OM won the European Cup |
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First broadcast date
05/27/1993
Abstract
Victory of Olympique de Marseille, last night in Munich, in the final of the Champions League against AC Milan. Summary of yesterday crazy night in Munich, on the field and in the streets.
Production companies
-
France 2 - Coproduction
- TF1 - Coproduction
Personalities
- Sauzee Franck
- Boli Basile
- Deschamps Didier
- Tapie Bernard
- Goethals Raymond
Primary theme
Sport and games
Secondary themes
- Society and way of life / Festivals and traditions
- Society and way of life / Public areas and social issues
Credits / Cast
- Escoube Alain - Journalist
Map locations
- France - South East - Marseille
Context
The « Olympique de Marseille »
Repères méditerranéens
Created in 1899, and so one of the oldest football clubs in France, the Olympique de Marseille occupies a hugely important place in the town. From 1989 the club had a period of unprecedented success, for under the aegis of Bernard Tapie, who became the club's chairman in 1986, Marseille won the Champion of France title four times from 1989 to 1992 and one Coupe de France in 1989. Then, in 1991 they got through to the final of the European Champion Clubs' Cup on penalties against Red Star Belgrade, but lost. Two years later, though, in 1993, coached by Belgian Raymond Goethals, Olympique de Marseille were once again in the final of a competition now called the UEFA Champions League. The final was held in the Munich's Olympic Stadium, and pitted them against AC Milan, whose president was Silvio Berlusconi, a team studded with stars such as Marco Van Basten, Frank Rijkaard, Franco Baresi and the former OM goal-scorer J-P Papin, who came into the game in the second half. The game was quite closed, then just before half-time, in the 44th minute, OM defender Basile Boli headed a corner from Abedi Pelé into the net. Marseille held on to that slender lead during the whole of the second half and so carried the match 1-0. So it's OM's captain Didier Deschamps who lifts high the European Cup and, the following day, offers it up to the Marseille crowd at the Velodrome stadium.
Olympique de Marseille thus became the first French club to win a European Cup, after 6 previous failures at the final: by Reims in 1956 and 1959, Saint-Etienne in 1976, Bastia in 1978, Marseille in 1991 and Monaco in 1992. It remains, as of 2006 [when this notice was written], the only French club to have won the most prestigious European competition, the League of Champions, only one other French club having won a European Cup, and that was the Cup Winners Cup won by Paris St Germain in 1996. Nevertheless Marseille's glory at being European Champion was quickly tarnished by the discovery of bribery in a match against Valenciennes, just four days before the final in Munich, revealed by the Valenciennes player Jacques Glassman. Olympique de Marseille was stripped of its title of Champion of France in 1993, excluded from the League of Champions 1993-1994 and sent down to the second division in 1994. In 1995 a trial found Valencioennes and Marseilles players guilty and fined them while giving Bernard Tapie and his right-hand man J-P Bernès prison sentences. Marseille did not get back into the 1st Division until the 1996-97 season.
This film, broadcast on France 2's TV news on May 27th 1993, the night after the victorious final in Munich, is entirely given over to the collective hysteria which took over the town. The journalist talks about the hysteria and the memorable celebrations which followed the referees final whistle. He enjoys indulging in the local habit of exaggerating, imitating the Marseille accent and somewhat embellishing the number people who came out in the streets of Marseille. The film shows different scenes of jubilation, going through the whole gamut: Marseille supporters diving into the Old Port, tears, songs honouring the defender Eric Di Méco, slogans of gratitude for Basile Boli, the man who scored the goal, insults in Italian against AC Milan in general, car-horns and a parade along the Canebière. This item does not show anything of match itself between Marseille and AC Milan.
