Lyon – Marseille 31-08-25

We are in the third round of Ligue 1, and we already have a treat: Lyon – Marseille. This year’s goal for me is to dive deep into a “new” league. After Horneland took over Saint-Étienne, I was exposed to French football – and thus Ligue 1. Diving deep into a new league can be compared to finding a new, good series with twelve seasons that you can sit down with for hours.

"Choice of the Olympics"

This round of the league will hopefully see a thrilling match between Olympique Lyonnais and Olympique de Marseille. The match is called the Choc des Olympiques (the Olympic match), also known as the Derby des Olympiques (the Olympic derby), and is a football rivalry between Lyon and Marseille. The rivalry was particularly heated when Canal+ had the rights and started calling the match “Olympico”, in reference to “El Clásico” in Spain to make the product more attractive and exciting for fans and the media.

At the end of the 19th century, sports flourished in Europe, and in 1896 it was the French Baron Pierre de Coubertin who “revived” the Olympic Games. The word “Olympique” became a symbol of ideals such as fair play, discipline, community and physical strength. Several sports teams incorporated this into their names to connect with the new, modern spirit of sports. The name “Olympique” has become a quality mark in French sports; it signals tradition, pride and a link to the original Olympic idea of ​​doing sports to develop body, mind and community. Tonight’s match is therefore a meeting between two clubs that share the same “sports ideal” – and a battle over who will be the “real Olympique” in France.

Olympique de Marseille was founded in 1899 and took the name "Olympique" precisely to represent this Olympic vision. The club wanted to be more than just a football team – they wanted to be a grassroots sports team that carried the sporting ideals of the future.

Olympique Lyonnais was formally established around 50 years later, in 1950, taking its name as a combination of local pride and respect for the Olympic tradition. By the 1950s, "Olympique" was already well-established in French sporting culture, and the name was intended to give the club a sense of grandeur and ambition.

Unlike Le Classique (PSG – Marseille), the rivalry has no bad blood in it, but springs from the competitiveness of each club’s players, managers, supporters and presidents. Lyon and Marseille are two of the four clubs to have won the French league four times in a row. Marseille has a total of two league titles more than Lyon, which contributes to the rivalry. Marseille dominated in the early 90s, while Lyon took over the baton and won seven (!) league titles in a row in the early 2000s. The “Choc des Olympiques” can be compared to the match between Borussia Mönchengladbach and Borussia Dortmund – better known as the “Borussia derby” in Germany.

Lyon – one chaos club?

At the end of 2024, a small but expected “bombshell” came from France: Lyon was relegated from Ligue 1 to Ligue 2 due to financial management, high debt and significant deficit. The case was appealed, and clean-up was initiated – targeted restructuring became a fact. Key players such as Rayan Cherki were sold, several left for free, the club president resigned on the day, and the owner of OL Lyonnais (the women’s team) took over the management. Before the summer, Lyon won the appeal and was allowed to keep their place in Ligue 1, but under very strict financial conditions with demands for a lower wage budget and reduced expenses.

Not only is there no financial mess – Lyon coach Paulo Fonseca received a nine (!) month national suspension after a tirade and a confrontation with a referee in overtime in March 2025 (after just over a month in charge), and is banned until November 30, 2025. In the meantime, the assistant coach has been leading the club.

This year's season has started very well for Lyon. They have had a relatively "easy" start - away against Lens and at home against Metz - and have got their defensive system in place, which the results so far indicate. They have opened with two straight wins: 0–1 away against Lens and 3–0 at home against Metz. They have been effective offensively and have been in control defensively. Lyon has a total of 4.17 in xG in the first two games of the season (1.41 away and 2.76 at home) and 1.95 in xG against (1.38 away and 0.57 at home).

Marseille – on the right track after friction in the dressing room?

This year's season is an "anniversary season" for Marseille: They have been in Ligue 1 for 30 consecutive years, and they will play the Champions League, the French Cup and the French Super Cup against PSG, as Marseille came second in the league and PSG won both the league and the cup.

The team that came in second last season has had a somewhat troubled start to the season. They opened away to Rennes, played with one more man for over 60 minutes without scoring, and also managed to concede a goal in overtime – and thus lost the match. Marseille completely dominated with over 70% possession, 24 shots (only two on target) and an xG of 1.79. Rennes, on the other hand, had an xG of 1.39 and got the winning goal in overtime. In match number two, things went better – against newly promoted Paris FC. The match ended 5–2, with “only” twelve shots, of which seven were on target, and an xG of 2.83 against 1.09.

However, there have been frictions in the dressing room, especially just before the first round of the league. This resulted in Adrien Rabiot and Jonathan Rowe being suspended, and Rowe being sold to Bologna. The team clearly got a boost after the clean-up; against Paris FC we saw a completely new team running over the opposition.

Conclusion

With history behind us – and what is at stake – we believe in a goal-rich match with both teams scoring. The teams have played 124 matches against each other: Lyon has 43 wins, Marseille 42. 379 goals have been scored in total – 189 for Lyon and 190 for Marseille. 65% of the matches have ended with both teams scoring.

In the last ten head-to-head matches, 28 goals have been scored, and in 60% of the matches both teams have scored. Marseille has five wins and Lyon three. At Lyon's home ground, the last five matches have produced 14 goals, and in four out of five both teams have scored.

France at 20:45: Lyon – Marseille: Both teams to score + 2.5 goals (1.74)