French Football
Marseille
Olympique Marseille was
formed in 1899. In which the club in the 2000-2001
season only just avoided being relegation towards
the end of the season. The club was going to
be relegated on the grounds of financial abnormality,
but the club was re-established when the owner,
Louis-Dreyfus cleared the clubs debt.
In 1993 Marseille could
of won the league championship or at least contest
it but due to their finanacial abnormalities
they paid the penalty after they were disqualified
for match fixing. It was this debacle that put
Marseille in the Division two and they also
lost the chance to retain their European Champions’
Club Cup title.
From 1989 to 1992 these
were the clubs glory years. As they had the
excellent players of Chris Waddle, Alen Boksic
and Jean-Pierre Papin along with other great
players. Marseille even claimed Europe’s
biggest prize when they beat AC Milan in Munich
in 1993.
Marseille are one of the
only French teams able to fill their 60,000
stadium. This stadium has seen the 1938 and
1998 FIFA World Cup finals played here, even
though Marseille have not won anymore trophies
to the collection since 1993. Despite this their
fans have remained loyal and always optimistic.
European Cup: 1993
League Winners: 1929, 1937,
1948, 1971, 1972, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 1993
French Cup: 1924, 1926, 1927,
1935, 1938, 1943, 1969, 1972, 1976, 1989
Marseille play their football
at the Stade Velodrome which has a capacity
of 60,000.
The star players at Marseille
are Camel Meriem, Sylvain N’Diaye, Stepan
Vachousek, Pascal Johansen, Fabio Celestini,
Jose Delfim, Brahim Hemdani, Steve Marlet, Ahmed
Hossam, Didier Drogba and Dmitri Sytcher.
Marseille hopes to finish
within the top ten ideally in the tope five.
The club also has hopes to feature or to contest
the French titles with the aim of qualifying
and progress further in the UEFA Cup.
