Olympique Marseille are hoping to increase their Stade Velodrome's capacity by 20,000 seats to 80,000 by the 2007 rugby World Cup, club president Christophe Bouchet said on Thursday.

The current stadium, which belongs to Marseille's municipality, was expanded to 60,000 for the 1998 soccer World Cup.

"We wish to add 20,000 seats, improve comfort and double the number of VIP boxes," Bouchet said.

"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."

Source: Reuters