MONTREAL – The Montreal Impact announced on Monday that French centre back Rod Fanni has signed a contract with the club until the end of the 2019 season.

Fanni, 37, is returning to the Impact after starting 26 games and playing 2,290 minutes in 2018. He was named three times to the MLS Team of the Week and was also selected twice on the bench. He also appeared in one Canadian Championship game.

Before joining the Impact, he had played 362 games in Ligue 1, including 330 starts, and 29,895 minutes through a 15-year career in the French first division, between 2002 and 2018, appearing successively for RC Lens, OGC Nice, Stade Rennais and Olympique de Marseille.

He won the Trophée des champions in 2011 and the Coupe de la Ligue in 2011 and 2012 with Marseille, spending six and a half seasons in two spells with l’OM, from 2010-11 to 2014-15, and in 2016-17 and 2017-18. He was also a finalist with Rennes in the 2009 Coupe de France and with Nice in the 2006 Coupe de la Ligue. He was named twice onto the Ligue 1 Team of the Year, in 2009 and 2010, while playing for Rennes.

Fanni has appeared in 19 Coupe de France games, 17 Coupe de la Ligue games, 12 UEFA Champions League games, and 17 UEFA Cup/Europa League games.

At the international level, Fanni played five games with the French national team, between 2008 and 2010, making his senior debut on October 14, 2008, in a friendly game against Tunisia. He had previously played with the France U21 team.

Transaction: The Montreal Impact signs Rod Fanni to a contract until the end of the 2019 season.

ROD FANNI

Position: Defender

Height: 6’1”

Weight: 179 lbs

Birthdate and birthplace: December 6, 1981, in Martigues, France

Citizenship: France

Last club: Montreal Impact (MLS)

Date acquired: August 26, 2019