PARIS (Reuters) -Bernard Tapie, a French businessman https://www.reuters.com/world/europe/obituary-eclectic-french-tycoon-tapie-dies-aged-78-2021-10-03 and former Olympique de Marseille (OM) president who led the soccer club to the Champions League title in 1993, died on Sunday aged 78.
Tapie, whose business interests also included a stake in sportswear company Adidas, had been suffering from stomach cancer for several years.
President Emmanuel Macron expressed his condolences to Tapie’s family in a statement, saying he and his wife “have been touched by the news of the death of Bernard Tapie, whose ambition, energy and enthusiasm were a source of inspiration for generations of French people”.
A charismatic president of Marseille from 1986 to 1994, he was at the helm when OM beat AC Milan 1-0 in the final of the Champions League. He was later sent to prison for corruption in a match-fixing scandal in the French first division.
“Olympique de Marseille learned with deep sadness of the passing of Bernard Tapie. He will leave a great void in the hearts of the Marseillais and will forever remain in the legend of the club,” OM said in a statement.
(Reporting by Sudip Kar-Gupta and Gilles GuillaumeEditing by Frances Kerry)
