MARSEILLE, France (AP) — Marseille coach Jean-Louis Gasset said Friday that he will retire at the end of the season.
The veteran Frenchman replaced Gennaro Gattuso in February, in the middle of a mediocre campaign for Marseille.
Gasset guided the team into the semifinals of the Europa Conference League but was unable to improve the club’s poor record on the road this season.
Standing eighth in the standings, Marseille plays its final league game on Sunday at Le Havre.
“Sunday will be the last match of my career,” Gasset said. “After that, it’s possible that I’ll stay in football and that people will make use of my experience, my networks and my ideas. But I’m done with coaching. I want to win this last match so that I can leave with peace of mind.”
Marseille has yet to find a successor.
Gasset, 70, joined Marseille after he was fired by Ivory Coast during the Africa Cup of Nations. The team went on to win the tournament under his successor Emerse Faé.
Although little known abroad, Gasset has huge experience in France, having spent time at various clubs including Montpellier, Saint-Etienne and Bordeaux.
Since American owner Frank McCourt bought Marseille in 2016, the former powerhouse of French soccer has failed to find any form of stability, with a succession of coaches and crises that sometimes turned violent.
The club has changed coach 30 times since the beginning of the century, the highest total of any top-flight team in France in that period.
Marseille dominated domestic soccer in the late 1980s and early 1990s. It is the only French team to win the Champions League. It hasn’t won its own league since 2010.
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