Are Marseille in Trouble Again?

Strange to see Franck with L'OM.

Franck Ribery spent 2 years at Olympique de Marseille (from 2005-2007) and scored 11 goals in 60 appearances. Immediately prior to that, he belonged to Turkish club Galatasaray where he was a member of the Turkish Cup-winning squad. Although he had a 3-year contract, Ribery only spent 1 year with Galatasaray and moved on to Marseille. Despite protests of the Turkish club, who were demanding €10 million (approximately $15 million) in compensation, the Court of Arbitration for Sport held that he had been justified in terminating his contract due the fact that the club had not paid him in 4 months.

Now there is news that police have raided the offices of L’OM in response to allegations from Ribery’s former agent (whom he fired just prior to moving to Marseille) Bruno Heiderscheid that there were “irregularities” in that transfer. Taken in the investigation were several banking documents that prosecutors feel may point to existence of an exchange of money between Heiderscheid and L’OM. The former has also alleged that Marseille executives (including former president Pape Diouf) provided false testimony to the CAS during the original hearing regarding the transfer and engaged in fraud in order to hide the exchange of such monies.

Of course, this isn’t the first time that the storied Olympique de Marseille have been in trouble. After becoming the only French club to ever win the Champions League in 1993, L’OM began a season of embarrassment, highlighted by L’Affaire VA-OM under president Bernard Tapie. The latter scandal erupted when it was found that Marseille had contacted Valenciennes ahead of their match and requested that they let L’OM win and avoid injuring any of their players ahead of their upcoming Champions League match. Marseille were forced to vacate their Ligue 1 title from the previous year and were relegated to Ligue 2, where they spent 2 seasons. Tapie has remained tainted for his role with the club, despite his having gained much success with players such as Didier Deschamps, Rudi Voller, Jean-Pierre Papin, and Eric Cantona in previous years.

Given the recent emphasis of UEFA and officials from the various leagues on improving the reputation of the game in a number of areas, it wouldn’t surprise me to see Marseille slapped with a fine here. Perhaps a Chelsea-like transfer ban, which could seriously hinder their chances at the Ligue 1 title if it goes into effect for the January window?