Preview: Marseille vs Strasbourg - prediction, team news, lineups

The 2026-27 Ligue 1 campaign officially gets underway on Friday as Marseille welcome Strasbourg to Stade Velodrome in southern France.

Last season, Les Olympiens wound up fifth in the table with 59 points, six more than Strasbourg, who finished eighth.

Match preview

Bruno Genesio begins his Ligue 1 tenure as the Marseille manager with a lot to live up to given his resume in this competition.

The experienced and well-travelled French coach has finished in a European position in each of his Ligue 1 campaigns this decade as a coach, with his teams regularly finishing in the top five.

He inherits a Marseille side who were three places below their 2024-25 position, earning six fewer points in the last campaign.

OM can stretch their unbeaten run at Stade Velodrome in the top flight to four matches on Friday, winning two of those last three outings a season ago.

They are unbeaten in their last five opening Ligue 1 home games, defeating Paris FC 5-2 in Marseille last season.

Marseille scored the joint-third-most goals in the French top flight a season ago (63), netting in all but one of those affairs at Stade Velodrome.

Hugo Oliveira will manage in his first Ligue 1 outing on Friday, aiming to get Strasbourg back into Europe between now and the end of the season.

In 2025-26, the Conference League semi-finalists collected seven fewer points domestically than they managed in 2024-25.

On matchday one, they can stretch their unbeaten run away from home in this competition to seven matches, winning on three of those final four occasions last season.

They averaged 1.35 points per game away from home domestically over the last campaign, with five of their six defeats being by a single goal.

Strasbourg have points in each of their last two matchday one away games in this competition, winning 1-0 at Metz in their opener a season ago.

Le Racing are unbeaten in their last four visits to Stade Velodrome but have not collected maximum points at that venue in Ligue 1 since 1997 (1-0).

Marseille Pre-season form:

Strasbourg Pre-season form:

Team News

A muscle strain could keep Faris Moumbagna and CJ Egan Riley from featuring for Marseille on matchday one, while Nayef Aguerd is questionable due to a sore groin.

Igor Paixao scored in each of their last four pre-season friendlies, including the only strike in a 2-1 defeat versus Atletico Madrid last Friday, and he could be a big part of the attack this season after Mason Greenwood left to join Fenerbahce.

Strasbourg will be missing Joaquin Panichelli for this one as he continues to recover from a cruciate ligament tear, while Abakar Sylla is questionable due to a knock, as is Soumaila Coulibaly because of a lower leg injury.

Gessime Yassine netted in their final pre-season outing versus Newcastle, while Giovanni Reyna is seeking his first start since transferring from Borussia Monchengladbach in early August.

Marseille possible starting lineup:

De Lange; Weah, Balerdi, Cornelius, Palmieri; Nnadi, Hojbjerg; Gomes, Gouiri, Paixao; Maupay

Strasbourg possible starting lineup:

Jorgensen; Doue, Omobamidele, Doukoure, Chilwell; Oyedele, El Mourabet; Reyna, Nanasi, Godo; Mara

We say: Marseille 2-0 Strasbourg

Adjusting to Ligue 1 football may take some time for Strasbourg under an inexperienced coach, while Marseille still boast plenty of attacking depth, with proven goalscorers at this level.

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