Romain Métanire (born 28 March 1990) is a professional

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 plays as a defender. He has previously played in France for

FC Metz Football Club de Metz, commonly referred to as FC Metz or simply Metz (), is a French association football club based in Metz, Lorraine. The club was formed in 1932 and plays in Ligue 2, the second division in the French football league sys ...

and

Stade de Reims Stade de Reims () is a French professional association football, football club based in Reims. The club was formed in 1910 and plays in Ligue 1, the top level of Football in France, having been promoted from Ligue 2 in 2017–18 Ligue 2, 2018. ...

, with whom he won

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 ...

in 2017–18, as well as in Belgium with

KV Kortrijk Koninklijke Voetbalclub Kortrijk (often simply called KV Kortrijk or KVK) is a Belgian professional football club based in Kortrijk, West Flanders. They play in the Belgian First Division, and they achieved their best ranking ever during the 2009 ...

. Born in France, he represents the Madagascar national team.

Club career

Metz

Métanire was born in

Metz Metz ( , , lat, Divodurum Mediomatricorum, then ) is a city in northeast France located at the confluence of the Moselle and the Seille rivers. Metz is the prefecture of the Moselle department and the seat of the parliament of the Grand E ...

, but has origins in

Réunion Réunion (; french: La Réunion, ; previously ''Île Bourbon''; rcf, label= Reunionese Creole, La Rényon) is an island in the Indian Ocean that is an overseas department and region of France. It is located approximately east of the island ...

. Having joined

at the age of six, he started his career in the club's reserve team and made his debut in the

Championnat de France amateur The Championnat National 2, commonly known as National 2 and formerly known as Championnat de France Amateur (CFA), is a football league competition. The league serves as the fourth tier of the French football league system behind Ligue 1, Ligue ...

(CFA) on 11 October 2008, coming on as a substitute in a 1–1 draw away at

Colmar Colmar (, ; Alsatian: ' ; German during 1871–1918 and 1940–1945: ') is a city and commune in the Haut-Rhin department and Grand Est region of north-eastern France. The third-largest commune in Alsace (after Strasbourg and Mulhouse), it is ...

. He made three further substitute appearances in the 2008–09 season as the reserve side was relegated to the

CFA 2 The Championnat National 3, commonly referred to as simply National 3 and formerly known as Championnat de France Amateur 2, is a football league competition. The league serves as the fifth division of the French football league system behind ...

. He made his first start for Metz B in the 5–2 home win over

Pontarlier Pontarlier ( ; Latin: ''Ariolica'') is a commune and one of the two sub-prefectures of the Doubs department in the Bourgogne-Franche-Comté region in eastern France near the Swiss border. History Pontarlier occupies the ancient Roman station of ...

on 15 August 2009. He went on to play 19 matches during the campaign, becoming a regular fixture in the team that gained promotion back to the CFA as winners of their group. He also scored the first goal of his career in the 2–1 victory away at Troyes B on 21 March 2010. As a result of his performances in the reserve team, Métanire was selected on the substitutes' bench for the match away at

Clermont Foot Clermont Foot 63 (Occitan language, Occitan: ''Clarmont d'Auvèrnhe''; commonly referred to as Clermont Foot or simply Clermont) is a Football in France, French association football club based in Clermont-Ferrand. The first incarnation of the c ...

on 29 October 2010. He entered play in the 89th minute, replacing Belgian midfielder

Gaëtan Englebert Gaëtan Englebert (born 11 June 1976) is a Belgian former footballer who played as a defensive midfielder, and the current director of football of RFC Liège. Club career Born in Liège, Englebert started playing professionally with local club R ...

. He again appeared as a late substitute the following week in the home defeat to

Le Mans Le Mans (, ) is a city in northwestern France on the Sarthe River where it meets the Huisne. Traditionally the capital of the province of Maine, it is now the capital of the Sarthe department and the seat of the Roman Catholic diocese of Le Man ...

, before returning to the B team. He played 29 CFA matches for the reserves during the 2010–11 season. Métanire was handed his first senior start in the final Ligue 2 match of the campaign, as Metz were beaten 4–3 away to

Evian TG Evian ( , ; , stylized as evian) is a French company that bottles and commercialises mineral water from several sources near Évian-les-Bains, on the south shore of Lake Geneva. It produces over 2 billion plastic bottles per year. Today, Evia ...

. In the 2011–12 season, Métanire established himself as Metz' first-choice right-back, starting in all of the side's first 21 matches of the campaign. On 5 February 2016, he scored a goal against

AS Nancy Association Sportive Nancy Lorraine (), commonly known as AS Nancy Lorraine, or simply Nancy, is a French association football club founded in 1967 in Nancy, Grand Est and located in Tomblaine, in the inner suburbs of Nancy. The club currently ...

in injury time. In reference to the occasion, t-shirts were sold with the message "Je t’aime comme un but de Métanire à la 91e". In his time at Metz, he made 180 league appearances scoring two goals.

Kortrijk

On 15 July 2016, Métanire left Metz for Belgian club

Reims

On 18 January 2017, after just six months with Kortrijk, Métanire returned to his native France joining

Stade Reims Stade de Reims () is a French professional football club based in Reims. The club was formed in 1910 and plays in Ligue 1, the top level of Football in France, having been promoted from Ligue 2 in 2018. Reims plays home matches at the Stade Aug ...

on a 1.5-year contract. Métanire helped

win the

2017–18 Ligue 2 The 2017–18 Ligue 2 (referred to as the Domino's Ligue 2 for sponsorship reasons) season was the 79th season since its establishment. Teams There are 20 clubs in the league, with three promoted teams from Championnat National replacing the th ...

and promote to the

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 ...

for the 2018–19 season.

Minnesota United

On 25 January 2019, Métanire signed with

MLS 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 ...

club

Minnesota United Minnesota United FC is an American professional soccer club based in Saint Paul, Minnesota that plays in the Western Conference of Major League Soccer. The club began play in 2017 as the league's 22nd club, and replaced the North American So ...

. Following the 2022 season, his contract option was declined by Minnesota.

International career

Métanire was born in France, and is of Malagasy descent. He was called up to the Madagascar national team on 11 August 2018. He made his debut for Madagascar in a 2–2

2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualification The 2019 Africa Cup of Nations qualification matches were organized by the Confederation of African Football (CAF) to decide the participating teams of the 2019 Africa Cup of Nations, the 32nd edition of the international men's football champion ...

tie with

Senegal Senegal,; Wolof: ''Senegaal''; Pulaar: 𞤅𞤫𞤲𞤫𞤺𞤢𞥄𞤤𞤭 (Senegaali); Arabic: السنغال ''As-Sinighal'') officially the Republic of Senegal,; Wolof: ''Réewum Senegaal''; Pulaar : 𞤈𞤫𞤲𞤣𞤢𞥄𞤲𞤣𞤭 � ...

on 9 September 2018.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Metz *

: 2013–14, 2017–18 Minnesota United *

U.S. Open Cup The Lamar Hunt U.S. Open Cup, commonly known as the U.S. Open Cup (USOC), is a Single-elimination tournament, knockout cup competition in men's Soccer in the United States, soccer in the United States of America. It is the oldest ongoing nati ...

runner-up:

2019 File:2019 collage v1.png, From top left, clockwise: Hong Kong protests turn to widespread riots and civil disobedience; House of Representatives votes to adopt articles of impeachment against Donald Trump; CRISPR gene editing first used to experim ...

Individual * UNFP Ligue 2 Team of the Year: 2013–14 *

MLS All-Star The Major League Soccer All-Star Game is an annual Association football, soccer game held by Major League Soccer featuring selected players from the league against an international club or selected players from Liga MX. MLS initially adopted a tr ...

* Knight Order of Madagascar: 2019

References

External links

* * *
Romain Métanire career statistics
at FootNational * {{DEFAULTSORT:Metanire, Romain 1990 births Living people Footballers from Metz People with acquired Malagasy citizenship French people of Réunionnais descent French sportspeople of Malagasy descent Malagasy footballers French footballers Association football defenders Madagascar international footballers 2019 Africa Cup of Nations players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Championnat National players Belgian Pro League players Major League Soccer players FC Metz players K.V. Kortrijk players Stade de Reims players Minnesota United FC players French expatriate footballers Malagasy expatriate footballers French expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Malagasy expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Expatriate footballers in Belgium French expatriate sportspeople in the United States Malagasy expatriate sportspeople in the United States Expatriate soccer players in the United States Recipients of orders, decorations, and medals of Madagascar