"Marseille, is a football city where L'OM is like a religion. It’s a cosmopolitan, passionate city and the people live for football."
With this quote, Éric Cantona described his chaotic city of birth quite well. Marseille is the most pure football city of France: when you've been there, you'll understand what Cantona meant.
There aren't many cities that tickle your senses as Marseille does. On one hand, it's a beautiful port city with wonderful architecture and great beaches where you see the sun glittering on the sea. On the other hand, some parts of the city aren't known as being the most friendly neighbourhoods in France. Organized crime, drug trafficking and assassinations seem to be the order of the day. Marseille is well-known for its temper, both in positive and negative ways. For years, the city had been the gateway to the French colonies in Africa, whose influences you still clearly see in Marseille's populations. Christians, Muslims and Jews live together here, but no matter which religion you belong to, and wherever you originally come from, there is one belief that everyone shares: Olympique de Marseille.
What Olympique de Marseille (L'OM) means for the city is something you feel and see everywhere in town. Wherever you are, there's always a waving flag nearby, children playing in Marseille kits or a couple of guys in baby blue tracksuits. The love for L'OM has got no counterpart in France and is probably best compared with clubs like Napoli and Boca Juniors. Some chairmen have to run for their lives here, others will be heroes forever. The diehard supporter groups are still believed to have a certain level of power in the club. There's always a bit of craziness about L'OM. It's something you feel in the stands of the Stade Vélodrome too - love it or hate it.
The Stade Vélodrome had always been known for its famous arch-shaped and roofless stands. But with EURO 2016 coming to France, the stadium needed some refurbishing. For the loyal Marseille crowd, the changes to their church were initially quite a shock initially, but in the end, the fans were left delighted. Of course, they had to give up the nostalgic feeling of playing in such a historical stadium, but thanks to the impressive roof their vocal support doesn't fade away anymore, making the Vélodrome even more intimidating than it already was. Nowadays, you can also see the revamped stadium from almost every part of town.
The Vélodrome is located in a lively area of Marseille, which shows its best side on match days. The Rond-Point du Prado (the roundabout next to the stadium) on the Boulevard Michelet is closed to traffic and transforms into a giant fair with lots of stands where you can buy kebab-fries, beer or a L'OM souvenir. From the inside, the Orange Velodrome (even stadiums like this can't avoid a sponsor name) is very impressive, especially the waving roof, the steep stands and the noise from the fanatical supporter groups behind both goals.
You can spot the Notre-Dame de la Garde, the most famous building in Marseille, from anywhere in the city. The beautiful basilica is built on top of a rocky hill and offers the most amazing view of Marseille. The golden statue of Mary on the tower is affectionately called 'La Bonne Mère' (The Good Mother) by the Marseillais and watches over the city. Before every match, there are several fans who come up to the basilica to light a candle and pray for a good result. In 1993, even the whole Marseille squad turned up at the Notre-Dame to pray to higher powers for a good result in the Champions League Final against AC Milan, resulting in a famous 1-0 win and the first European trophy for a French team ever. Maybe La Bonne Mère really has some magic after all: surely Marseille has got the eternal bragging rights now by saying that they are 'à jamais les premiers', forever the first.
You get to the Notre-Dame by car or by bus (line 60). You can even take a tourist train at the corner of Canebière/Vieux Port. Because of the steep incline, a walk up to the top of the rock is not recommended.
Paris has got the Champs-Elysées, and Marseille has got the Canebière. This busy avenue cuts the city centre in half and ends at the Vieux Port, the old, square harbour. If L'OM will be crowned champions, the city will flood with people, especially the day after when the squad will cruise over the quays in an open bus. It's just a short drive to the town hall at the Quai du Port, but it will usually take hours because the entire population of Marseille will come to a standstill.
The same thing happened in 1998 when almost 100.000 people turned up to get a glimpse of an extraordinary group of players. Not L'OM, but Marseille-born Zinédine Zidane and some of his Les Blues teammates came to the city to celebrate their recently captured World Cup in the south of France.
How often do you hear that a football club has its own restaurant in the city's most beautiful place? Well, Marseille has one. In the old harbour on the Quai des Belges you will find the club's crest above the door of the OM Café. The brasserie is furnished in typical 'OM style', with pictures of great players who wore the famous white and blue shirts.
La Villa is one of the best restaurants in Marseille, even though it's a little bit hidden in the 8th arrondissement (113 Rue Jean Mermoz), not far from the Vélodrome. The players of L'OM love dining here. Even President Macron's wife loves to stop by whenever she's in town. But dining here comes with a certain price tag as well, but that's something you might quickly forget when spending a lovely summer's night, sitting in the beautiful garden of the restaurant. Don't forget to book a table, especially on match days the restaurant easily gets full.
Like anywhere in France, it's best if you buy tickets through the official website of the club. Normally, the ticket windows are open before the match as well. When the match is already sold out, you can always try your luck at the touts who are always around at the Boulevard Michelet. But watch out, there are a lot of fake tickets out there as well.
When visiting the Stade Vélodrome, don't bring your car. Because of its location close to the city centre and road closures on match day, it's hell to get there and places to park your car are limited too.
It is recommended to take the metro, which can take you to the stadium from the city centre in less than ten minutes. You have to take line 2 (the red line) to Rond-Point du Prado, right next to the stadium. Do you have a ticket for the Tribune Ganay? Then remain seated in the metro for one more stop, until you arrive at Saint-Marguerite Dromel. Do you prefer a good walk over public transport? From the city centre, it's approximately a 25 minute-walk to the stadium.
Images: Reinaldo Coddou, Shutterstock
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