MARSEILLE, France (Reuters) - Olympique de Marseille are no strangers to being trailblazers in French football and they have set yet another benchmark by becoming the first Ligue 1 club to establish an amputee football team.
This new side will play their first French championship match at the weekend in a four-team league which includes amputee teams set up by Ligue 2 clubs Annecy and Paris FC. Bouaye complete the league.
"When I was able-bodied, it was a dream to come and play here (for OM)," Marseille captain Jerome Raffetto, 45, whose former career in Ligue 2 was ruined by a road accident in 2005, told Reuters.
"After the accident, I had lost the idea of playing for Olympique de Marseille."
Raffetto first thought of the idea four years ago before pursuing it more seriously last year.
"Soccer is the most popular sport and, for this reason, it's necessary that it stays accessible for all," OM's institutional and sports advisor Fabrizio Ravanelli, a former Italy and OM striker, said in a statement when the team were launched in January.
"We are particularly proud to be the first Ligue 1 club to get an amputee football section."
Raffetto hopes that this integration into a professional structure can help the growth of the sport.
"It's really historic and important for amputee football development," he said. "With the aura of this club in Europe and globally, we will have communication and that's what we miss at the moment."
Coach Karim Belounis, 44, hopes the initiative taken by Marseille, the only French side to win the European Cup title, will inspire other clubs to follow suit.
"Having a snowball effect would be amazing for this sport", he told Reuters.
Paris FC and Annecy were the first French professional clubs to set up amputee football teams in 2023.
Featuring players from the region, the Olympique de Marseille amputee football side train once a week at OM Campus, where the youth and women's team are based.
"We have all the learning materials, the balls are blown up, we have access to the dressing rooms," Belounis said. "We are not paid but we can claim expenses. It's a big relief."
OM aim to finish on top of the four-team domestic table and compete in next season's amputee Champions League, hopefully emulating the European triumph Marseille achieved in 1993.
(Reporting by Manon Cruz and Vincent Daheron, editing by Pritha Sarkar)
