Olympique de Marseille's defeat to Stade Brestois 29 on Saturday made automatic qualification for next season's UEFA Champions League mathematically impossible.
Marseille had been Paris Saint-Germain's closes pursuers for much of the campaign, but lost ground to RC Lens in recent months, stuttering to a third-place finish.
Lens celebrated Champions League qualification last Sunday, although OM could still have piped them to second if they won their last two games and les Sang et Or lost theirs.
Marseille won the inaugural Champions League in 1993, and although they will have the chance to contest next season's group stages via the third qualifying round, a home defeat to Brest was not how Valentin Rongier wanted to celebrate that anniversary.
Watch: Highlights of Marseille's 2-1 loss to Brest
"We've let everyone down, and it is not the first time that happened at home this season," raged the club captain after Hugo Magnetti and Mahdi Camara fired Brest to a 2-1 win at the Orange Vélodrome. "It's not normal.
"[The fans] set the town alight for the 30-year anniversary of the Champions League title, and we weren't even able to get a win. We had no right to do that."
Marseille will concude their season at relegated AC Ajaccio's Stade François Coty next Saturday.
>> MATCH REPORTS: Marseille set for third, Monaco out of top five
