Olympique De Marseille

Olympique de Marseille (, ; , ), also known simply as Marseille, or by the abbreviation OM (, ), is a French professional football club based in Marseille which competes in Ligue 1, the top flight of French football. Founded in 1899, OM has won 26 domestic trophies: 9 Ligue 1 titles, 10 Coupe de France, 3 Coupe de la Ligue, and 3 Trophée des Champions. Continentally, the club holds a joint national record of one UEFA Champions League and a joint national record of one UEFA Intertoto Cup. Additionally, Marseille has played in three UEFA Europa League finals. In 1993, coach Raymond Goethals led the team to become the first French club to win the UEFA Champions League, defeating Milan 1–0 in the final, the first under the UEFA Champions League branding of the tournament. In 2010, Marseille won its first Ligue 1 title in 18 years under the management of former club captain Didier Deschamps.

Marseille's home ground is the 67,394-capacity Stade Vélodrome in the southern part of the city, where they have played since 1937. The stadium underwent renovations between 2011 and 2014, increasing its capacity to 67,000 in preparation for France's hosting of UEFA Euro 2016. The club has a large fan-base, having regularly averaged the highest attendance in French football. Marseille's average home gate for the 2018–19 season was 50,361, the highest in Ligue 1. The club have a long-standing rivalry with Paris Saint-Germain, against whom they contest Le Classique.

In 1997, Marseille was purchased by Franco-Swiss businessman Robert Louis-Dreyfus. Following his death in 2009, his widow Margarita became the club's majority shareholder in 2010. American businessman Frank McCourt bought 95% of the club's stake in 2016, and appointed businessman Jacques-Henri Eyraud as the club president, later replaced by Pablo Longoria in 2021.

Marseille was listed in the Deloitte Football Money League at the end of the 2023–2024 season, making it the football club with the 19th highest revenue in the world, approximated at €287 million.
In 2023, Marseille was placed twenty-eighth in the global ranking drawn up by the British consultancy organisation Brand Finance in terms of brand power, where it was rated with a credit rating AA ("very strong") with a score of 71.3 out of 100, as well as twenty-eighth in terms of brand value (€173 million) and twenty-eighth by enterprise value (€458 million as of 2023).

History

Olympique de Marseille was founded as an omnisport club in 1892 by René Dufaure de Montmirail, a French sports official. Known as Sporting Club, US Phocéenne and Football Club de Marseille in the first seven years after its 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.

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, then playing at the Stade de l'Huveaune, took the leadership in the city. In 1904, Olympique de Marseille won the first ''Championnat du Littoral'', involving opposing teams from Marseille and its suburbs, and took part in the final rounds of the 11th 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 1920s, 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, a side that dominated French football at the time. In the '20s, 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 five matches to Club français, winning the second match that was cancelled due to the disqualification of Marseille striker Vernicke. Even though the 1931–32 season was less successful, Marseille easily entered the professional ranks, becoming a member of the union of professional clubs in 1932. 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 et Fernand Bouisson
President: M. Dard
Vice-Presidents: Mr. Leblanc, Mr. Bison, Mr. Etchepare, Dr. Rollenstein et 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 Sochaux)''. 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 Benbarek 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 nine goals, including the first eight (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 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. Andersson also became the all-time top scorer of Olympique de Marseille during his time there with 194 goals. A record he still holds (2023). Marseille was runner-up in the Coupe de France (Nice

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