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How Marseille Fell In Love With Soccer

A sign on the side of a building

“Everything in the city is about football. Football is absolutely inescapable.”

Everyone in the US knows that some cities take their sports teams very seriously. But it’s hard to imagine a city that goes harder for their team than fans of the Olympique de Marseille, the football (soccer) club of France’s Second City. The club has been around since the end of the 19th century, making it even older than the French national football team, Les Bleus, and it has made its home in the Stade Vélodrome. It was the first French team in history to have won the UEFA Champions League, and the only French team to have ever beaten Les Bleus in the French Cup, all the way back in 1929.

According to the teams fans, it’s the ‘rebel spirit’ of Marseille that makes football so popular there. And you only have to see the passion that these fans have for their sport and their city to believe it.

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