Former Olympique Marseille president Bernard Tapie has passed away at the age of 78.
The charismatic Tapie was president of Marseille when they beat AC Milan to win the Champions League in 1993 but was later sent to prison for corruption following a match-fixing scandal in the French top division.
OM said in a statement today: "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 a legend of the club."
French president Emmanuel Macron said he and his wife "have been touched by the news of the death of Tapie, whose ambition, energy and enthusiasm were a source of inspiration for generations of French people".
Former England player Chris Waddle, who won three league titles with Marseille in the early 1990s, tweeted: "What a man, legend."
Tapie was born in Paris in 1943, the son of a plumber, and pulled himself out of a poor suburban childhood to become one of France's richest men and buy Olympique de Marseille football club in 1986 and sports retailer Adidas in 1990.
He revived the ailing club to see it win its only Champions League title and five French championships.
Tapie also entered politics, injecting a touch of charisma amid the grey-suited technocrats of French politics and touching a chord among young people and the working class.
Tapie tried his hand at being an actor, playing in a Claude Lelouch movie in 1996, at a time when he had just been declared bankrupt. And he became a newspaper owner in 2012, buying southern French local newspapers.
Tapie also released some pop records in the late 1960s along with a 1985 song called 'Reussir Sa Vie'.
Tapie set up the La Vie Claire cycling team, and while he was still involved the team's star cyclists Bernard Hinault and Greg LeMond won the Tour de France in 1985 and 1986 respectively.
"When you've won the Tour de France, the Champions League, you've been minister, singer, actor ... what have I not done? I can't say I haven't been spoiled rotten by life," he told Le Monde in an interview in 2017.
