Pablo Longoria apartado de la presidencia del OM: entre inestabilidad crónica y progresión, cinco años al bi.

L’Espagnol ha dejado la presidencia del Olympique de Marsella, el sábado por la noche, después de cinco años en ese puesto.

More than five years at the helm of Olympique de Marseille is an eternity. An eternity that nevertheless ended on Saturday, February 28 for Pablo Longoria. The president officially left the Marseille ship, as expected since his exclusion on February 17. Since then, relegated to an institutional role by owner Frank McCourt, the Spanish leader who arrived at the club in 2020 as sporting director has packed his bags, certainly worn out after a long term as head of OM.

In football, success for leaders is measured by titles. At this level, Pablo Longoria did not score any points, unable to lead the club to a trophy that the people of Marseille have been awaiting since the 2012 League Cup. But in five full seasons under his command, OM finished on the podium three times – as many times as in the previous ten seasons – qualified for the Champions League twice, and reached two European semi-finals (Conference League 2022, Europa League 2024), only missing out on European qualification once in 2023-2024.

In the absence of a trophy, Pablo Longoria accustomed OM to Ligue 1 podium finishes, which was a first victory. But at what cost? Because beyond the sums invested by owner Frank McCourt, the Longoria system drained Olympique de Marseille, with chronic instability at all levels. Under his presidency, 158 player movements were carried out in the Marseille squad, under the leadership of four sporting directors (Javier Ribalta, Matthieu Louis-Jean, David Friio, Medhi Benatia), not to mention the numerous changes among administrative staff.

Regarding the coaching staff, there were seven coaches in five years: Jorge Sampaoli, Igor Tudor, Marcelino, Gennaro Gattuso, Jean-Louis Gasset, Roberto De Zerbi and Habib Beye. And this was despite the ambitions to build a medium-term project, as Pablo Longoria stated on December 18, in a press conference: «I want to continue building, instilling confidence. If I have to be here for ten or fifteen years, I would be very happy.» That was before the results crisis of the beginning of 2026, followed by the departure of Roberto De Zerbi and the true-false resignation of Medhi Benatia.

In February 2021, Pablo Longoria, who was then sporting director, was appointed president after Jacques-Henri Eyraud was sidelined, as his conflict with the fans had reached a breaking point. Five years later, Pablo Longoria saw his sporting director, Medhi Benatia (whom he brought to the club in the fall of 2023), return the favor. Although the Moroccan was not appointed president after his resignation was rejected by Frank McCourt, he obtained full sporting powers and consequently sidelined Pablo Longoria. «Pablo Longoria’s role should evolve towards his institutional responsibilities, in order to maintain the representation of Olympique de Marseille within French institutions and especially European ones,» explained the club’s official statement.

A polite way to push the Spanish man out, as institutional responsibilities have actually been managed for several months by Shéhérazade Semsar de Boisséson, vice president of the club’s supervisory board. Particularly because Pablo Longoria’s credit with the institutions was shattered in February 2025, after his outburst in Auxerre, when the Spanishman denounced a «too corrupt championship.» Still vice president of the LFP but suspended from his duties since then, Pablo Longoria had since been relegated to the background by the leaders of other French clubs.

This outburst in Auxerre in February 2025 was just one of the many crises that marked Pablo Longoria’s tenure as president, the longest at OM in the 21st century after Vincent Labrune (5 years and 27 days). A presidency that could have ended in September 2023, when Pablo Longoria took a step back after a stormy meeting with supporter groups, before returning at the call of Frank McCourt, quickly accompanied by Medhi Benatia.

Despite the sporting instability, Pablo Longoria worked behind the scenes to modernize OM, entering the top 20 of European clubs generating the highest revenue according to the Deloitte Football Money League in 2023 and 2024, before the fall of French TV rights. Economic progress was mainly due to the arrival of new sponsors, such as the Marseille shipping company CMA-CGM, as the club struggled to find a shirt sponsor upon Pablo Longoria’s arrival. Another success was the explosion in the number of subscribers at the Vélodrome, capped at 49,000 for the past two seasons.

Once boycotted by the public based on the opponent’s pedigree, OM’s stadium is used to sold-out matches under the command of the Spanish man and is among the top 10 in global attendances. Pablo Longoria also managed to attract big names to the club and relaunched an ambitious women’s section, while reshaping (several times) OM’s training center, which has started to bear fruit in recent months, as evidenced by the sale of Robinio Vaz to AS Roma for 25 million euros in January. So many positive aspects that this time could not save his position as president. But they should help him bounce back elsewhere.