page_title: Stade Vélodrome
section_title: History
hierarchical_section_title: Stade Vélodrome / History
caption_attribution_description: Français&#160;: Le Stade vélodrome de Marseille, le 13 juin 1937.
context_page_description: The Stade Vélodrome, known as the Orange Vélodrome for sponsorship reasons, is a multi-purpose stadium in Marseille, France. It is home to the Olympique de Marseille football club of Ligue 1 since it opened in 1937, and was a venue in the 1998 FIFA World Cup, the 2007 Rugby World Cup and the UEFA Euro 2016. It occasionally hosts RC Toulon rugby club of the Top 14. It is the largest club football ground in France, with a capacity of 67,394 spectators. The stadium is also used regularly by the France national rugby union team.
  The record attendance for a club game before renovation at the Stade Vélodrome was 58,897. Since expansion to 67,394, the record attendance at the ground now stands at 65,421 for the match against rivals Lyon that occurred on 10 November 2019. The stadium was also featured as a FIFA World Cup venue when the 1938 finals were held in France. The first-ever match to be played was between Marseille and Torino in 1937.
  The French rugby union team began an impressive run of victories at the stadium in the early 2000s. They defeated New Zealand 42–33 in November 2000, and in 2001 defeated Australia by one point.
context_section_description: In 1935, the architectural firm Pollack Ploquin was chosen to build a stadium in Marseille. Henri Ploquin (who designed in 1932 with Charles Bouhana the Stade Municipal Louis Darragon) designed the stadium. For economic reasons, only the Stade Vélodrome was built. On 28 April 1935, the foundation stone was laid for the Vélodrome by Marseille Mayor Ribot, on a site between downtown and the suburban areas of St. Giniez and Sainte-Marguerite on military grounds belonging to the city. The Stade Vélodrome opened on 13 June 1937, when a friendly match was played between Olympique Marseille and Italian of Torino FC (which ended 2-1 to Olympique Marseille). On 29 August 1937 (the second day of the French national football championship) a match took place between OM and Cannes. This was the first official match at the stadium.
  As its name suggests, Stade Vélodrome was used for cycling competitions but as these races became less common, seating replaced the track which circled the stadium. The Vélodrome remained famous for fans of OM (Olympique Marseille) since the sloped track which was under the extended seating acted as a slide to invade the pitch at the end of matches.
  Olympique de Marseille was long hostile to the Stade Vélodrome, calling it the "stage of the City Council". For fans of the Olympians between the wars, the real home of OM was Stade de l'Huveaune, owned by Olympique de Marseille and partly financed by fans in the early 1920s. After World War II, however, Marseille no longer owned the Stadium Huveaune. Seeking support from the city, Chairman Marcel Leclerc had OM play at Huveaune from 1945 to 1960. The City Council then relented, and Olympique de Marseille moved to the Vélodrome. During the 1970s, OM shared the Stade with the Marseille XIII Rugby League.
caption: The Vélodrome in 1937.
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