First-ever African head coach at Marseille! Beye tackles challenge that many failed

When a house is on fire, it needs a firefighter, and something similar is currently happening at Olympique Marseille. Of course, there's no flame and smoke at Stade Velodrome, but the situation is alarming.

Throughout the past decade and a half, numerous renowned strategists have tried to put out the fire at L'OM - from Didier Deschamps, Marcelo Bielsa, Rudi Garcia, Andre Villas-Boas, and Jorge Sampaoli to Igor Tudor, Marcelino, Gennaro Gattuso, and Roberto De Zerbi.

And now, the time has come for an African coach to give it a try, as Habib Beye has officially been named the new Olympique Marseille head coach, signing a deal until June 2027.

The Senegalese has thus become the first-ever strategist from the mother continent on L'OM's bench, aside from the Moroccan Nasser Larguet, who served as caretaker for 24 days back in 2021.

Beye is a former Marseille player who wore the white jersey between 2003 and 2007, making 174 appearances and scoring two goals. Apart from L'OM, he played for Strasbourg, Newcastle, Aston Villa, and Doncaster.

As for his managerial career, the job at Stade Velodrome will be his greatest challenge, as he has so far coached the Ligue 2 side Red Star and Rennes.

He spent a year at the club from Roazhon Park, leading them in 39 games and recording 18 wins, 7 draws, and 14 defeats. Ten days ago, he was sacked after suffering four consecutive defeats, but he didn't stay unemployed for long.

Beye, the only African head coach in the top 5 European leagues, takes on the Marseille challenge in a tough moment, as the club dropped to fourth Ligue 1 place, sitting five points behind the spot that secures direct Champions League qualification (occupied by Olympique Lyon) and 12 points behind the leaders, Lens.

Marseille sought a lifeline from Xabi, but the Spaniard said no

L'OM's director of football Medhi Benatia spoke highly of the new manager, underlining his leadership and commitment as key assets.

"The choice of Habib Beye as OM’s new coach is fully in line with our desire to recruit a manager with the necessary leadership to take charge of a group that obviously needs to be remobilized after a difficult period on the pitch."

"From our very first discussions, he seemed extremely committed and completely focused on the future, with clear objectives for everyone: to quickly get back to winning ways, aim for a place on the Ligue 1 podium, and try to win the Coupe de France in order to give the people of Marseille a trophy," the Moroccan said via the club's official website.