völler or Eric Cantona in his team and great managers such as Franz Beckenbauer, Gérard Gili or Raymond Goethals.Between 1989 and 1992, l'OM won 4 League titles in a row and a national Cup. The highlight of the club's history is winning the Champions League in new format 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 that a France-based club has won, and it made Didier Deschamps and Fabien Barthez the youngest captain and goalkeeper, respectively, to capture the title.
This, 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 forced relegation to the second division, where Marseille stayed two years before coming back to First division.Moreover, they lost their 1992-1993 Division 1 title and the right to play UEFA Champions League 1993-94 and Intercontinental Cup.This scandal, called affaire VA-OM (VA for Valenciennes FC and OM for Marseille), was denounced by Valenciennes, whose players Jacques Glassmann[3], Jorge Burruchaga[4] and Christophe Robert[4] were contacted by OM player Jean-Jacques Eydelie[5], in order to let OM wins and, more important, not to injure any OM player because of the final of UEFA Champions League 1992-93 to come.
Come back to success?
Marseille returned to the top flight in 1996 with backing by Adidas's owner Robert Louis-Dreyfus.This one chose Rolland Courbis as coach and promptly and signed Fabrizio Ravanelli, Laurent Blanc and Andreas Köpke and l'OM finished 11th for his return .For the 1998/99 season, the team celebrated his centenary and built a team of stars:Robert Pirès, Florian Maurice, or Christophe Dugarry,l'OM finished second in French championship, behind Bordeaux and reached the UEFA Cup Final in 1999, losing to Italy's Parma F.C.. Courbis left the team in November 1999, after a poor season beginning. The closest Marseille to get another trophy was when they reached the UEFA Cup Final in 2004, impressively beating Dnipro Dnipropetrovsk, Inter Milan, 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 cup to come along.
Recently, Marseille succeeded in winning the 2005 Intertoto Cup, beating the likes of SS Lazio and Deportivo La Coruna in doing so, and earning another shot at the UEFA Cup.
January 2007 sees Dreyfus' 10 years of ownership come to an end without any major success, as Jack Kachkar, a Canadian doctor and businessman (CEO of pharmaceutical company Inyx), plans to buy back the club (the bid is expected to be comprised between 100 and 150 million euros) with the ambition to bring back Marseille to its past glory. Finally, as Jack Kachkar took to much time to buy the team, Robert Louis-Dreyfus decided on 22 March 2007 not to sell its property to the Canadian businessman.
Another close call to title glory was in the French Cup final against FC Sochaux-Montbéliard in May 2007, however, they lost on penalties after a 2-2 draw after extra time, to disappoint everyone linked with the club, but they soon wiped all that disappointment away by qualifying for the 2007/2008 UEFA Champions League group stage, after securing 2nd place with a game to go.
Stadium
From 1904 to 1937, l'OM used to play at the Stade de l'Huveaune.The club was the owner of the venue, contrary to its current stadium. L'Huveaune, a time named "Stade Fernand Buisson" in honour of a former rugby player who became deputee was renovated at the beginning of the twenties, thanks to supporter's financial help. He had a capacity of 15000.After 1937, l'OM used this venue under Marcel Leclerc's presidency in order to compel the city of Marseille to lower the rent of Stade Vélodrome and during the renovation of Vélodrome for Euro 1984, during the 1982/83 season. The stadium again underwent redevelopment in time for the 1998 World Cup and was tranformed into an immense ground composed of two kop ends (Virage Nord and Virage Sud - North Curve and South Curve) which house the supporters groups as well as the main stand, Jean Bouin, and the imposing Ganay stand. Today, the team regularly fills their impressive home, the Stade Vélodrome, which seats 60,013. Marseille's vast support continues to show unwavering and impressive loyalty to the club, despite having several average seasons since their return to the top flight. The fans continue to hope that Marseille will regain its former glory.
Supporters
The incredible atmosphere in the Stade Vélodrome is created by the dominance and rivalry of OM's own supporters who are housed in the kop style ends behind the goals.
The Virage Nord
The North Curve is home to the Yankee Nord Marseille, Marseille Tout Puissant, Fanatics, and Dodgers supporter's associations who buy up the tickets at the start of each season and sell them on to their members. Known for being the most intense end of the ground, the Virage Nord is situated next to the away enclosure which is protected by high fences. The stand is divided into sections with each group striving to make the most noise and an unbelieveable coordination at the start of each game sees the Virage Nord decked out with impressive banners to cheer on l'OM.
The Virage Sud
As with the Virage Nord, the South Curve is controlled by supporter's associations with the Commando Ultras 1984 and the South Winners dominating the central section and Amis de l'OM and Club Central des Supporteurs filling the remaining sections of the stand. Also known for their impressive display of banners and colours at the start of the game, these groups strive to make more noise than the Virage Nord, creating an unbelieveable atmosphere with 11,000 people at each end of the ground showing their loyalty to the OM cause.
source: wikipedia.org
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