My Authors
Read all threads
Behind the badge: @OM_Officiel 🇫🇷

Thread 👇
Olympique de Marseille were formed in 1899 by all-round athlete René Dufaure de Montmirail, with a particular focus on his speciality: rugby.
The Olympique prefix, like many other clubs at the time, hinted at the multi-sport nature of the organisation and, in this case, harks back to the Greek founders of the city of Marseille, the Phocaeans, which is where L’OM’s nickname Les Phocéens comes from.
At the turn of the 20th century, personal seals were all the rage. So much so that René Dufaure de Montmirail decided that OM would follow the same pattern, with the letters ‘O’
and ‘M’ appearing together on the first badge.
The badge would also feature the club’s motto ‘Droit au but’ ('Right to the goal’), which René Dufaure de Montmirail’s wife came up with.
That particular badge would remain in place throughout the next three decades. It was Marseille’s fourth Coupe de France triumph in 1935 that prompted a switch in style...
Following the art-deco trend that, if you look in dismay at badges of other prominent French clubs at the time like St-Etienne and Le Havre, was sweeping the nation.
In 1986, after over a 50-year absence, the motto returned as the seal-like style was re-adopted. The ‘O’ and ‘M’ were painted a lighter shade of blue four years later…
The shade of blue didn’t stand out as much on the club’s white home kit, but the team certainly didn’t go unnoticed in Europe,
winning the Champions League in 1993.
That Champions league win resulted in a new addition to the badge as a golden star was placed on top of the white initials. It’s remained there ever since and was joined by further progress for their centenary year in 1999.
A trip back in time greeted the start of the 2009/10 season as Marseille honoured their 110-year anniversary with a more elegant badge, complete with a white ‘O’, a blue ‘M’ and the motto scribed on a golden scroll across the middle.
A few years later, the badge had another face-lift as the ‘OM’ initials were surrounded by a circular border. However, it didn’t prove popular enough as the rim was dropped after the two-year experiment.
Over the years Marseille really have used their fair share of blues, ranging from the light blues used during the 1990’s, to the darker shades used in the 1986 edition.
The club have also embraced the use of gold in their branding since the 1993 European triumph. With the 100 year and 110 year anniversary crests being great examples of this.
What club would you like to see next? 🤔 #BehindTheBadge
Missing some Tweet in this thread? You can try to force a refresh.

Enjoying this thread?

Keep Current with COPA90

Profile picture

Stay in touch and get notified when new unrolls are available from this author!

Read all threads

This Thread may be Removed Anytime!

Twitter may remove this content at anytime, convert it as a PDF, save and print for later use!

Try unrolling a thread yourself!

how to unroll video

1) Follow Thread Reader App on Twitter so you can easily mention us!

2) Go to a Twitter thread (series of Tweets by the same owner) and mention us with a keyword "unroll" @threadreaderapp unroll

You can practice here first or read more on our help page!

Follow Us on Twitter!

Did Thread Reader help you today?

Support us! We are indie developers!


This site is made by just three indie developers on a laptop doing marketing, support and development! Read more about the story.

Become a Premium Member ($3.00/month or $30.00/year) and get exclusive features!

Become Premium

Too expensive? Make a small donation by buying us coffee ($5) or help with server cost ($10)

Donate via Paypal Become our Patreon

Thank you for your support!