Brighton Europa League opponents: Olympique de Marseille
Olympique de Marseille are one of the giants of French football. Nine times league champions, over 15 domestic trophies, three times Europa League finalists and the only French side so far to win the Champions League back in 1993.
They share a huge rivalry with the other dominant teams in France, Paris St Germain and Olympique Lyon. The OM v PSG match is labelled Le Classique, mirroring the El Clasico between Barcelona and Real Madrid.
It is a north/south rivalry which has no parallel in England. The game against Lyon is of course the Choc des Olympiques. Maybe Brighton should play the Clash of the Albions against West Brom or Burton from now on?
Originally founded mainly as a rugby club in 1899, Olympique De Marseille began to focus on the round ball sport three years later before dominating French football in the 1920s.
The prefix Olympique comes from a nod to the fact that Marseille as a city was founded by Greeks. Around the same time as OM were formed, the revival of the Olympic Games took place.
OM faced spells in the second tier in the early 1960s and late 1970s. Between those were a glorious period of French titles, French Cup wins and two European Cup runs in 1971-73.
Under the leadership of Bernard Tapie in the late 1980s and early 1990s, OM saw greats like Alaian Giresse, Didier Deschamps, Eric Cantona, Marcel Desailly, Rudi Voller (and Chris Waddle) don the famous white kit. The legendary Franz Beckenbauer served as their coach.
Four consecutive league titles from 1989 were followed by the clubs historic triumph in the 1993 Champions League final over AC Milan under Deschamps’ captaincy.
However, revelations about a match fixing scandal in a game against Valenciennes prior to the final lead to severe penalties, relegation and a period without success.
Under the financial control of the CEO of Adidas and with Deschamps now as manager, OM returned to UEFA competitions in the 2000s. They racked up domestic trophies and qualified for the Champions League five times in a row.
OM then went into decline again after a troubled 12 months with Marcelo Bielsa as coach, during which they suffered from financial issues.
The sale of the club to current owner Frank McCourt secured its future. McCourt is a US businessman and former owner of the LA Dodgers… but sadly not related to Paddy McCourt as far as we know.
Discontent peaked in 2021 when rioting by OM fans at their training ground injured a player and caused thousands of Euros worth of damage. There were changes in several senior posts as a result.
Not that those changes provided an end to the drama. In 2022, FIFA banned OM from any transfer dealings for two windows after a legal dispute with Watford.
The current side features one very familiar name from the Premier League – former Arsenal and Chelsea striker Pierre-Emeric Aubameyang.
Since June of this year OM have been coached by Spain’s Marcelino There are no coaching or player links between OM and Brighton.
The Stade Velodrome has been home to OM since 1937. Its capacity was increased to 67,000 for Euro 2016, where England played Russia.
With its north and south curves and huge Ganay Stand, the Stade Velodrome is an absolute cauldron known for one of the most fierce atmospheres in the world.
Supporters groups the Fanatics, the Dodgers and the Marseille Trop Puissant dominate the north end, separated from visitors by high fencing.
The Yankee Nord group were shut down by the club several years ago. The south is home to the Commando Ultra ‘84, South Winners and Club Centrale De Supporters.
Members of these groups, extraordinarily, buy their tickets from the groups themselves, who buy them en-bloc from the club. Unthinkable here.
There were violent scenes when OM visited the Tottenham Hotspur Stadium last September for a Champions League clash with Spurs.
Worse was to come a week later when Eintracht Frankfurt visited Stade Velodrome. A German fan suffered a serious neck injury from a thrown flare and 17 police were injured.
It is unsurprising then that stern warnings have been issued by the Albion and police ahead of the trip to Marseille.
Wear no club colours, meet only in a designated place from where there will be an escort to turnstiles within the stadium. Anyone going to the tourist Old Port area will be arrested.
Marseille itself is the second biggest city in France, has the poorest areas in the country and a history of homicides and drug dealing around the modern port area. 32 people were shot dead last year.
It still welcomes five million tourists a year, popular on the Mediterranean cruise circuit and surrounded by national park.
The visit of OM to the Amex will be a daunting occasion, not so much for the football but for the potential for Marseilles notorious fans to cause serious trouble.
Brighton will not want to risk a UEFA ban for failure to control supporters inside their stadium.
Warren Morgan @WarrenBHAFC
