The La Martine stadium, which is both dilapidated and polluted, does not allow hosting a professional club. - J. Saint-Marc / 20 Minutes

  • Many players in Marseille sport are frustrated by the absence of a medium-sized football stadium in Marseille.
  • Athlético dreams of building its own stadium in L'Estaque. But the project seems badly started.

With each big match of a small Marseille club, the same catchphrase. The Velodrome is too big: you have to go abroad. Athlético Marseille will play its sixteenth finals of the Coupe de France against Rennes, this Sunday (5:15 pm) 50 miles from its usual stadium, the dilapidated and polluted sports complex of Martine, stuck along a highway. "Marseille is still the second city in France, it's a shame that there isn't a stadium with a smaller capacity than the Vélodrome, a 10 or 15,000 seat," plagues Farid Fouzari, trainer of the Athletic .

Visit to the Parsemain stadium in fos to prepare for the French Cup Sunday match pic.twitter.com/RgkgaqWYIE

- Athlético Marseille (@AthleticoMars) January 13, 2020

This stadium exists, but football is not welcome. In 2015, the Marseille town hall renovated the Delort stadium, a pretty 5,000 seats, for 15 million euros, located very close to the Vélodrome. But impossible to roll a round ball there. It lacks five meters in width to be approved by the French Football Federation. "It is a field of rugby, athletics and American football, period," insists Richard Miron, assistant (LR) in sports. He ensures that there are “a hundred football fields in Marseille, that's enough. But none to host a Coupe de France match between an amateur club (Athlético Marseille is playing in National 3) and a Ligue 1 cador.

"It's always the same problem! "

"It's always the same problem," gets angry Jean-Luc Mingallon, former president of Consolat, who became Athlético Marseille in 2018:

It is abnormal that there is nothing next to the Velodrome, it takes a second stadium for a second football club to emerge one day, next to OM. "

A prospect that does not inspire the elected representatives of Marseille. "I don't want to discourage anyone, but I'm not sure there is room for a second professional football club in Marseille," says Richard Miron. The sponsors will always go to OM, you have to be realistic. "

Is the Athlético stadium project stalled?

Jean-Claude Gaudin's sports assistant does not believe very much in the “100% private” stadium project at Athlético Marseille. In August 2018, the synthetic images of this futuristic stadium of 20,000 seats had made much talk. Since then, nothing. "I hope the project has not been abandoned, but I have no news from the leaders, no more feedback," sighs the architect Philippe Puvieux.

The Athlético Marseille stadium project at L'Estaque has not progressed. - Philippe Puvieux

This titanic project - a stadium backed by a shopping center and financed by real estate operations - would require an investment of more than 50 million euros. The case is therefore quite badly started, since the Athlético has been demoted administratively to National 3 and is even threatened with a further demotion, according to the specialized site ActuFoot.

The president of Athlético Marseille, former agent Karim Aklil, did not respond to requests from 20 Minutes this week. "The leaders of Athletico are not reliable, not serious," said a good connoisseur of Marseille football. “Three years ago, we were at the gates of Ligue 2… Today, Coupe de France or not, they are at the gates of the district of Provence. Spot the error, ”jokes former president Jean-Luc Mingallon. In three years, one thing has not changed: Athlético Marseille is still SSF. Without fixed stage.

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