On the evening of May 26, 1993, Bernard Tapie was standing on the sidelines of the Olympic Stadium in Munich, and Olympique Marseille had just defeated Milan 1-0. With his goal in the 44th minute, Basile Boly made the French the first club from the country to win the Champions League. For Marseille, this was the pinnacle of an era. For Tapie, however, the triumph turned out to be the beginning of the worst fall.
A decade earlier, the club was far from the European elite. In April 1986, Tapie acquired it for the symbolic one franc and began spending large sums on new players. Alain Girès, Jean-Pierre Papin, Carlos Moser, Chris Waddle and later a number of other stars arrived in Marseille. In 1989, the team won the double in France, but the big goal remained the European title.
The team that was supposed to reach the top
Marseille came close to the European Cup in 1991, when they lost the final to Red Star on penalties. After being eliminated by Sparta Prague in the autumn of that year, Tapie changed the squad. Chris Waddle and Papin left, and Fabien Barthez, Marcel Desailly, Alain Boksic and Rudi Völler came in their place.
The change paid off. On 20 May 1993, Marseille defeated Valenciennes 1–0 with a goal by Bokšić in the 21st minute. However, the match was followed by allegations that Valenciennes players had been bribed to not play at full strength before the final against Milan. According to the investigation by the French authorities, the intermediary was Jean-Jacques Edelly, a former Valenciennes player and Marseille player.
Valenciennes captain Christophe Robert admitted to accepting money, and 250,000 francs were found in his aunt's garden. Jacques Glassman, who refused to take part in the scheme, reported the case to coach Boro Primorac and referee Jean-Marie Veniel. The referee noted the allegations in his report, but the match continued and ended in a victory for Marseille.
European Cup remains, French title stripped
The scandal had serious consequences. Marseille was stripped of the French title for the 1992/93 season and was forcibly sent to the second division in 1994. The European title, however, was not stripped. UEFA continued to recognize the victory over Milan, although the club's name remained inextricably linked to the “Valenciennes - Marseille“ affair.
In 1995, Tapie was convicted of corruption in the case and of fraud. He received a two-year sentence, of which he served eight months in prison. Tapie maintains that he is innocent of the charges, but the court accepts that he was the initiator of the attempted bribery of Valenciennes players.
„When you won the Tour de France and the Champions League, you were a minister, a singer and an actor... what haven't I done? I can't say that life hasn't spoiled me“, Tapie said in an interview with „Le Monde“ in 2017.A hero for some, a symbol of corruption for others
Tapi died in October 2021 at the age of 78 after a long battle with stomach cancer. In Marseille's first home match after his death, fans raised a banner: „With you we reached the top!“
However, others remember not only the victories, but also the methods. Former Monaco manager Arsene Wenger described the period as “the worst that French football has ever gone through“ and stated: “It was eaten away from within by Tapie's influence and methods at Marseille.“
So remains the legacy of one of Europe's most controversial football managers: a club that won its greatest trophy, and a president whose ambition simultaneously took Marseille to the top and destroyed the empire he had created.
Sources: goal.com, bbc.co.uk, theguardian.com