Fans rage, captain demoted: Is a former Champions League winner imploding?

Fans rage, captain demoted: Is a former Champions League winner imploding? “Ligue 2 PROJECT 2026?” read a banner in Olympique Marseille’s home end a few weeks ago. Below it hung another, aimed at majority owner Frank McCourt: “McCourt game over!” The fans are angry after a disastrous start to the season and an unprecedented transfer window. Is a former Champions League winner in France now facing total collapse? At first glance at the table, saying yes seems almost unavoidable. OM lost four of their first five league games of the season and currently sit second from bottom. That has never happened in the club’s entire history. But that is not all. After new coach Bruno Génésio’s team were knocked out by Fenerbahçe in the Champions League play-offs (3–2 on aggregate), their Europa League opener also went badly wrong. They suffered a 4–1 thrashing at Beşiktaş. Although hardly anyone expected Marseille to start the season so badly, their summer transfer business had already offered little cause for optimism. What do we mean? Are Real being undone by Mourinho or by their “spoiled stars”? In TIPICO’s “Die Ansage”, Frank Buschmann and Florian Schmidt-Sommerfeld share their takes! Watch the video to hear their arguments: 18+ | Betting for ages 18 and over | Terms and conditions apply | Licensed (GGL whitelist) | Gambling can be addictive. | Bet responsibly | Help at www.buwei.de Alongside Athletic Bilbao, who famously only sign players born or developed in the Basque Country, Marseille are the only team in Europe’s top five leagues not to have signed a single player. Crazy, right? Especially when the picture is very different when it comes to departures. The French club lost several key players over the summer, including Facundo Medina, Mason Greenwood, Quinten Timber and Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang. In total, 14 players had to leave. Naturally, OM did not sell most of them by choice. Marseille have enormous financial problems. According to the club, OM had to make firm commitments to UEFA and the French financial watchdog DNCG simply to be allowed to participate in the league and European competitions. As a result, the 1992 Champions League winners had actually wanted to offload another big name: Pierre-Emile Højbjerg. The club were desperate to get their long-serving captain and current highest earner (€6 million a year) off the wage bill. However, despite an agreement with Newcastle United, Højbjerg decided against leaving. That did not go down well with the club’s management. Marseille’s bosses promptly stripped him of the captaincy and appointed Timothy Weah as the new captain. That, in turn, prompted the coach to speak out: “This decision was imposed on me by the club’s management,” the coach said. “If I’m being completely honest—and I will be—I do not agree with this decision. But I am an employee and have to comply with certain obligations. That is just how it is, so that is what we did.” However, the club and the 60-year-old himself subsequently denied the whole thing. An angry coach, a demoted captain and a historically poor start to the season—is there anything left in OM’s favour? At least the fixture list. While the second-bottom side have recently faced only teams in the league’s top six—PSG, Paris FC, Rennes and Monaco—much weaker opponents await from Sunday onwards. First up are their neighbours in the table, Troyes (16th), followed by AJ Auxerre (10th) and then current bottom club Le Havre. Even in their current situation, OM have to beat all of these teams. If the losing streak continues, however, the season could end very badly indeed. The Bundesliga examples of HSV and Schalke 04 have recently shown once again how a Champions League club can become a second-division side. This article was translated into English by Artificial Intelligence. You can read the original version in 🇩🇪 here.