10 Years On: Where Are Marseille's Last Title Winners Now?
On 15th May 2010, Marseille capped off a superb season with a 2-0 win over Grenoble.
OM, under the tutelage of Didier Deschamps, lifted their first Ligue 1 trophy in almost 20 years, finishing six points clear of second-placed Lyon.
This season, Andre Villas-Boas led the club to the runners-up spot behind the omnipotent Paris Saint-Germain.
Marseille haven’t won a title since that 2010 triumph and, with PSG’s dominance and financial power, it seems unlikely to happen in the near future.
Here, we take a look at Marseille’s star players from the 2009-10 season and see where they are now.
Goalkeeper | Steve Mandanda
Born in Kinshasa in modern-day DR Congo, Mandanda and his family relocated to France when he was two years old.
After cutting his teeth at Le Havre’s prolific academy, he joined Marseille in the summer of 2007.
Initially a loanee, Mandanda impressed and his deal was made permanent the following year. The goalkeeper would go on to become a club legend, making over 300 appearances for Marseille.
The Frenchman, who has earned 32 caps for the national team, switched to Crystal Palace on a free transfer in 2016 but injuries restricted him to just nine league appearances.
The following summer, Mandanda returned to Stade Velodrome and is Marseille’s first-choice keeper to this day.
GOALKEEPER | Elinton Andrade
The Brazilian-born Portuguese stopper won’t be remembered by many.
He joined Marseille from Rapid Bucuresti in 2009, playing second fiddle to Mandanda.
The ex-Vasco da Gama keeper only appeared three times in Ligue 1 and left for Brazil in 2012.
He played a handful of games for clubs in his country of birth as well as in Cyprus and India before embarking on a career in beach soccer.
DEFENDER | Souleymane Diawara
Diawara joined Marseille relatively late in his career.
He teamed up with Deschamps’ side in 2009 off the back of a title win with Bordeaux.
The Senegalese centre-back followed that up with another title win the following year at Marseille and remained in south-east France until 2014 before finishing his career with Nice.
He is now said to be serving a prison sentence for extortion.
DEFENDER | Laurent Bonnart
A bit of a forgotten name, the full-back joined Marseille in 2007 and made 97 league appearances over a three-year spell with the club.
Brought to the club by Eric Gerets, the defender had spent the best part of a decade with Le Mans.
Favoured by Deschamps for most of his time at the club, he was moved on at the end of the club’s title-winning campaign, joining Monaco on a free at the age of 30.
Defender | Taye Taiwo
Many of the players in this squad were stalwarts in the team long before the club’s triumph in 2010 and Nigerian Taiwo is no different.
Schooled by Gabros and Lobi Stars in his home country, Taiwo joined Marseille in 2005 and, in his first full campaign, made 30 appearances.
Taiwo’s consistency at the back for Deschamps’ side grabbed the attention of numerous clubs across Europe.
Massimiliano Allegri signed Taiwo to AC Milan in 2011. However, the spell was ill-fated.
Taiwo failed to make his mark and a supposed rift with the Italian manager saw him loaned to QPR and Dynamo Kyiv.
His time in Milan saw his career stutter and the Nigerian became somewhat of a journeyman.
Taiwo had spells in Turkey, Finland, Switzerland and Sweden in the space of just five years between 2013 and 2017.
He returned to Finland in 2018 where he currently plays for RoPS.
Defender | Stephane Mbia
Mbia joined Marseille from Rennes at the start of the 2009-10 campaign and made an impressive 26 league appearances in his maiden campaign.
The Cameroonian, like Taiwo, later spent time at QPR but moved on to Sevilla where he struggled for playing time.
He spent time with Trabzonspor and Hebei China Fortune under Manuel Pellegrini before returning to France for a brief spell with Toulouse.
Mbia is now back in China with Shanghai Greenland Shenhua.
Defender | Gabriel Heinze
The Argentine left-back was already a household name by the time he signed for Marseille in 2009.
Heinze joined PSG from Valladolid in 2001 where he lined up alongside Ronaldinho and Mauricio Pochettino.
In 2004, he joined Manchester United for £6.9million and impressed during his first season under Sir Alex Ferguson.
During the following season, an injury in September ruled him out for the entire campaign but he bounced back in 2006-07, earning himself a switch to Real Madrid.
Having failed to fully establish himself as Los Blancos’ first-choice left-back, he made the move to Marseille.
Heinze played the majority of his games, impressing under Deschamps before moving on to Roma and later ending his career in Argentina with boyhood club Newell’s Old Boys in 2014.
He became a manager in Argentina, coaching Godoy Cruz, Argentinos Juniors and, most recently, Velez Sarsfield whom he left earlier this year.
Defender | Vitorino Hilton
Brazilian centre-back Hilton teamed up with Marseille in 2008 having spent four years with Lens.
Never the first name on the team sheet at Stade Velodrome, he was well-respected and played 56 league games before departing for Montpellier, aged 33, in 2011.
Nine years later, at the age of 42, the Brasilia-born defender is still with Montpellier and is the oldest outfield player in Europe’s top five leagues.
The veteran shows no signs of retiring either.
Hilton asked for a contract extension in March and has recently said he would happily return to Lens who have been promoted from Ligue 2 early due to the coronavirus outbreak.
Midfielder | Fabrice Abriel
Abriel is another player to have joined Les Olympiens the summer before their title win.
The diminutive midfielder had been a linchpin in Lorient’s side as they established themselves as mid-table regulars in the top flight.
Abriel was used well in his first season with Marseille but left for Nice in 2010, making 80 league appearances over a three-year period.
The Parisian wound down his career with Valenciennes and entered the world of punditry, teaming up with Canal+ in 2015.
Midfielder | Benoit Cheyrou
Paris-born Cheyrou was already established as part of Marseille’s set-up, having made almost 70 appearances in his first two seasons before the 2009-10 campaign.
He played 32 times during the championship-winning season and stayed with the club until 2014, making over 200 league appearances before retiring in MLS with Toronto FC.
Cheyrou worked as an academy coach at Toronto after calling time on his playing career.
Since 2019, he has been assistant at Paris amateur side La Salesienne.
Midfielder | Edouard Cisse
Having been a regular for Paris Saint-Germain for the best part of a decade until 2007, Marseille signed the Pau-born midfielder from Besiktas in 2009.
Joining at the start of their historical campaign, Cisse was an important cog in Marseille’s midfield during his two-year stint at the club.
Having finished his career at Auxerre, it is unconfirmed what Cisse is up to these days.
Midfielder | Lucho Gonzalez
Argentine midfielder Gonzalez was another player to join in 2009.
Proving himself in his home country, Lucho became a fan favourite at Porto during a four-year stint, having signed in 2005.
He spent three years with Marseille, featuring 87 times in Ligue 1.
Following a short spell in Qatar, he returned to Argentina with River Plate in 2015.
He is currently in his fourth season with Brazilian outfit Athletico Paranaense.
Midfielder | Mathieu Valbuena
Valbuena joined Marseille at 22 and went on to make almost 250 league appearances for the side.
He had a superb spell with the club and his 2014 departure saw Marseille retire his shirt number. He joined Dynamo Moscow where he spent one season before moving back to France with Lyon.
In 2019, Valbuena joined Greek giants Olympiacos where he still plies his trade.
Forward | Mamadou Niang
It’s fair to say Mamadou Niang was the star of the show during Marseille’s title-winning season.
The Senegal forward scored 18 league goals as Marseille romped to the league title.
However, the club were fully aware of his abilities as he had scored ten goals or more during every single season since joining in 2005.
Niang went on to have a successful campaign in Turkey with Fenerbahce in 2010-11 but his age began to show as his goal-scoring abilities dried up during spells in Qatar with Al Sadd and the lower French leagues with Arles-Avignon.
Niang shares his memories of his Marseille career on Twitter but it is unclear what he is doing for work or pleasure.
Forward | Brandao
Brazilian attacker Brandao made the move from Shakhtar Donetsk to Stade Velodrome in 2009 and became a reliable back-up striker, netting 16 times during a three-year stay at the club.
The Sao Paulo-born striker had more success in his first season with next club Saint-Etienne, scoring 11 goals.
He finished his career with Greek club Levadiakos in 2017.
Forward | Hatem Ben Arfa
Not many players have shown the sheer star quality that Ben Arfa has.
However, something has always held back the Parisian.
After impressing in Marseille, Ben Arfa joined Newcastle United whilst injured in 2011 after a short loan spell on Tyneside.
He will be remembered by Newcastle fans for his moments of sheer brilliance and raw talent.
His talent, however, began to dwindle and, following a mediocre loan stint at Hull, Ben Arfa returned to France with Nice.
During his time with Nice, Ben Arfa arguably had the best season of his life.
He scored 17 league goals for Les Aiglons, earning a move to PSG.
The forward failed to make his mark in Paris and, after two years, moved on to Rennes where a similar thing happened.
He currently plays for Spanish side Valladolid, chaired by Brazil legend Ronaldo, but has, once again, failed to play his best football and looks set to leave this summer after rumours of a move to Claude Puel’s Saint-Etienne made the news.
Forward | Bakari Kone
Tiny winger Bakari Kone was an asset to Marseille during his two-year stay at the club.
The Ivorian international joined in 2008 after a prolific spell at Nice and, having been a success with Lorient beforehand, moved away from France and played for multiple Middle Eastern clubs before retiring at Paris FC in 2016.
Forward | Fernando Morientes
Spain and Real Madrid legend Fernando Morientes played a bit-part role during Marseille’s victorious campaign.
The Spaniard joined after a less-than-impressive stint with Valencia and scored one goal for Marseille in 11 league appearances.
The forward, who scored over 70 La Liga goals for Madrid, retired after his time at Marseille, returning to the game briefly with amateur Spanish side Santa Ana in 2015.
He coached at youth level with Real Madrid from 2012 to 2014 and managed third-tier side Fuenlabrada from 2015 to 2016.
Article by: George Hartley
Formatted by: Samuel Slaney
Thumbnail by: Samuel Slaney
Images interpreted from: Getty Images, Ligue 1 & Marseille