THE VITALS:

Team: Olympique de Marseille (Marseille)

Brand: Adidas

Era: 2000-01 (Used for the 2000-01 French Division 1 season)

Name/Number: -

CONDITION: VERY GOOD

This shirt comes in as good a condition as you will find of these rare shirts today! The felt sponsor and embroidery are in fine condition, however, there are the reasonable signs of wear and discolouring that you would expect from a shirt that is now over 20 years of age!

DIMENSIONS:

Size: Small

Pit to Pit Measurement: 19 inches

Shirt Length: 29.5 inches

Made by Adidas in their ‘ClimaLite’ range of shirts that they introduced in 2000; this shirt provides dimensions for a generous fitting size small shirt that I believe should also fit a size medium.

DESCRIPTION:

Adidas and Marseille continued their relationship into the new millennium and their 2000-01 season home shirt was a testament to the Y2K era, as Adidas implemented a huge blue cross against the classic white backdrop synonymous with OM. Unlike the previous season’s home shirt which had black accents, the 2000-01 edition would be strictly white and sky blue, and in another piece of trivia; this would be the last season that Marseille would be would bare the Ericsson sponsorship. While the shirt was no doubt an artistic success, this shirt would sadly be worn in yet another season where OM would once again barely avoid relegation. This would also be the last season that the likes of: George Weah, William Gallas and Patrick Blondeau featured for the club.

THE SEASON:

Things can change incredibly for a club inside of 12 months as Marseille found out in 1999-00! After finishing in 2^nd in 1998-99 and reaching a UEFA Cup Final, they would avoid relegation on goal difference at the end of 1999-00!

Javier Clemente was entrusted with the rebuild ahead of the new season, but he would have to regroup without the likes of: Stéphane Porato, Eduardo Berizzo, Robert Pires, Ivan De La Pena, Peter Luccin, Stéphane Dalmat, Peter Luccin, Fabrizio Ravanelli and Christophe Dugarry!

The season would start off with a fine 3-1 win at home to Troyes, but consistent victories were never to be in another disappointing season L’OM. Javier Clemente would be replaced Tomislav Ivic as Mars finished in 15^th place for a second season running.

The season would yield some sparing great moments such as the double over defending champions - Monaco and the 2-0 win at home over newly crowned champions Nantes. There would also be the 1-0 at home over Paris Saint Germain as Marseille gained revenge over their fierce rivals for their defeat in Paris earlier in the season.

The notable players that season were:

Dimitry Sychev, Lamine Sakho, Fernandao, Karim Dahou, Cyril Chapuis, Ibrahima Bakayoko, Salomon Olembe, Brahim Hemdani, Delfim, Fabio Celestini, Fabien Camus, Daniel Van Buyten, Eduardo Tuzzio, Sebastien Perez, Abdoulaye Meite, Frank Leboeuf, Manuel Dos Santos, Vedran Runje, Cedric Carasso