11 March 1978 - Drogba Rising

On 11 March 1978, Didier Drogba was born in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. He went on to become one of the world's dominant strikers.

Growing up, he spent many years living in France and it was there he started his professional career, joining the youth program at Levallois in 1996, then moving to Le Mans in 1997. In 1998, he signed a professional contract with Le Mans and played there for three and a half years, scoring a total of only 15 goals in 75 appearances before moving to Guingamp for £80,000 in the winter transfer window.

The move sparked his career. In his first full season there, he scored 21 goals, attracting the interest of Marseille who signed him for £3.3M in the summer 2003. After only one remarkable season at Marseille, in which he scored 32 goals across all competitions and was named the Ligue 1 Player of the Year, he moved again, this time to Chelsea who paid £24M.

In eight seasons with Chelsea, he scored 157 goals in 341 appearances, making him the fourth-highest goalscorer in club history. He also collected a massive haul of silverware, including three league titles, four FA Cups, and one Champions League trophy.

Along the way, he also captained the Côte d'Ivoire national team and is their all-time leading scorer with 65 goals in 104 appearances.

After leaving Chelsea at the end of his contract in 2012, he spent time with Shanghai Shenhua (2012-13) and Galatasaray (2013-14) before returning to Chelsea for the 2014-15 season. He then played for the Montreal Impact (2015-16) before joining his current club, Phoenix Rising, as player-owner in 2017. 

28 February 2010 - The City Of Fights (Again)

On 28 February 2010, rival groups of PSG supporters turned violent during a match against Marseille, resulting in twenty arrests and one fatality.

PSG hosted the Ligue 1 match looking for some redemption, having already lost at Marseille earlier in the season. But Marseille winger Hatem Ben Arfa was the first to score, driving the ball home in the 15th minute. The game remained close into the second half, but the visitors got additional goals from Lucho González (54') and Benoît Cheyrou (71') to finish the day at 0-3.

The day was even uglier for PSG in the stands and outside the Parc des Princes, where rival supporter groups the Boulogne Boys and Supras Auteuil clashed before, during, and after the game. The police used tear gas to help quell the riot and ended up arresting twenty people. Several people sustained minor injuries, but one, a 38-year old man identified only as "Yann L," suffered a serious head injury that put him into a coma. He died about two weeks later.

PSG condemned the actions and decided not to sell tickets for their away matches for the remainder of the season.

18 February 1973 - The Role Came A Little Bit Later

On 18 February 1973, Claude Makélélé, who redefined the modern defensive midfielder position, was born in Kinshasa, Zaire.

He moved to France when he was four and spent the first several years of his career there, first with Stade Brestois (1990-91), then with Nantes (1991-97) and later Marseille (1997-98). In 1998, he left for Spain, playing two seasons for Celta de Vigo and three for Real Madrid.

At Madrid, he was an integral member of the Galacticos side assembled by club president Florentino Pérez, including Zinedine Zidane, Luis Figo, Ronaldo, and Roberto Carlos. Although not regarded as highly (or paid as much) as some of the others, Makélélé drove the side by operating less like a traditional defensive midfielder and more like a deep-lying playmaker.

When he left for Chelsea in 2003, a bitter Pérez tried to minimize the loss, downplaying Makélélé's contribution to the team. But after winning two league titles (and the Champions League) with him, Real Madrid did not win La Liga again until 2007.

Makélélé, meanwhile, flourished at Chelsea, winning two league titles and one FA Cup before moving back to France in 2008, joining Paris Saint-Germain. He ended his career there, retiring in 2011. 

8 January 1978 - A Revolution In Paris

On 8 January 1978, Paris Saint-Germain turned the tide in their budding rivalry with Marseille. And they did it by a record margin.

While the contest, known as Le Classique or the Derby de France, has become one of the country's most heated rivalries, it started as a very one-sided affair. First played in 1971, Marseille won the first three in a row and seven of the first eleven while losing only once (a 2-0 loss in the Coupe de France in March 1975). By the time Marseille arrived at the Parc des Princes in January for the twelfth match of the series, they had taken three of the last four.

Playing in front of a crowd of 33,386, the visitors looked to continue their run of success, going ahead with a 12th-minute penalty from striker Sarr Boubacar. But PSG rallied to take a 2-1 lead into the break with goals from François Brisson (29') and Mustapha Dahleb (44').

In the second half, an own-goal from Marseille defender Marius Trésor (46') extended PSG's lead to 3-1, then a brace from striker François M'Pelé (pictured) (49', 82') took it to 5-1. The four-goal margin was the largest win of the derby and remains the record, though it was later matched by Marseille's 4-0 win in November 1986 and PSG's 1-5 win in February 2017.

Since then, the rivalry has been relatively balanced across all competitions, with a total of 38 PSG wins to 32 for Marseille.

5 May 1992 - The Furiani Disaster

On 5 May 1992, eighteen people died when a terrace collapsed at the Stade Armand-Césari in Furiani, Corsica during a Coupe de France semifinal.

Local side Bastia had advanced through the tournament to face Ligue 1 leaders Marseille in the semifinals, with the winner advancing to play Monaco in the final. Bastia's directors decided to capitalize on the high-profile match by increasing the stadium's capacity, building a temporary terrace to hold an additional 10,000 fans. But before the match got underway, the new structure collapsed, killing eighteen people and injuring over 2,300 others.

The teams never played their semifinal, as the FFF decided to cancel the remainder of the tournament, leaving the Coupe de France without a winner for the first time.

20 March 1991 - The Night The Lights Went Out In Marseille

On 20 March 1991, defending champions Milan forfeited their European Cup quarterfinal against Marseille when they refused to play the last two minutes.

After drawing the first leg in Milan 1-1 two weeks earlier, they met at Marseille's Stade Vélodrome for the second leg. It was a contentious match, with referee Bo Karlsson issuing five yellow cards, three to Milan and two to Marseille. It remained scoreless deep into the second half, when Marseille finally took the lead with a 75th-minute goal from winger Chris Waddle. 

With two minutes of stoppage time remaining and the score still 1-0, half of the stadium's floodlights went out, forcing Karlsson to halt the match. He intended it to be a temporary halt, but when the lights came back on fifteen minutes later, Milan director Adriano Galliani refused to put his team back on the pitch, claiming that television crews had "disrupted the match" by going out onto the field, though some critics accused him of angling for a replay. In any event, UEFA declared it a forfeit, awarding the victory to Marseille.

Afterward, UEFA banned Milan from European competition for one year and also suspended Galliani from all official functions until July 1993. 

Marseille made their way to the final, where they lost on penalties to Red Star Belgrade.

15 March 2009 - The City Of Fights (Again)

On 15 March 2009, Marseille ended PSG's seven-game unbeaten streak and cost them the top spot. And that wasn't the worst of it.

PSG had won six of their previous seven matches to climb from sixth to second in the table. A victory over Marseille would have sent them into first over Lyon. But despite having won 2-4 at Marseille back in October, the rematch proved to be more difficult. 

Playing before a crowd of almost 45,000 at the Parc des Princes, the visitors had a couple of close chances in the first five minutes and finally went ahead in the 24th minute with a goal from their Dutch midfielder Bolo Zenden (pictured). PSG's Ludovic Giuly equalized two minutes before the break, but the second half belonged to Marseille.

Shortly after the restart, PSG went down to ten men after Zoumana Camara was ejected for a challenge on Zenden, then Marseille extended their lead with goals from Bakari Kone (55') and Lorik Cana (61') to claim the 1-3 win. The real excitement came after the match, however, as clashes between the two supporters groups resulted in 22 arrests. It was the latest in a series of incidents in the rivalry dating back to April 1995, when 146 were arrested after a Coupe de France semifinal.

The loss dropped PSG back into sixth and sent Marseille up to second, which is where the teams finished the season. 

15 January 2010 - Lyon Pays For Their Bad Gamble

On 15 January 2010, Lyon secured a domestic shirt sponsorship agreement with Sony, filling a gap left when their original sponsor ran afoul of French law.

French law is more restrictive than other countries with regard to shirt sponsors, including a prohibition on alcohol advertisements that has forced visiting foreign sides like Liverpool, Celtic, and Rangers to either cover or remove their sponsors before playing matches in France. Nevertheless, before the 2009-10 season, Lyon reached an agreement with Paris-based gambling website BetClic despite the fact that existing French law prohibited the advertising of such websites on football shirts.

Lyon officials pressured the French government to lift the ban before the season started. The authorities refused, however, and warned Lyon to expect penalties should they proceed to wear the BetClic shirts. Lyon capitulated and, for the first five months, played without a sponsor. But by January, the loss of sponsor-related income proved too much to bear and the club reached out to Sony. The Japanese company used Lyon's shirts to advertise their Playstation 3 console, but the agreement was limited and did not include European matches. That led to an awkward moment for Lyon and BetClic in the Champions League, when Lyon wore sponsorless shirts for a match at Real Madrid, who were sponsored by BetClic's rival, Bwin (see video below). 

France eventually lifted the ban in 2010, allowing both Lyon and Marseille, who signed with the website for the 2010-11 season, to wear the BetClic shirts.

20 May 1993 - An Affair To Remember

On 20 May 1993, Marseille beat Valenciennes 1-0 to secure their fifth consecutive Ligue 1 title with one match left to play. Later, however, French authorities learned that Marseille had bribed three Valenciennes players and stripped the title from the club. The press labeled the ensuing scandal "L'affaire VA-OM."

Marseille were motivated by their upcoming Champions League Final against AC Milan, scheduled for 26 May. While they heavily favored to beat Valenciennes anyway, they wanted to guard against injuries and still clinch the win so that they could rest their players in their final league match against title-chasers Paris Saint-Germain. It apparently worked, as Marseille beat Milan 1-0.

The investigation revealed that, the night before the match, Marseille player Jean-Jacques Eydelie had offered money to three Valenciennes players in exchange for their agreement that they would not try to hard against Marseille. Eydelie claimed that he was acting under the instruction of the club's general secretary, who in turn claimed that he had been instructed by club president Bernard Tapie (pictured). In turn, Tapie claimed that it was not a bribe, but that instead he had loaned 250,000 francs to one of the Valenciennes players in order to help him start a restaurant. 

The FFF stripped Marseille of the 1992-93 title and it remains unassigned, as second-place finishers PSG refused to accept it. Tapie served five months in jail, while Eyedelie served seventeen days. The Valenciennes players received six-month suspended sentences and a two-year league ban. Both Marseille and Valenciennes were relegated to Ligue 2.

UEFA allowed Marseille to keep their Champions League trophy, but barred them from appearing in the next season's competition.

7 April 1983 - The First Time France And Germany Agreed On Anything

On 7 April 1983, three-time French Player of the Year Franck Ribéry was born in Boulogne-sur-Mer. A winger who prefers to play on the left, he is considered by many to be one of the leading French players of his generation, with former French superstar Zinedine Zidane calling him "the jewel of French football."

Ribéry began his professional career in 2000 with his hometown team, Boulogne, then in the fourth division. After only two seasons, which saw Boulogne promoted only to be relegated again, he moved to couple of lower-division teams (Olympique Alès, 2002-03, and Stade Brestois, 2003-04) before landing in Ligue 1 with Metz in 2004. His initial stay in the French top flight was brief, as he left after only six months due to a contract dispute, ending up at Istanbul's Galatasaray in January 2005.

His stay in Turkey was equally brief, as after winning the 2005 Turkish Cup, he returned to Ligue 1 to play for Marseille. Although he had three years left on his contract with Galatasaray, he petitioned FIFA to void it, claiming that he had not been paid and that a Galatasaray director had threatened him with a baseball bat. The Turkish club denied the charges, but FIFA decided the matter in Ribéry's favor.

In two seasons at Marseille, he established himself as one of France's most dynamic and creative players, helping the club to capture the 2005 UEFA Intertoto Cup, then reach the back-to-back Coupe de France finals in 2006 and 2007, leading to his first French Player of the Year Award. His success in Marseille sparked a bidding war among several European clubs, including Arsenal and Real Madrid, but Germany's Bayern Munich eventually signed him in 2007 for €25 million.

At Bayern, Ribéry was instrumental in helping restore the club to its former glory, securing a double in 2007-08 by winning the German Cup and the league. For his role, Ribéry was named both the 2008 French Player of the Year and the 2008 German Footballer of the Year. He is currently still playing for Bayern, who have since won three more league titles (2010, 2013, 2014) and the 2013 Champions League final, while Ribéry added a third French Player of the Year award to his collection that year.

15 October 1968 - Birth Of The Golden Generation

On 15 October 1968, former French national team captain and current manager Didier Deschamps was born in Bayonne, France.

A defensive midfielder, Deschamps began his professional playing career with Nantes in 1985, making 110 appearances, but is best known for his time with Olympique de Marseille (1989-90, 1991-94) and Juventus (1994-99).

In April 1989, during his last season with Nantes, Deschamps earned his first cap for France, a 0-0 home draw against Yugoslavia. France failed to qualify for the World Cup in 1990 and 1994, but Deschamps took over as captain in 1996 and led the side to a period of success known as "the Golden Generation."

Under Deschamps' leadership, France advanced to the semi-finals in Euro '96 before losing on penalties to the Czech Republic. France then claimed the ultimate prize by winning the 1998 World Cup with a 3-0 win over Brazil in the Final. Two years later, Les Bleus won Euro 2000, becoming the first team to hold both titles simultaneously since West Germany did it in 1974.

Deschamps retired from international play in 2000 after making 103 appearances.

In 2001, he turned to management, starting with Monaco. He moved to Juventus for the 2006-07 season, then moved back to France in 2009 to helm his old club, Marseille where he stayed until taking charge of the French national team in 2012.

16 September 1992 - The Original Black Pearl

On 16 September 1992, Moroccan-born French international midfielder Larbi Benbarek died in his home in Casablanca at the age of 75.

Nicknamed "the Black Pearl," Benbarek has been hailed as the first African football star. He was born in Casablanca in 1914 and played professionally for his hometown clubs Idéal Club Casablanca (1930-34) and US Marocaine (1934-38) before moving to France to sign with Marseille at the age of 20. He stayed with Marseille until 1939, scoring 10 goals in 30 league appearances, before the onset of World War II forced him back to Morocco. Before he left, he had made four appearances for the French national team.

He stayed with Marocaine for the duration of the war, but moved back to Europe when the war ended to play for Stade de Français (1945-48), Atlético Madrid (1948-53) and again with Marseille (1953-55). He also resumed his career with the French national team, making a total of 17 appearances between 1938 and 1954.

In 1955, he again returned to Morocco, where he played for Sidi-Ben-Abbes for a season. He retired from playing in 1956. He briefly managed to Moroccan national side in 1957, and again in 1960, before retiring from football completely.

Soccer legend Pelé reportedly once said about Ben Barek: "If I am the king of soccer, then Larbi Benbarek is the god of it." In 1998, FIFA posthumously awarded him its highest honor, the FIFA Order of Merit.

16 December 1991 - Cantona Cancels His Contract

On 16 December 1991, Nîmes striker Eric Cantona officially quit football, buying out his contract with the club. He didn't stay gone for long, though.

The 25-year old Cantona, who had shined for Auxerre, Marseille, Bordeaux, and Montpellier before joining Nîmes at the start of the season, had overshadowed his footballing ability with a reputation for volatility, including multiple suspensions, fines, and bust-ups with teammates.

In a match played in early December 1991, he got into trouble for throwing the ball at the referee. The French Football Federation suspended him for a month, then doubled the ban after Cantona insulted the members of the disciplinary committee. On 12 December, his growing frustration with French authorities led him to announce that he was retiring from football with immediate effect. Four days later, out of a desire to be fair to Nîmes, he reached an agreement to cancel his contract, assuming an obligation to pay the club £900,000.

Soon after, however, his friend Michel Platini convinced him to return to football with a clean slate by moving to England. In Janjuary 1992, after an initial brief trial with Sheffield Wednesday, Cantona signed with Leeds United, who paid the money due to Nîmes. He spent only a few months there, however, before moving to Manchester United in November 1992, where he remained until his second retirement in 1997. There, he became one of the club's biggest stars, though he continued to get into trouble, including a 1995 suspension for kicking a Crystal Palace supporter.

29 May 1991 - Red Star Rises Over Europe

On 29 May 1991, Red Star Belgrade won their first major European trophy, beating Marseille on penalties in the European Cup final.

It was the first time in the final for both teams, who reached it by virtue of their prolific offenses. Marseille forward and captain Jean-Pierre Papin was the tournament's leading scorer with six goals, while midfielder Phillippe Vercruysse, with five, was a substitute for the final. Red Star, meanwhile, relied primarily on the pairing of striker Darko Pančev (5 goals) and midfielder Robert Prosinečki (4).

It was the defenses, however, who shined in the final, held at the Stadio San Nicola in Bari. A crowd of 58,000 watched as both teams struggled to create chances against each other and played to a scoreless draw through extra time.

Red Star went first in the ensuing penalty shootout, with Prosinečki scoring the opening goal. Right back Manuel Amoros then stepped up to take Marseille's first attempt. He tried sending the ball to the right of keeper Stevan Stojanović, but Stojanović guessed correctly and knocked it away. That turned out to be the decisive stop, as the players for both sides all converted their next attempts until Red Star's final shot, taken by Pančev, secured the win, 0-0 (5-3).

It remains Red Star's only appearance in the final, though they went on to win the Intercontinental Cup later that year, beating Colo Colo 3-0. Marseille returned to the final in 1993 and beat Milan 1-0.

26 May 1993 - I Hope They Enjoyed It While It Lasted

On 26 May 1993, Marseille won the Champions League trophy, but they were not allowed to defend it the following season.

Under the auspices of club president Bernard Tapie, Marseille rose to elite status in the late 1980s and early 1990s, winning four consecutive Ligue 1 titles from 1989 to 1992. They also reached the European Cup final in 1991, but lost to Red Star Belgrade in a penalty shootout, 0-0 (5-3).

After a disappointing second-round exit from the tournament in 1991-92, they returned to the final in 1993, where they met four-time champions AC Milan in Munich. Although the game featured three of the tournament's four top scorers--Marco van Basten for Milan and Franck Sauzée and Alen Bokšić for Marseille--an unheralded player scored the day's only goal, as Marseille center back Basile Boli found the back of the net in the 43rd minute. They remain the only French club to win the competition.

French authorities subsequently found Tapie and Marseille guilty of match-fixing during the 1992-93 Ligue 1 season. As a result, they were stripped of their 1993 league title and demoted to Ligue 2 for the next season. They were allowed to keep their Champions League trophy, but were barred from participating in the 1993-94 tournament.

24 May 1966 - Long Live The King

On 24 May 1966, forward Eric Cantona was born in Marseille. He went on to become one of Manchester United's greatest and most iconic players.

He made his professional debut in November 1983 with Auxerre. He got off to a slow start, including a loan spell and a break for national service, but began to show signs of his future prowess in his last two seasons there, scoring  25 goals in 79 appearances. That led to a high-priced move to Marseille in 1988, followed by short spells with Nîmes (1991) and Leeds United (1992).

Manchester United came calling in 1992, signing him for £1.2M. He scored only 9 times in that first season, but was instrumental in helping United claim the inaugural Premier League title, their first league championship since 1967. The following season, he delivered 25 goals across all competitions as United claimed a league and FA Cup double, earning the nickname "King Eric" from United's supporters.

Before he retired in 1997, he added another Double (1996) and a fourth league title (1997). But his time at Old Trafford was not free from controversy. One of the most notable incidents occurred in January 1995, during an away match against Crystal Palace, when he leapt into the stands to kick one of the home supporters. He received a suspension for the rest of the season and a fine of £20,000, plus a sentence of 120 hours of community service.

Since his retirement, he has spent time acting and, most recently, joined the revived New York Cosmos as Director of Soccer.

11 March 1978 - The Coming Of Didier

On 11 March 1978, Didier Drogba was born in Abidjan, Côte d'Ivoire. He went on to become one of the world's dominant strikers.

Growing up, he spent many years living in France and it was there he started his professional career, joining the youth program at Levallois in 1996, then moving to Le Mans in 1997. In 1998, he signed a professional contract with Le Mans and played there for three and a half years, scoring a total of only 15 goals in 75 appearances before moving to Guingamp for £80,000 in the winter transfer window.

The move sparked his career. In his first full season there, he scored 21 goals, attracting the interest of Marseille who signed him for £3.3M in the summer 2003. After only one remarkable season at Marseille, in which he scored 32 goals across all competitions and was named the Ligue 1 Player of the Year, he moved again, this time to Chelsea who paid £24M.

In eight seasons with Chelsea, he scored 157 goals in 341 appearances, making him the fourth-highest goalscorer in club history. He also collected a massive haul of silverware, including three league titles, four FA Cups, and one Champions League trophy.

Along the way, he also captained the Côte d'Ivoire national team and is their all-time leading scorer with 60 goals in 95 appearances.

After leaving Chelsea at the end of his contract in 2012, he spent a year with Shanghai Shenhua and currently plays for Galatasaray.

28 February 2010 - The City Of Fights (Again)

On 28 February 2010, rival groups of PSG supporters turned violent during a match against Marseille, resulting in twenty arrests and one fatality.

PSG hosted the Ligue 1 match looking for some redemption, having already lost at Marseille earlier in the season. But Marseille winger Hatem Ben Arfa was the first to score, driving the ball home in the 15th minute. The game remained close into the second half, but the visitors got additional goals from Lucho González (54') and Benoît Cheyrou (71') to finish the day at 0-3.

The day was even uglier for PSG in the stands and outside the Parc des Princes, where rival supporter groups the Boulogne Boys and Supras Auteuil clashed before, during, and after the game. The police used tear gas to help quell the riot and ended up arresting twenty people. Several people sustained minor injuries, but one, a 38-year old man identified only as "Yann L," suffered a serious head injury that put him into a coma. He died about two weeks later.

PSG condemned the actions and decided not to sell tickets for their away matches for the remainder of the season.

18 February 1973 - The Role Came A Little Bit Later

On 18 February 1973, Claude Makélélé, who redefined the modern defensive midfielder position, was born in Kinshasa, Zaire.

He moved to France when he was four and spent the first several years of his career there, first with Stade Brestois (1990-91), then with Nantes (1991-97) and later Marseille (1997-98). In 1998, he left for Spain, playing two seasons for Celta de Vigo and three for Real Madrid.

At Madrid, he was an integral member of the Galacticos side assembled by club president Florentino Pérez, including Zinedine Zidane, Luis Figo, Ronaldo, and Roberto Carlos. Although not regarded as highly (or paid as much) as some of the others, Makélélé drove the side by operating less like a traditional defensive midfielder and more like a deep-lying playmaker.

When he left for Chelsea in 2003, a bitter Pérez tried to minimize the loss, downplaying Makélélé's contribution to the team. But after winning two league titles (and the Champions League) with him, Real Madrid did not win La Liga again until 2007.

Makélélé, meanwhile, flourished at Chelsea, winning two league titles and one FA Cup before moving back to France in 2008, joining Paris Saint-Germain. He ended his career there, retiring in 2011, and currently serves the club as an assistant coach.

8 January 1978 - A Revolution In Paris

On 8 January 1978, Paris Saint-Germain turned the tide in their budding rivalry with Marseille. And they did it by a record margin.

While the contest, known as Le Classique or the Derby de France, has become one of the country's most heated rivalries, it started as a very one-sided affair. First played in 1971, Marseille won the first three in a row and seven of the first eleven while losing only once (a 2-0 loss in the Coupe de France in March 1975). By the time Marseille arrived at the Parc des Princes in January for the twelfth match of the series, they had taken three of the last four.

Playing in front of a crowd of 33,386, the visitors looked to continue their run of success, going ahead with a 12th-minute penalty from striker Sarr Boubacar. But PSG rallied to take a 2-1 lead into the break with goals from François Brisson (29') and Mustapha Dahleb (44').

In the second half, an own-goal from Marseille defender Marius Trésor (46') extended PSG's lead to 3-1, then a brace from striker François M'Pelé (pictured) (49', 82') took it to 5-1. The four-goal margin was the largest win of the derby and remains the record, though it was later matched by Marseille's 4-0 win in November 1986.

Since then, the rivalry has been relatively balanced across all competitions, with a total of 27 PSG wins to 32 for Marseille.