Rod Dodji Fanni (born 6 December 1981) is a former French

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who last played as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either s ...

for Montreal Impact in

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

. He made five appearances for the French national team between 2008 and 2010.

Club career

Early career

Fanni began his career with

FC Martigues Football Club de Martigues, known as FC Martigues or just Martigues, is a French professional football club which plays in the Championnat National, the third level of football in France. The club plays at the Stade Francis Turcan, which has a ...

, playing in both

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsor (commercial), sponsorship by Balkrishna Industries, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions ...

and the

Championnat National The Championnat de France National ( en, French National Championship), commonly referred to as simply National or Division 3, serves as the third division of the French football league system behind Ligue 1 and Ligue 2. Contested by 18 clubs, t ...

. He joined

RC Lens Racing Club de Lens (, commonly referred to as RC Lens or simply Lens) is a French professional football club based in the northern city of Lens in the Pas-de-Calais department. Its nickname, ''les sang et or'' (''the blood and gold''), come ...

in 2002 where he made his debut in

Ligue 1 Ligue 1, officially known as Ligue 1 Uber Eats for sponsorship reasons, is a French professional league for men's association football clubs. At the top of the French football league system, it is the country's primary football competition. A ...

, as well as both the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competit ...

and the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store Solid, solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, porcela ...

. He played the entire 2004–05 season on loan at

Châteauroux Châteauroux (; ; oc, Chasteurós) is the capital city of the French department of Indre, central France and the second-largest town in the province of Berry, after Bourges. Its residents are called ''Castelroussins'' () in French. Climate Ch ...

in Ligue 2.

Nice

In June 2005, he joined

Nice Nice ( , ; Niçard: , classical norm, or , nonstandard, ; it, Nizza ; lij, Nissa; grc, Νίκαια; la, Nicaea) is the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative c ...

but left after only two seasons to sign a four-year contract with

Rennes Rennes (; br, Roazhon ; Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in northwestern France at the confluence of the Ille and the Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the region of Brittany, as well as the Ille-et-Vilaine department ...

, where he was viewed as a replacement for Dutch defender

Mario Melchiot Mario Dino Patrick Melchiot (born 4 November 1976) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a defender. He played both as a right-back and as a centre-back, and also occasionally played in midfield. Early life Melchiot was born ...

, who had departed for

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

club

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...

. Fanni was named in the Ligue 1 Team of the Year for the 2008–09 season. He expressed desire to play in the

and was strongly linked with a move to

Newcastle United Newcastle United Football Club is an English professional football club, based in Newcastle upon Tyne, that plays in the Premier League – the top flight of English football. The club was founded in 1892 by the merger of Newcastle East End ...

before signing for Rennes. He was also linked with Everton and

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is an English professional football club that plays its home matches in Stratford, East London. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. The club plays at the London Stadium, hav ...

prior to signing a one-year contract extension with Rennes in November 2009, which kept Fanni tied to ''Les Rouges et Noirs'' until June 2012.

Marseille

In December 2010, Marseille successfully acquired the services of Fanni.

Al-Arabi SC and Charlton Athletic

In 2015 Fanni left Marseille after his contract ended. On 11 July 2015 Qatari side Al-Arabi SC signed Fanni on a free transfer. On 1 February 2016, Fanni signed for

Charlton Athletic Charlton Athletic Football Club is an English professional football club based in Charlton, south-east London, which compete in . Their home ground is The Valley, where the club have played since 1919. They have also played at The Mount in C ...

on loan until the end of season.

Return to Marseille

On 31 August 2016, Fanni returned to

Marseille Marseille ( , , ; also spelled in English as Marseilles; oc, Marselha ) is the prefecture of the French department of Bouches-du-Rhône and capital of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur region. Situated in the camargue region of southern Franc ...

. In February 2018, Marseille announced it had agreed to terminate Fanni's contract at the end of January. Fanni had not made an appearance in the first half of the 2017–18 season.

Montreal Impact

In early March 2018, Montreal Impact announced the signing of Fanni on a contract until June with the option of a further season, pending international transfer certification and a medical.

International career

Fanni made his debut for the French national team against

Tunisia ) , image_map = Tunisia location (orthographic projection).svg , map_caption = Location of Tunisia in northern Africa , image_map2 = , capital = Tunis , largest_city = capital , ...

on 14 October 2008 in a 3–1 victory. Despite stiff competition from players such as

Bacary Sagna Bacary Sagna (born 14 February 1983) is a French former professional footballer who played as a right back and is mostly known for his time at Arsenal. He also played for the France national football team. Sagna's former manager at Arsenal, ...

and

François Clerc François Jacques Clerc (born 18 April 1983) is a French former professional footballer who played as a right back. Club career Born in Bourg-en-Bresse, Clerc joined Olympique Lyonnais at the age of 14. After spending his first years as a sen ...

, Fanni was named regularly in

Raymond Domenech Raymond Manuel Albert Domenech (; born 24 January 1952) is a French football manager and former player. He managed the France national team from 2004 to 2010, reaching the 2006 FIFA World Cup Final. He was dismissed after their elimination from ...

's squad as second choice right-back behind Sagna.

Personal life

Fanni's family originates from

Benin Benin ( , ; french: Bénin , ff, Benen), officially the Republic of Benin (french: République du Bénin), and formerly Dahomey, is a country in West Africa. It is bordered by Togo to the west, Nigeria to the east, Burkina Faso to the north ...

. He began his football career whilst pursuing his studies, earning a

BEP BEP may refer to: * Bellary Airport, India (IATA code BEP) * Benign enlargement of the prostate, or benign prostatic hyperplasia, noncancerous increase in size of the prostate * BEP chemotherapy consisting of bleomycin, etoposide and cisplatin fo ...

(French secondary school diploma) and then going on to study for a

bachelor's degree A bachelor's degree (from Middle Latin ''baccalaureus'') or baccalaureate (from Modern Latin ''baccalaureatus'') is an undergraduate academic degree awarded by colleges and universities upon completion of a course of study lasting three to six ...

in Industrial Science and Technology.

Honours

Club

Marseille *

Coupe de la Ligue The Coupe de la Ligue (), known outside France as the French League Cup, was a Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in Football in France, French football organized by the Ligue de Football Professionnel. The tournament was est ...

: 2010–11, 2011–12 *

Trophée des Champions The Trophée des Champions (, ) is a French association football trophy contested in an annual match between the champions of Ligue 1 and the winners of the Coupe de France. It is equivalent to the super cups found in many other countries. His ...

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrate ...

Individual

* UNFP Team of the Year: 2008–09, 2009–10

References

External links

* * *
Profile
at stade-rennais-online.com {{DEFAULTSORT:Fanni, Rod 1981 births Living people People from Martigues Association football fullbacks French footballers France international footballers French expatriate footballers French expatriate sportspeople in Canada French sportspeople of Beninese descent Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Qatar Stars League players FC Martigues players RC Lens players LB Châteauroux players OGC Nice players Stade Rennais F.C. players Al-Arabi SC (Qatar) players Olympique de Marseille players Charlton Athletic F.C. players CF Montréal players Expatriate footballers in Qatar Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate soccer players in Canada Major League Soccer players Sportspeople from Bouches-du-Rhône Footballers from Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Black French sportspeople