Olympique Marseille
Official Olympique Marseille website - http://www.om.net/ Tickets - Tickets are in high demand despite a 60,000 capacity, but you should still be OK for all but the biggest of games. Register and then buy online in advance, or purchase from the ticket office at the ground, or the L'OM Cafe at 3 quai des Belges, Vieux Port. Stadium - The unique looking Stade Velodrome is a couple of miles south of the city centre. You can walk it by simply heading down Rue de Rome, which then becomes Avenue du Prado, or just jump on line 2 of the metro, alighting right outside the ground at Rond Point du Prado. Ultra Culture - By far the most vociferous fans in France, ultra groups include the Yankees and CCS in the south side, with the imaginatively named Ultras and South Winners in the south.
MARSEILLE
Overview - The antipathy of Paris and much of the South of France, Marseille is a rough and ready, football-crazy port-city in a beautiful Mediterranean setting. Its football club, OM, are the giants of French football, representing the down-trodden Marseillais and spawning local God Zinedine Zidane amongst others, in this vital European football travel metropolis. Airports & Transfers - Marseille-Provence Airport - seventeen miles north-west of the city, connected by buses every 25mins, costing 8.50Euros. Taxi's 40Euros. Nightlife - There are plenty of bars and clubs in and around the Vieux Port, but the main scene is to be found east of here, in the bohemian bar-lined squares of Cours Julien and Place Jean Jaures. Shopping - La Canebiere is the scruffy main drag leading away from the Vieux Port. Turn right onto pedestrianised Rue St Ferreol for the main shopping street, with designer shops found in the streets leading off here in rues Francis Davso, Grignan and the perpendicular Rue Paradis. Cours Julien offers up a quirkier selection. Further reading -
South of France: Provence and the Cote D'Azur (Time Out South of France)
Chapter 10 of The FC Nantes Experiment: One Man's Odyssey of French Football
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