Football: the departure of Medhi Benatia, last episode in a long series of crises at OM

The day after Marseille’s frustrating draw against Strasbourg (2-2) in Ligue 1, the Marseille club is once again shaken by a change of direction, with the announcement of the departure of sports director Medhi Benatia. This is not the first time in recent years that OM has gone through periods of crisis. Back to the most notable ones.

The divorce with Deschamps (2012)

To say that Didier Deschamps is a Marseille legend is an understatement. He lifted the Champions League in 1993 as captain and won the last French championship title as coach in 2010. However, on March 28, 2012, while Marseille was playing a quarter-final of the Champions League, it was a divorce with the supporters of the South turn.

OM hosts Bayern Munich: the poster is huge, but the season has been painful, marked by the war between Deschamps and José Anigo, the sports director to whom he no longer speaks. In the turn, we clearly took Anigo’s side. Several banners are displayed, including the most famous: “Deschamps and your players, get out! “.

Bielsa’s sudden resignation (2015)

Opening of the season, August 8, 2015, and the tone of a nightmarish year is set: 1-0 home defeat against Caen, and coach Marcelo Bielsa immediately announces his resignation.

“El Loco”, idolized by supporters, criticizes OM for wanting to modify the terms of his contract at the last moment. A resignation which “shocks enormously”, even the mayor of the city, Jean-Claude Gaudin.

The setbacks then continued with the affair of allegedly dubious transfers. Even if no charges are brought against president Vincent Labrune, owner Margarita Louis-Dreyfus is putting OM up for sale, which ends the season in a pitiful 13th place, its worst result in 15 years, despite the championship’s fourth budget.

The Commandery Attack (2021)

On January 30, 2021, some 300 supporters marched on the Commanderie training center to demonstrate their distrust of President Jacques-Henri Eyraud. Several trees burst into flames and dozens of angry supporters managed to enter the premises.

The club denounces an “unacceptable attack” and “an unjustifiable outburst of violence” after theft and damage worth several hundred thousand euros.

Three days after this coup, coach André Villas-Boas announced, during a spectacular press conference, his wish to resign, citing a disagreement over the club’s sporting policy.

Longoria threatened by supporters (2023)

On September 18, 2023, a few days before the start of the Europa League against Ajax Amsterdam, a meeting between groups of supporters and club managers was extremely tense. Some media even report death threats against President Pablo Longoria from groups of supporters, who are calling for his departure. They deny it outright.

At the end of this interview, coach Marcelino left the club (after only seven matches), and the president and several managers also announced their departure. However, Pablo Longoria, who received numerous signs of support, including that of owner Franck McCourt, finally announced that he was staying in place a few days later.

The ouster of Adrien Rabiot (2025)

On August 15, 2025, OM lost their first match of the season in Rennes in the last seconds (1-0). In the locker room, at the end of the match, a violent altercation between Adrien Rabiot and his English teammate Jonathan Rowe.

The Frenchman, who had become an executive of the team, praised for his performances and his professionalism, was placed on the transfer list three days later. Despite the about-face of coach Roberto De Zerbi, who tried to remedy the situation at the last minute, Adrien Rabiot finally left the club for AC Milan.

The departures of De Zerbi and Benatia (2026)

On the ashes of the elimination in the Champions League in Bruges (3-0), then a historic defeat against PSG (5-0), a new crisis is brewing in Marseille.

Coach Roberto De Zerbi threw in the towel during the night from Tuesday to Wednesday, and on Sunday, football director Medhi Benatia announced his resignation on social networks. While the De Zerbi project was initially planned to last three years, everything collapsed in less than a week.

Only Longoria remains of the trio who dreamed of relaunching OM to the top.