2002–03 Olympique de Marseille season

Olympique de Marseille almost won the French League for the first time in 11 years, having a remarkable run to third place, having only scored five goals more than it conceded. The most praised player was central defender Daniel Van Buyten, who was able to tighten up the defence, and also helping out with scoring several important goals. Without Marseille's goalscoring woes, it could have sustained a more serious title assault. Therefore it signed late-blooming starlet Didier Drogba from En Avant Guingamp, a move that was set to be among the best financial deals in the clubs' history.

Marseille

2002-03 season
Chairman	Robert Louis-Dreyfus
Manager	Alain Perrin
Ligue 1	3rd
Coupe de France	Round of 32
League Cup	Semi-finals
Top goalscorer	Ibrahima Bakayoko (9)
Home colours Away colours Third colours

Squad

Goalkeepers

• Vedran Runje
• Cédric Carrasso

Defenders

• Jérôme Perez
• Manuel dos Santos
• Daniel Van Buyten
• Eduardo Tuzzio
• Sébastien Pérez
• Abdoulaye Méïté
• Franck Leboeuf
• Johnny Ecker
• Fabien Laurenti
• Loris Reina

Midfielders

• Fabien Camus
• Brahim Hemdani
• Piotr Świerczewski
• Pascal Johansen
• Delfim
• Djamel Belmadi
• Salomon Olembé
• Mickaël Marsiglia
• Benjamin Gavanon
• Michel Gafour
• Fabio Celestini
• Karim Dahou

Attackers

• Fernandão
• Ibrahima Bakayoko
• Cyril Chapuis
• Lamine Sakho
• Dmitri Sychev
• Laurent Merlin

Competitions

Ligue 1

League table

Pos	Team	Pld	W	D	L	GF	GA	GD	Pts	Qualification or relegation
1	Lyon (C)	38	19	11	8	63	41	+22	68	Qualification to Champions League group stage
2	Monaco	38	19	10	9	66	33	+33	67
3	Marseille	38	19	8	11	41	36	+5	65	Qualification to Champions League third qualifying round
4	Bordeaux	38	18	10	10	57	36	+21	64	Qualification to UEFA Cup first round
5	Sochaux	38	17	13	8	46	31	+15	64

Source: Ligue 1
Rules for classification: 1) points; 2) goal difference; 3) number of goals scored.
(C) Champion.

Matches

3 August 2002 1	Marseille	0–2	Nantes	Lyon
			Yepes  62' Berson  90 + 3'	Stadium: Stade Gerland

10 August 2002 2	AS Monaco	0–1	Marseille	Monaco
			Fernandão  54'	Stadium: Stade Louis II

16 August 2002 3	Marseille	1–1	Lyon	Marseille
	Bakayoko  29'		Govou  14'	Stadium: Stade Vélodrome

24 August 2002 4	Rennes	1–3	Marseille	Rennes
	Piquionne  10'		Chapuis  35, 70' Sakho  90 + 1'	Stadium: Stade de la Route de Lorient

1 September 2002 5	Marseille	0–0	Auxerre	Marseille
				Stadium: Stade Vélodrome

11 September 2002 6	Nice	2–0	Marseille	Nice
	Everson  52' Olufade  82'			Stadium: Stade du Ray

14 September 2002 7	Marseille	2–1	Bordeaux	Marseille
	Leboeuf  16' (pen.) Bakayoko  75'		Pauleta  52'	Stadium: Stade Vélodrome

21 September 2002 8	Le Havre	1–3	Marseille	Le Havre
	Fauconnier  66'		Sakho  45 + 2' Johansen  58' Celestini  90'	Stadium: Stade Jules Deschaseaux

27 September 2002 9	Marseille	3–1	Ajaccio	Marseille
	Van Buyten  41' Chapuis  45' Bakayoko  77' (pen.)		Destruhaut  15'	Stadium: Stade Vélodrome

5 October 2002 10	Lille	3–0	Marseille	Lille
	Tapia  15' Brunel  55' Cheyrou  65'			Stadium: Stade Grimonprez-Jooris

20 October 2002 11	Marseille	1–0	Strasbourg	Marseille
20:45	Fernandão  24'			Stadium: Stade Vélodrome

26 October 2002 12	Paris SG	3–0	Marseille	Paris
17:15	Ronaldinho  15', 37' (pen.) Cardetti  82'			Stadium: Stade Parc des Princes

2 November 2002 13	Marseille	2–0	Montpellier	Marseille
20:00	Bakayoko  32' F. Silvestre  61' (o.g.)			Stadium: Stade Vélodrome

9 November 2002 14	Guingamp	0–0	Marseille	Guingamp
20:00				Stadium: Stade du Roudourou

16 November 2002 15	Marseille	0–0	Troyes	Marseille
20:00				Stadium: Stade Vélodrome

23 November 2002 16	Marseille	1–0	Lens	Marseille
17:15	Olembé  12'			Stadium: Stade Vélodrome

30 November 2002 17	Bastia	2–0	Marseille	Bastia
	Ben Saada  74, 87'			Stadium: Stade Armand Cesari

4 December 2002 18	Marseille	1–0	Sochaux	Marseille
	Fernandão  40'			Stadium: Stade Vélodrome

14 December 2002 19	Sedan	1–2	Marseille	Sedan
	H. Camara  70'		dos Santos  39' Bakayoko  49'	Stadium: Stade Louis Dugauguez

20 December 2002 20	Marseille	1–1	AS Monaco	Marseille
	Van Buyten  60'		Pršo  40'	Stadium: Stade Vélodrome

10 January 2003 21	Lyon	1–0	Marseille	Lyon
	Luyindula  41'			Stadium: Stade Gerland Referee: Pierluigi Collina

14 January 2003 22	Marseille	2–0	Rennes	Marseille
	Bakayoko  7' Van Buyten  19'			Stadium: Stade Vélodrome

21 January 2003 23	Auxerre	0–0	Marseille	Auxerre
				Stadium: Stade Abbe-Deschamps

28 January 2003 24	Marseille	2–0	Nice	Marseille
	Van Buyten  45 + 3' Sychev  87'			Stadium: Stade Vélodrome

2 February 2003 25	Bordeaux	3–1	Marseille	Bordeaux
	Feindouno  56' Darcheville  63' (pen.) Sávio  90 + 6'		Van Buyten  88'	Stadium: Stade Chaban-Delmas

5 February 2003 26	Marseille	2–0	Le Havre	Marseille
	Sychev  16' Van Buyten  52'			Stadium: Stade Vélodrome

8 February 2003 27	Ajaccio	0–2	Marseille	Ajaccio
			Bakayoko  35' Sakho  79' (pen.)	Stadium: Stade François Coty

28	Marseille	2–0	Lille
	Bakayoko  13' Johansen  75'

29

Strasbourg

0–0

Marseille

30	Marseille	0–3	Paris SG
			Leroy  28, 83' Ronaldinho  55'

31	Montpellier	1–2	Marseille
	Rouvière  71'		Sakho  22' Van Buyten  83'

32	Marseille	0–2	Guingamp
			Bah  12' Drogba  16'

33

Troyes

0–0

Marseille

34	Lens	0–1	Marseille
			Leboeuf  33' (pen.)

35	Marseille	2–1	Bastia
	Sychev  45' Van Buyten  87'		Batlles  90 + 3'

36	Sochaux	3–0	Marseille
	Santos  28' Frau  65' Isabey  86'

37	Marseille	4–2	Sedan
	Pérez  10' Chapuis  43' Hemdani  83' Sakho  89'		N'Diefi  57' Pérez  61' (o.g.)

38	Nantes	1–0	Marseille
	Quint  84'

Top Scorers

• Ibrahima Bakayoko 9 (1)
• Daniel Van Buyten 8
• Cyril Chapuis 4
• Lamine Sakho 4 (1)
• Fernandão 4
• Dmitri Sychev 3

Sources

• RSSSF - France 2002/03