September 22 – Marseille Stripped of Ligue 1 Title
MOST people agree that for world-class match-fixing, Italy’s the place to be. But on this day in 1993 Olympique Marseille showed that they were more than capable, as they had the Ligue Un title taken away in what was to be dubbed the “affaire VA-OM.”
As they entered the 1993 season Marseille were sitting pretty. Having won their record tenth title and becoming the first French side to win the European Cup, it was a good time to be a fan of France’s biggest club. This was until they found out what their flamboyant club president Bernard Tapie had been up to. A jack of all trades, Tapie can boast to be a businessman, politician, actor, singer, TV host and fervent socialist, but by the time the authorities were done with him over this episode of his life, he was also known as a convict.
Earlier in 1993 when Marseille were looking forward to meeting Milan in the Champions League final in Munich, Tapie didn’t want to risk a number of first-team players against the lowly Valenciennes so he got his midfielder Jean-Jacques Eydelie to get in contact with Jacques Glassmann, Jorge Burruchaga and Christophe Robert of Valenciennes and bribe them so they would let Marseille win and make sure none of their players were injured.
The bribery worked and they were dancing in the streets of Marseille. But not for long. When the shit hit the fan, things went downhill fast for l’Ohème. They were stripped of their league title and banned from defending their Champions League crown and barred from the Intercontinental Cup. A series of FIFA bans for players and staff were overshadowed by Tapie’s eventual 2-year prison sentence for complicity of corruption and subornation of witnesses.
The impact of the scandal on Marseille’s fortunes was massive and it’s only been in the last couple of seasons that they have really recovered. Financial irregularities meant that they suffered a forced relegation to Ligue 2 and the only silverware that they have picked up since is a Ligue 2 title and a couple of Intertoto Cups. This season has seen them return to the Champions League for the first time since the whole sorry Affaire VA-OM began.
If you want to see some action from the 1993 Champions League final have a gander below, but turn your volume down, because it features some horrible Europop nonsense on the soundtrack. Come back tomorrow for goals, goals, goals.
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September 22 - Comeback Kids and Marseille Stripped of Ligue 1 Title | On This Football Day on September 22nd, 2009
[...] 1993- Marseille Stripped of Ligue 1 Title [...]
September 22 - Comeback Kids | On This Football Day on September 22nd, 2008
[...] minutes from the plastic Loftus Road pitch below. Have a look at what was happening in France today here and join us tomorrow for more footy fun and [...]