The Montreal Impact have named Remi Garde to replace the fired Mauro Biello as head coach.

The Impact made the announcement at a Wednesday news conference.

Garde agrees to a three-year contract as coach and director of player personnel; becomes the fifth head coach for Impact since 2012. 49:59

Garde becomes the team's fifth head coach since it joined MLS in 2012.

The Frenchman meets two criteria team president Joey Saputo laid out for his new manager — at least five seasons of experience with top-level clubs and having won major trophies.

Garde, 51, earned plaudits as coach at this home club Olympique Lyonnais, winning the French Cup and Super Cup in 2012. He started as an assistant coach at Lyon before taking charge from 2011 to 2014.

It did not go as well in his next job with English Premier League club Aston Villa in 2015, where he lasted only five months and left with only two wins in 20 matches.

As a player, Garde was a defender and defensive midfielder with Lyon and Strasbourg in France before making the jump with then-20-year-old Patrick Vieira to Arsenal in 1996. He helped the Gunners to a league title in 1998 before retiring the following year. Vieira now coaches New York City FC in MLS.

Garde also played six times for France.

Montreal native Biello took over from American Frank Klopas in September, 2015 and led the club to an Eastern Conference semifinal. The team reached the conference final in 2016 but failed to make the playoffs this season.