Rudi Garcia has been appointed coach of Marseille after signing a three-year contract with the faltering Ligue 1 club.

Garcia will take the reins for the first time in Sunday evening's league game against rivals Paris Saint-Germain after succeeding interim coach Franck Passi, who had been in charge since Michel's sacking in April.

Marseille have started the Ligue 1 campaign slowly and currently find themselves in 12th place after nine games of the season.

New owner Frank McCourt said in a statement that he and Garcia, who won the Ligue 1 title and Coupe de France with Lille in 2011, have ambitions to return the club to the summit of French football.

Rudi Garcia was last in charge of Roma. Luciano Rossi/AS Roma via Getty Images

"When I met Rudi, he told me immediately that he wanted to win the Champions League," McCourt said.

"I knew straight away that he was the man to be Olympique de Marseille coach. He's a man of great character with a lot of energy and we share the same vision of OM and also the identical determination to put that into action."

Garcia, who has been out of work since being sacked by Roma in January, will be presented to the media on Friday.