2023-06-01 14:53:27
Igor Tudor will no longer be OM coach next season. The president of the Marseille club, Pablo Longoria, declared to have “accepted” the wish of the Croatian coach who, for his part, justified his choice by “professional and private reasons”. He will leave the Marseille club after a single and simple season on the bench, while his contract was still to run for the 2023-2024 season.
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Croatian Igor Tudor will no longer be the coach of Olympique de Marseille next season, club president Pablo Longoria announced at a press conference on Thursday.
“We accepted and respected the wish of our coach, Igor Tudor, not to continue the adventure next season,” said Pablo Longoria. Igor Tudor (45) was appointed in July 2022 to replace Argentinian Jorge Sampaoli and will leave Marseille after a season ended in third place in Ligue 1.
“It was an honor to spend a year in such a club, to be part of this grandiose family, with tifosi that we see little, an energy in the city that we see little”, for his part explained Igor You sleep. “I leave the club in a better situation than when I arrived, in many respects, and I leave proud.”
“I made this decision to leave for professional and private reasons. I have no agreement with another club, I’m not leaving because I’m angry with [qui que ce soit]”, he added.
The Croatian technician had met the president of OM, Pablo Longoria, on Tuesday and discussions continued on Wednesday with his agent. The management of the Marseille club then hoped to keep him for another season, even if the matter already seemed to be settled.
On the Ligue 1 podium
The term of the former Juventus Turin player and ex-Croatian international began with a torrent of whistles falling from the stands of the Vélodrome to salute his name on the first day of L1 against Reims after a campaign of very disappointing friendly matches. However, his start to the season had been rather promising until the return of the long winter break linked to the World Cup, with in particular a victory against PSG [en coupe de France (2-1)]expected for more than ten years at home.
But OM missed the mark in the Champions League by being eliminated in the group stage without even being transferred to the Europa League, then by being taken out by Annecy in the quarter-finals of the Coupe de France before losing to in Lens in the league (2-1), leaving the Sang et Or to finish in second place.
OM will therefore have to settle for third position in the L1 and will have to go through a preliminary round and then a play-off to hope to participate in the Champions League next season.
Since the start of the Frank Mc Court era, owner of the club since October 2016, five coaches have already sat on the Marseille bench: Rudi Garcia, André Villas-Boas, Nasser Larguet for an interim court, Jorge Sampaoli and, finally, Igor Tudor.
Only Rudi Garcia stayed for more than two years and Villas-Boas, Sampaoli and Tudor all chose to leave Marseille.
A last match against Ajaccio
Igor Tudor will leave OM on the podium of the French championship – in third place, already assured before the last match of the season on Saturday against Ajaccio. The coach, however, fell short of his goal of direct qualification for the Champions League.
The Marseille season is difficult to read. Very good for six months and sometimes inspiring by their quality of play and the energy deployed, OM have been very ordinary in recent weeks. The last impression is frankly bitter on the side of the Canebière with three defeats in the last four matches.
“We had great football, a great Champions League, wonderful matches against Reims and against PSG in the Coupe de France. All in all, this team gave a lot of emotions and had good results. I’m very satisfied of this season”, decided Igor Tudor on Saturday after the home defeat against Brest (1-2). “We hoped to be a little higher, but we are in our place. It’s a very difficult championship, where all the matches are tough. We leave a lot of good teams behind us: Monaco, Rennes, Lille, Nice… “, he said again on Saturday evening.
With AFP
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