Marseille announced Villas-Boas' appointment on Tuesday with a tweet reading: "Our new era has begun."

The club's American owner Frank McCourt told om.net: "We are delighted to hire a coach whose success is recognised at the highest level in Europe and worldwide.

"Villas-Boas' philosophy and approach to the game aligns with what we want for OM and will help revitalise our project after a disappointing campaign.

"Our expectations are still great and we are making the necessary changes to achieve our goals."

After his Tottenham reign ended in December 2013, Villas-Boas – a former assistant to Jose Mourinho at Porto, with whom he would later win the Europa League as manager – took control of Zenit St Petersburg.

In Russia he won the league and cup before taking in a year with Shanghai SIPG.

Villas-Boas took a break from football to compete in the 2018 Dakar Rally, but withdrew early after crashing his car during a stage in Peru.

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