Sporting Interests
In 1996 Louis-Dreyfus became the largest shareholder of Olympique de Marseille, a famous French football team who had been rocked by a match fixing scandal and relegated to the French second division. Louis-Dreyfus, with Adidas and the telecommunications company Neuf, sponsored the team; Louis-Dreyfus invested heavily in rebuilding the Marseille squad, marketing the team to the new immigrant populations in Marseille. The financial fortunes of the club improved with shirt sales rocketing though success, if judged purely on trophies won, eluded the club despite reaching the final of the UEFA Cup on two occasions and twice losing in the final of the Coupe de France. Olympique de Marseille also missed out on the Ligue 1 title during Louis-Dreyfus's tenure, though shortly before his death they finished second to FC Girondins de Bordeaux and qualified for the group stage of the UEFA Champions League.
Louis-Dreyfus was also a shareholder in the Belgium football club Standard Liege, and was involved in the creation of Infront Sports & Media in 2002 (transition from the former KirchSport completed in February 2003) acting as the company's chairman of the board. The Swiss-based sports marketing agency was handling the media rights distribution of the FIFA World Cup in 2002 and 2006. Today it is the marketing partner of 130 sports federations and clubs.
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