Olympique Marseille to increase stadium capacity

The Ligue 1 club president Christophe Bouchet revealed the plans to increase the club's Stade Velodrome capacity by 20,000 seats, to 80,000, in time for the 2007 Rugby World Cup. The current stadium, which is owned by Marseille's municipality, was expanded to 60,000 seats for the 1998 football World Cup. "We wish to add 20,000 seats, improve comfort and double the number of VIP boxes," Bouchet told media, "We are confident we can fill it up and it'll make a counterpart to the Stade de France for the southern part of France."