Highlights: 30 years ago, Marseille experienced a Champions League title during the 38th edition of the event. On May 26, 1993, in Munich, the Phocaeans beat AC Milan (1-0) Since then, there has been a star on the jersey and a phrase like a motto: "Forever the first!" The aftermath, it is obviously the VA-OM corruption scandal, born a few days before May 26 and which finally precipitated the fall of President Bernard Tapie.

OM 1993, the only European star in French football

This Friday, May 26, Marseille celebrates the 30th anniversary of its victory in the Champions League. On May 26, 1993, in the Olympic Stadium in Munich, the famous header of Basile Boli, at the resumption of a corner of Abedi Pelé, allowed OM to beat AC Milan (1-0) and win the first – and only to date – European star of French football.

Didier Deschamps and the Cup with big ears, May 26, 1993 in Munich. AFP - GEORGES GOBET

Text by: RFI Follow

Advertising

30 years ago, Marseille experienced a Champions League title during the 38th edition of the event, the first played under this name and no longer under that of the European Cup of Champions Clubs. On May 26, 1993, in Munich, the Phocaeans beat AC Milan (1-0). Since then, there has been a star on the jersey and a phrase like a motto: "Forever the first!" With this victory, OM gained popularity outside France, as did the only scorer of the match, Basile Boli.

« Marseille is the capital of French football »

There was a strength coming out " says former Olympian captain Didier Deschamps today. "Individually and certainly a bit selfishly, it's the privilege to lift this trophy as captain. It is this moment that materializes success. But there is also everything that came after. The return to Marseille from the airport to the Velodrome, the madness that it could generate... The passion, the effervescence that there can be in a club like Marseille when things are going well, it takes on very important proportions. To be able to share this happiness and joy with all the Marseille supporters, it was fabulous, "adds the coach of the France team. "Marseille is the capital of French football. But by winning this match, we have entered the history of international football. Abroad, it counts to have a Champions Cup. We are part of this gotha, "says Jean-Pierre Bernès, at the time right-hand man of President Bernard Tapie.

The images of this coronation have been seen in a loop and told thousands of times. A painful start to the match against Marco van Basten, Paolo Maldini, Franco Baresi and the stars of AC Milan, Fabien Barthez who pushes everything away, Bernard Tapie in the stands, walkie-talkie in the ear, a corner that is not really one, then Boli in the axis that beats Frank Rijkaard for a historic goal. Then, there is a last big scare at the entrance of Jean-Pierre Papin, passed to the enemy the previous summer, then Didier Deschamps, the captain, who finally raises the Cup with big ears.

A magnificent title followed by a descent into hell

That evening, Deschamps, Barthez and Marcel Desailly began to write their legend, which would carry them to the world title with the France team in 1998. Because if OM succeeded where it had failed in 1991, like Reims twice in the 1950s or Saint-Etienne in 1976 against Bayern Munich and the square posts of Glasgow, its success finally liberated French football from selection.

The aftermath, it is obviously the VA-OM corruption scandal, born a few days before May 26 and which finally precipitated the fall of Tapie, imprisoned. Excluded by UEFA from the next edition of the Champions League and deprived of the European Super Cup and Intercontinental Cup in Tokyo against Sao Paulo FC, OM will also be demoted to D2 at the end of the 1993-94 season. It will stay there for two years, rebuild itself and then experience as many low moments as good times, without ever approaching the peak of 1993.

In clubs, the feat has unfortunately remained without a future, with only two C1 finals since, lost by Monaco against Porto in 2004 and by Paris Saint-Germain against Bayern in 2020. PSG, which has, all the same, brought back to the France another European Cup: the Cup Winners' Cup, certainly less prestigious than the Champions League, in 1996 against Rapid Vienna.

The Phocaean city will of course commemorate the 30th anniversary of this European coronation, during an evening that will begin from 18h (16h GMT) in front of the City Hall on the Old Port. There will be a giant screen broadcast of the historic final at 20pm (18pm GMT).

OM 1993, the only European star in French football

OM 1993, the only European star in French football

« Marseille is the capital of French football »

A magnificent title followed by a descent into hell

You may like

Trends 24h

Latest