Who is Stéphane Richard, OM’s new president? | OneFootball

Stéphane Richard, ex-Orange chief, is OM’s new president after weeks of uncertainty and financial imbalance. According to L'Équipe, his appointment was confirmed on Friday and he succeeds Pablo Longoria, with Alban Juster interim since 28 February.

Aged 64 and an HEC and ENA graduate, he has moved between public service and business. When he became Orange CEO in 2011, the company had been broadcasting Ligue 1 since 2008, then left the market in June 2012.

He understands TV rights, a prized skill. Orange agreed the Vélodrome’s 2016 naming deal, which ends this year. CMA CGM are cited to take over, and Richard is close to its boss Rodolphe Saadé, OM’s main sponsor.

Born in Gironde, he has professed affection for Marseille, where he took his baccalauréat and studied piano. In November 2022 he joined the supervisory board of the Grand Port Maritime de Marseille, after resigning from Orange over a Tapie-linked case.

On 24 November 2021 he received a one-year suspended sentence and a €50,000 fine for complicity in misuse of public funds after defending Bernard Tapie’s interests. In 2025 a trial reclassified it as negligence, reducing the penalty to six months suspended and a €15,000 fine, for 2008 events when he was chief of staff at the economy and finance ministry.

He served under Jean-Louis Borloo and Christine Lagarde. A Bandol councillor from 1989 to 1995, he later lost on the UMP list in 2008. Some touted him for Marseille’s city hall, instead he now faces the club’s glare.

Source: L'Équipe