Olympique Marseille

Olympique is a club from Marseille founded in 1892. It was the 1920s when the club started dominating on the domestic arena and claimed the French Cup in 1924, 1926 and 1927, later in 1929 Olympique won the French championship.

In 1932 the team obtained professional status.

In 1937 and in 1948 Marseille won professional championship, the club collected the Coupe de France honors in 1935 and 1938. In the 1950s and 1960 the team faced a decline and even was relegated to the second division. But in 1969 they managed to recapture its lost positions and win the Coupe de France and Ligue 1 titles.

After Bernard Tapie was appointed the president of the club in 1986, Marseille turned into the most prosperous team in France. The club won 4 consecutive League titles and one French Cup. The stars that were shining in that club were Jean-Pierre Papin, Chris Waddle, Klaus Allofs, Basile Boli, Enzo Francescoli, Didier Deschamps, Rudi Völler, Marcel Desailly and Eric Cantona. The highest achievement of that period in the UEFA competitions is the final of the Champions League against Milan where Marseille defeated the Italian side 1-0.

The club did not stay in the elite for a long time due to the financial troubles and allegations on match fixing. Olympique was classed down to the second division by the decision of the French football authorities and the president was sentenced to an imprisonment.

Marseille took the 2010 Coupe de la Ligue after outplaying Bordeaux 3–1 in the final. This success brought them their first major title since their Champions League triumph. The same season Marseille won the league championship.

The team plays home matches at Stade Vélodrome that can hold up to 60,000 supporters.