at the origin of the Classic, an arrangement between friends to become the best enemies

Relationships “imbued with animosity for many, many years” between the two clubs. It is with these terms that a prefectural decree justified the measure prohibiting Parisian supporters from traveling in the Bouches-du-Rhône, on the occasion of the OM-PSG meeting, Sunday, October 24.. This “animosity” dates from the early 1990s. Previously, the meetings between the two clubs went rather unnoticed. This enmity was ccreated from scratch by the leaders of the two clubs, Bernard Tapie and Canal +, to build a saga and satisfy their own interests. A saga that has lasted for thirty years.

The first meeting between Olympique de Marseille and PSG took place on September 12, 1971. The capital club was founded a year earlier, when OM is already over 70 years old: “There was respect between the two clubs. OM see PSG as a new kid”, explains Jean-François Pérès, head of the sports department of Europe 1 and co-author of the book PSG-OM / OM-PSG, History of a rivalry with Daniel Riolo. Laurent Fournier played in 1990 under the Marseille colors and does not remember any tensions with the Parisians: “The rivalry was more with Bordeaux, between Bernard Tapie and Claude Bez. But there was no animosity with Paris”.

In 1986, Bernard Tapie bought the Olympique de Marseille. Four consecutive French champion titles followed between 1989 and 1992. At the same time, the Bordelais were relegated to the second division. Bernard Tapie then sets out to find a new rival. He found it with the PSG, which had just been bought by Canal + in 1991. The Parisian and Marseille leaders agree, each with their own interests. “Tapie always wanted to win the European Cup, and for that he needed a good championship. So he said to himself that he needed real, solid rivals. And on the Canal + side, we had every interest in highlighting rights bought in the mid-80s. With rivalry and games like that, subscribers were more attracted. “, explains Jean-François Pérès.

It is an artificial rivalry, mounted by leaders, which did not mean much sporting, because the two clubs had never competed for titles.

Bernard Tapie and Michel Denisot, appointed president of PSG by Canal +, then agree that their clubs hate each other. A real marketing coup for the encrypted channel, which holds its big first division poster, and a good deal for Marseille, which can toughen up. “Historically, Marseille has always had very complicated relations with Paris, has always felt badly treated, even during the time of the Monarchy. It is still the only city where royal fortifications were erected not to protect the city, but protect the city, with the cannons turned inward. The rulers used football to set fire to something that was underlying. ‘the derby of France’“, says Jean-François Pérès.

Beyond the sociological rivalry between the two largest cities in France, Bernard Tapie also had a political interest in seducing the people of Marseille. He arrived in the Phocaean city with the idea of ​​becoming a deputy of a district of the city. “And from 1988, at the end of an OM-PSG, Tapie goes down on the lawn to verbally attack the referee. He sends the message that the authorities are perhaps in Paris, but that in Marseille , they are not the ones who make the law. He set off a first spark and we never looked back after that “, explains the head of the sports department of Europe 1.

The Marseille leader was very present with his players before the meetings against the Parisians: “Against Paris, he always went to the 1 p.m. TV news. He also gave us articles that he put on the wall, telling us: ‘We have nothing more to tell you.’ Then he spoke forty minutes, the coach ten. Goethals made us the composition then said: ‘President, over to you!’ Tapie then explained his tactics to him “, said Basile Boli in France Football in 2017.

In 1992, at the Parc des Princes, one of the most violent encounters in the history of French football was played. The pre-game is punctuated by verbal attacks. “Some made statements, which made things worse. And knowing players in Marseille, I didn’t think it was going to happen with them.”, says Laurent Fournier. On the daily front page The team, Artur Jorge, the coach of PSG, announces to the Marseillais that his team will walk on them. David Ginola gives a layer by promising “the war”.

A conditioning that will lead to excess engagement on the field, with 55 faults during the match, so several extremely violent tackles. “I think that today we would not finish it, there would be too many expelled “, remark Jean-François Pérès. Yet at the time, referee Michel Gérard only distributed six yellow cards and not a single red card. “It was a committed match but everyone defended their club. It is also this aggressiveness that then allowed the two clubs to win a European Cup”, tempers Laurent Fournier.

The 1992 game was not the only one to have gone bad. Rebelotte in 1993, at the Stade Vélodrome, when OM have just won the Champions League and have the opportunity to win the French championship if they win. “The Marseillais have been partying for three players, they are not sleeping, but there is this match which is crucial for the title of champion of France. The Stade Vélodrome is full as rarely. It is a bullring today. There. And people are mad, the Parisian supporters left in peanuts. They launched tracer rockets in the Marseille stands, there were injuries. And the match ended in a totally deleterious atmosphere, with a victory and a title for OM “, remembers Jean François Pérès.

At the end of the 1993 season, the VA-OM affair broke out. Four days before the Champions League final won against AC Milan, the Valenciennes club reveals that a sum of money has been promised by a Marseille leader to northern players so that they let go of the match and that the Phocéens arrive in great shape for the final. This corruption scandal has serious consequences for OM, which has its title of champion acquired against PSG withdrawn, is relegated to the second division, and is excluded from European competitions.

During the Marseille scarcity years, PSG took the opportunity to pocket the first Coupe de la Ligue, a Coupe de France and climb to the semi-finals of the Champions League. The Parisians also won the Coupe des Coupes, beating Rapid Vienne in the final. The same year, in 1996, OM moved back to the first division. Since then, the intensity on the ground is much more moderate, although sparks sometimes trigger altercations, as in September 2020, where five red cards had been distributed after a collective fight at the end of the meeting.

But in the grandstand the atmosphere remains electric. Since 2000, dozens of arrests have been regularly made during meetings. If the Parisian fans are banned from traveling on Sunday, the president of OM, Pablo Longoria, still appealed for calm to the Marseille fans, to avoid any overflow, “so that this moment remains a football moment”.