French fourth division football club Trelissac has called on Ligue 1 giants Marseille to donate its Coupe de France ticket money to amateur football in its home region of the Dordogne.
The request comes after Marseille held onto its portion of the sales once the clash was moved to a larger stadium, despite the unwritten rule in French domestic cup football etiquette that professional sides gift their part of the ticket receipts to their amateur hosts.
Trelissac president Fabrice Faure said after the match, according to ESPN: “You can thank OM for not giving us their share of the ticket money. This is the third time we have played them, yet the first time this has happened. Thanks for amateur football!”
The cup match at the 13,182-capacity Stade de Beaublanc saw Marseille, which are second in Ligue 1, beat Trelissac on penalties 4-2 after a 1-1 draw over 120 minutes.
The club added in a statement today (Monday): “Trelissac propose to Marseille, in line with their support of smaller amateur clubs, to send their part of the gate receipts to the Football District of the Dordogne. It is run by volunteers and serves the local football landscape that Trelissac are a part of.”
Marseille responded to Faure’s comments, pointing to the venue change from the 3,000-capacity Stade Firmin Daudou as a key reason for not sharing the ticket money.
The Marseille statement read: “It has often been club policy to leave the gate receipts when OM are hosted in local stadiums as capacity is low. Trelissac benefitted from a 13,000-seater stadium and the pricing policy, even if fully justified, was between €20-€35 per seat.
“Total revenue amounted to nearly €400,000 before any organisational costs were deducted. Thanks to hosting OM, the stadium sold out and was mainly filled by a majority of Marseille fans.
“It seemed fair to us that under these particular conditions the two clubs should share the gate receipts as this trip cost OM €65,000.”
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