Olympique Marseille

History of Olympique de Marseille: "Droit au but", the Vélodrome and France's Only Champions League

France's most popular club, long the record Coupe de France winners, and the only French side to have won the Champions League, OM are far more than a team: they are the identity of an entire city, carried by one of the loudest stadiums in Europe.

1. "Droit au but": The Birth of a Club (1899–1936)

Olympique de Marseille were founded in 1899 through the efforts of sports enthusiast René Dufaure de Montmirail, who gave the club a motto that endures: "Droit au but" — straight at goal. The club adopted white and blue and quickly became the reference point for football in the south. It won the Coupe de France as early as 1924, and several more times between the wars, forging an unbreakable bond with the city.

2. The Vélodrome and the First Titles (1937–1985)

In 1937 OM moved into the Stade Vélodrome and won their first French championship that same year, followed by a second in 1948. In the early 1970s the strike partnership of Josip Skoblar and Roger Magnusson brought two more titles (1971, 1972) and a double; Skoblar scored 44 goals in 1970–71, a league record. Difficult years followed, including relegation to the second division in the early 1980s.

3. The Tapie Era and the Conquest of Europe (1986–1993)

In 1986 businessman Bernard Tapie bought the club with boundless ambition. He assembled Jean-Pierre Papin — the 1991 Ballon d'Or winner — Chris Waddle, Abedi Pelé, Didier Deschamps, Marcel Desailly, Basile Boli and Rudi Völler. OM won four consecutive championships from 1989 to 1992. After a European Cup final lost on penalties to Red Star Belgrade in 1991 came triumph: on 26 May 1993 in Munich, a Basile Boli header gave Marseille the Champions League against AC Milan. OM remain to this day the only French club to have won the competition — "À jamais les premiers", forever the first.

4. VA-OM, Relegation and Return (1993–2009)

The joy was immediately tarnished by the VA-OM affair: a fixed match against Valenciennes cost the club its 1993 title and led to administrative relegation in 1994. OM returned in 1996 and contested two European finals — the UEFA Cup in 1999 and 2004, the latter with a dazzling Didier Drogba — without winning.

5. The 2010 Title and the McCourt Era (2010–2025)

Under Didier Deschamps, the 1993 captain turned coach, Marseille reclaimed the league title in 2010, eighteen years later, and also won three consecutive League Cups (2010–2012). Bought in 2016 by American Frank McCourt, the club reached the 2018 Europa League final, lost to Atlético Madrid, and regularly returned to the Champions League.

6. The 2025–26 Season

In 2025–26 OM competed in a Ligue 1 once again dominated by Paris Saint-Germain, champions for a fifth straight year and two-time Champions League winners — a rivalry, Le Classique, that remains the most-watched fixture in French football. RC Lens finished runners-up and won the Coupe de France.

7. Looking to 2026–27: A Vélodrome Always Full

Since the restart, OM have continued to rely on their unique strength: an Orange Vélodrome of sixty-seven thousand seats among the most intense in Europe, and a fervour that reaches far beyond the city. With ten Coupes de France — a record they held for decades — and a European star no one can take away, Marseille approach every season with the same ambition: to go "straight at goal".

Honours, Stadium and Legends

Main honours: one Champions League (1993), nine recognised French championships (1937, 1948, 1971, 1972, 1989, 1990, 1991, 1992, 2010), ten Coupes de France and three League Cups. The Orange Vélodrome, fully roofed since its renovation for Euro 2016, holds more than sixty-seven thousand spectators. Swedish striker Gunnar Andersson remains the club's all-time leading scorer, and goalkeeper Steve Mandanda holds the appearance record. Josip Skoblar, Jean-Pierre Papin — the 1991 Ballon d'Or winner — Chris Waddle, Didier Deschamps, Didier Drogba, Mamadou Niang and Dimitri Payet complete OM's pantheon, alongside Belgian coach Raymond Goethals, who guided the club to its 1993 European triumph in Munich. The club's supporter groups, among the oldest and best organised in France, fill the Virage Nord and Virage Sud with colour on every matchday, and the club's influence reaches far beyond Marseille, across southern France, North Africa and the diaspora.