The present is Munich, Manchester, Madrid – but it all started with Marseille. The Champions League was not always an elitist group with the same winners over and over again. Of the 28 titles so far, 25 go to the four major leagues after Spain (12), England (5), Italy (4) and Germany (4). Spectacular fixtures for this year’s preliminary round are Juventus Turin – FC Barcelona or Inter Milan – Real Madrid. The peak of sadness rises this Tuesday in the Estádio do Dragão. There, FC Porto and Olympique Marseille duel – the biggest surprise winner and the first ever.
The fact that Porto won the final against Monaco in May 2004 has not yet been completely forgotten because it was the start of José Mourinho’s coaching career. But who still remembers the fate of Olympique Marseille? In 1993 the French won the inauguration of the big money circus, the year after they were relegated to the second division. The final took place in Munich, a German also played: Rudi Völler was already going through the late phase of his career when OM defeated AC Milan in the Olympic Stadium. It was a good quarter of a century ago, and the hubris surrounding the triumph almost cost the club its existence.
When the Champions League replaced the European Champion Clubs’ Cup in the 1992/93 season, it was still a very airy competition. Participation is reserved exclusively for national champions. After two qualifying rounds, eight teams in two groups play the finalists. Marseille qualify against Glentoran Belfast, Dinamo Bucharest, Glasgow Rangers, CSKA Moscow and Club Brugge for Munich. In the final, Marseille defender Basile Boli scored the goal of the evening. The Munich spectators celebrate “Ruuuudiiii” and the 25,000 French people who traveled with them, the greatest success in the history of French club football.
A few weeks later it emerged that Marseille club boss Bernard Tapie had prescribed his team a very special preparation for the final. In order to spare themselves and still win the national championship without problems, Olympique bought a 1-0 victory in the league game against US Valenciennes for 250,000 francs. Tapie is sentenced to two years imprisonment and a three-year ban on working, Olympique is forcibly transferred to the second division. Later there is also talk of dubious doping injections, which, with the exception of Rudi Völler, all players are said to have received before the Munich final.
Völler is not in the mood for the second division and moves again to the Bundesliga at Bayer Leverkusen. Difficult years begin for Olympique. The club saves itself from financial ruin with great difficulty, makes it back to Ligue 1 and yet has to wait what feels like an eternity before it can celebrate the championship again in 2010. OM is still the most popular club in the country – the heart of French football beats in the rebellious south. And yet the competition from Paris Saint-Germain, pampered with Arab oil millions, is in a different league with its financial possibilities.
PSG made it to the final of the Champions League against FC Bayern Munich in 2020. For OM it is already a success that it is enough to participate in the group stage again this season, for the first time in seven years. After two defeats against Olympiacos and Manchester City, Portuguese coach André Villas-Boas’ team is still waiting for their first goal. For Villas-Boas, too, Tuesday’s game at the Estádio do Dragão will be a rendezvous with the past. He won the Europa League in his first season with FC Porto. It was a long time ago in 2011.
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