Spartiates de Marseille

In 2014, France international Luc Tardif Jr. retired from the Ligue Magnus at age 29, following a string of injuries.[7] Having gone through a coaching course during his time away from the ice, Tardif joined Marseille with an eye on a new career behind the bench, although he initially signed on as a player-coach, as the light Division 3 schedule allowed him to continue playing at an acceptable risk for the time being.[8][9]

The club finished the 2014–15 season as Division 3 runner-up and gained promotion to Division 2.[10] However it found it hard to compete at that level, narrowly avoiding relegation back to Division 3 in 2015–16. In reaction, Tardif retired from playing to focus on coaching full time, and the roster received a major overhaul, with most local players weeded out of the team in favor of recruits from more traditional hockey hotbeds.[11]

In 2017, the organization changed its name from Massilia Hockey Club to Marseille Hockey Club.[12] Meanwhile, a separate company was spun off from the amateur club to oversee the professionalization of its flagship team. Tardif was a founding minority shareholder as was his half-brother Jonathan Zwikel, who was also named president of the new entity. The team's main shareholder was Jean-Claude Menn, a Fribourg, Switzerland-based asset manager.[2]

Despite being eliminated by Toulouse-Blagnac in the quarterfinals of the 2018 Division 2 playoffs, Marseille was promoted to Division 1 as the only team willing to step up on short notice when the folding of Ligue Magnus team Gamyo d'Épinal created a domino effect that freed an additional promotion spot.[13][14]

Due to COVID-19, the 2020–21 Division 1 season was played under an abridged format, with two regional pools replacing the usual single conference setup, and a final four bringing together the two best teams from each pool in lieu of three-round, best-of-five playoffs.[15]
Marseille finished second in the East pool, before upsetting favorites Nantes and defeating Strasbourg in the final four to claim the Division 1 championship.[16] However, due to the competition's unconventional format, the French Ice Hockey Federation decided not to apply promotions and relegations for the 2020–21 season, forcing the club to compete in Division 1 again for the 2021–22 campaign.[3][16]

At the start of the 2022–23 season, Éric Lagache, chairman of Marseille-based produce importer Kinobé Group, became the Spartiates' new majority shareholder and president, fulfilling the team's search for a well-heeled local investor. Zwikel remained with the organization as managing director.[2][17]

On June 8, 2023, the Spartiates were sanctioned to replace the Scorpions de Mulhouse in the Ligue Magnus. Their application package received a positive evaluation from the French federation's financial control commission, while that of the other candidate, the Corsaires de Nantes, was rejected.[5][6]