# Michel Marella > Mediated Wiki article. Canonical URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Michel_Marella > Markdown URL: https://mediated.wiki/source/Michel_Marella.md > Source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Marella > Source revision: 1310309480 > License: Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International (https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/) **Michel Marella** (born 28 September 1946) is a French former [footballer](/source/Association_football) who played as a [forward](/source/Forward_(association_football)).[1][2] He is known for playing a key part in [Paris Saint-Germain](/source/Paris_Saint-Germain_F.C.)'s successive promotions in 1973 and 1974 to make their way back to the [Division 1](/source/Ligue_1).[3] ## Career ### Early career and military service Marella was born in [Grasse](/source/Grasse), in the [Alpes-Maritimes](/source/Alpes-Maritimes) department of France. He played youth football with [Cannes](/source/AS_Cannes), the club he would later rejoin as a pro. In 1964, at the age of 17, Marella stopped playing football. He began to play [tennis](/source/Tennis) and [boules](/source/Boules) instead, and then left for the army at the [Fort Carré](/source/Fort_Carr%C3%A9) in [Antibes](/source/Antibes), "the equivalent of [INSEP](/source/INSEP)," according to him.[3] With the army, he would briefly play for [Antibes's football team](/source/FC_Antibes), and then with US Issoire in the [Division d'Honneur](/source/Division_d'Honneur). He then left for [Paris](/source/Paris). There, he had a [Corsican](/source/Corsicans) friend who wanted him to come play at AS Banque de France, which he did from 1971 to 1972.[3] ### Paris Saint-Germain In 1972, [Camille Choquier](/source/Camille_Choquier), who was then [goalkeeper](/source/Goalkeeper_(association_football)) at [Paris Saint-Germain](/source/Paris_Saint-Germain_F.C.) (PSG), came to Marella to ask to come join him at PSG, when the club was in the [Division 3](/source/French_Division_3_(1971%E2%80%931993)) following the split with [Paris FC](/source/Paris_FC) (PFC). Choquier knew Marella previously, having seen him play in Cannes. Marella accepted the invitation, and he joined PSG that year.[3] With Paris Saint-Germain, Marella was promoted to the [Division 2](/source/Ligue_2) in his first season. They followed up with a successive promotion to the [Division 1](/source/Ligue_1) in 1974 to bring the club back to the professional level it had prior to the split with Paris FC. Meanwhile, PFC suffered relegation to the Division 2.[3] Marella played a large part in securing first division football, as he was one of the goal-scorers during PSG's 4–2 play-off victory over [Valenciennes](/source/Valenciennes_FC) at the [Parc des Princes](/source/Parc_des_Princes) in 1974.[3] In an interview with PSG70, Marella said that he "played football while having a job on the side". When [Louis Floch](/source/Louis_Floch) joined PSG on a professional contract, Marella was relegated to the bench; he was not on a pro contract.[3] He would leave the club in 1975, having scored a total of 14 goals and made 58 appearances across three seasons.[1] ### Return to Cannes Marella subsequently joined his former youth club Cannes in 1975. He stayed there one season in the Division 2, making 31 league appearances and scoring 9 league goals. Despite having a team capable of "playing for promotion" with players such as [Jean Baeza](/source/Jean_Baeza), [Leif Eriksson](/source/Leif_Eriksson_(footballer)), and [Francis Isnard](/source/Francis_Isnard), Cannes played poorly in the second half of the season and did not achieve their objective.[3] ### Grasse In 1977, Marella signed for his hometown club of [Grasse](/source/RC_Grasse). Achieving promotion to the [Division 4](/source/French_Division_4_(1978%E2%80%931993)), he would retire there in 1982.[3] ## Personal life While playing football at an amateur level, Marella was also an employee in a children's clothing manufacturing company called Katimini.[2][3] Additionally, he was a [real estate agent](/source/Real_estate_broker) in Grasse in for over 32 years.[4][3] ## References 1. ["Michel MARELLA"](https://histoiredupsg.fr/michel-marella) (in French). *Histoire du PSG*. 28 May 2017. Retrieved 12 April 2021. 1. ["Michel MARELLA"](http://psg70.free.fr/MARELLA.htm) (in French). *PSG70*. Retrieved 12 April 2021. 1. ["Michel Marella : " A Paris, c'était un grand plaisir ""](http://psg70.free.fr/interviewmarella.htm) [Michel Marella: "At Paris, it was a great pleasure"] (in French). *PSG70*. March 2007. Retrieved 12 April 2021. 1. ["que sont devenus les héros de PSG-Valenciennes ?"](http://www.paris-canalhistorique.com/que-sont-devenus-les-heros-de-psg-valenciennes/) [what have become the heroes of PSG-Valenciennes?] (in French). *Paris.canal-historique*. 4 June 2015. Retrieved 12 April 2021. --- Adapted from the Wikipedia article [Michel Marella](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Marella) by Wikipedia contributors ([contributor history](https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Michel_Marella?action=history)). Available under [Creative Commons Attribution-ShareAlike 4.0 International](https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/). Changes may have been made.