Olympique Marseille

       Olympique Marseille is a French soccer club that has been founded in 1899 by René Dufaure De Montmiral. The club has in his possession nine championships, two league cups, two champions trophy and ten national cups. It is the most popular soccer club in France because in 1993, Olympique Marseille has won the European Champions’ league .It is the only French club that has won this prestigious competition so far. The team plays in Velodrome Stadium, and it is considered a as an historical monument in France. The majority of Marseille’s citizens are Olympique Marseille fans; the club is almost a religion for them.A lot of big players have played for the club such as Franck Ribéry, Samir Nasri,Didier Drogba ,Mamadou Niang.

    The figure that has marked the club is Bernard Tapie because he was the president of the club during the gold period in 1993.he was able to build a strong team with the best players of the moment such as Ruddi voller , Didier Deschamps or Basile Boli. Olympique Marseille of 1993 was like FC Barcelona in 2011 according to some specialists. Unfortunately, Mr Tapie used non legal ways to achieve his goals. He was accused of corruption, and spent ten months in jail. Because of its implication in politic, Bernard Tapie is also a figure that is important for all the French people.When Bernard Tapie talked to the media, it was like if he were an international singer. (Economist,5/12/2001)

    Currently, Olympique Marseille lives a paradoxical situation. The club is ranked 13th in the French league, and first in his European champions’ league group composed by Arsenal, Olympiacos and Borussia Dordtmund. After the victory against Borussia Dortmund , Didier Dechamps, the current O.M. coach admitted  for Goal.com,the 28^th of September that “We are happy tonight because we beat a good team. We had some luck both in attack and defense. We had that luck on our side tonight that has not been the case so far this season. The team has players coming from different countries such as Argentina, Ghana, or Cameroon. The club owner is Margarita Louis Dreyfus, rich Russian women that has inherited the club from his dead husband.

                                    Sources:Goal.com( 28 September 2012,Salvador Landolina)

                                                                                       Economist(5/12/2001)                           

                                                                                lephocéen.fr(September ,October 2011)