Félix Brillant (born September 9, 1980 in

Brossard Brossard (, , ) is a municipality in the Montérégie region of Quebec, Canada and is part of the Greater Montreal area. According to the 2021 census, Brossard's population was 91,525. It shares powers with the urban agglomeration of Longueuil a ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

) is a Canadian former

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player.

Career

Youth and Amateur

Brillant began his career in the youth system of French team

AS Cannes Association Sportive de Cannes Football (; commonly referred to as AS Cannes or simply Cannes) is a French association football club based in Cannes. The club was formed 1902 as a sports club and currently plays in the Championnat National 3, ...

, but never appeared for the senior side. He returned to North America in 2002, and played

college soccer College soccer is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. It is very prominent in United States, Japan, South Korea, Canada, and as well as in South Africa and the Philippines. The United Kingd ...

for at

Franklin Pierce College Franklin Pierce University is a private university in Rindge, New Hampshire. It was founded as Franklin Pierce College in 1962, combining a liberal arts foundation with coursework for professional preparation. The school gained university statu ...

in the

NCAA Division II NCAA Division II (D-II) is an intermediate-level division of competition in the National Collegiate Athletic Association (NCAA). It offers an alternative to both the larger and better-funded Division I and to the scholarship-free environmen ...

, where he was named All-New England Region four times. In 2002 and 2003 he also played for

Cape Cod Crusaders Cape Cod Crusaders were an American soccer team based in Buzzards Bay, Massachusetts, United States. Founded in 1994, the team played in the USL Premier Development League (PDL), the fourth tier of the American Soccer Pyramid, until 2008, when ...

in the

USL Premier Development League USL League Two (USL2), formerly the Premier Development League (PDL), is a semi-professional developmental soccer league sponsored by United Soccer Leagues in the United States and Canada, forming part of the United States soccer league syste ...

, with whom he won back-to-back PDL championships.

Professional

Brillant was drafted 56th overall by the

New England Revolution The New England Revolution is an American professional soccer club based in the Greater Boston area that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), in the Eastern Conference of the league. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, having compet ...

in the 2004 MLS Superdraft and scored a goal in the 2004 season for the Revs, but was released in June 2005 without making an appearance that season. Brillant played for the

Virginia Beach Mariners The Virginia Beach Mariners were an American soccer club, who formerly played in the USL First Division of the United Soccer Leagues, the second division in the US Soccer hierarchy behind Major League Soccer. On March 30, 2007 the team folded due ...

in the

USL First Division The USL First Division (usually referred to as USL-1) was a professional men's soccer league in the United States and Canada from 2005 to 2010. During its existence, it formed the second tier of soccer in the United States soccer league system b ...

in 2005 and 2006, and then played

midfield Midfield is the part of a sports field that lies approximately in the center. In American football, association football (soccer) and field hockey, it is the area in and around the center circle, as well as the players who occupy that region. In ...

for Sparta Sarpsborg of the

Adeccoligaen The Norwegian First Division, also called 1. divisjon and OBOS-ligaen (named sponsor is property developer OBOS), is the second-highest level of the Norwegian football league system. Each year, the top finishing teams in the 1. divisjon are p ...

in 2007. On July 30, 2008, Brillant signed a contract with the Montreal Impact of the United Soccer League. During the 2008 season Brillant helped the team move up in the USL First Division standings. In 11 games, including four starts, Brillant tallied five points, all on August 24, in a 3-1 win against Atlanta Silverbacks. He also took part in six of the eight games that the Impact played in the

CONCACAF Champions League The CONCACAF Champions League, known officially as the Scotiabank CONCACAF Champions League for sponsorship reasons, is an annual continental club football competition organized by CONCACAF. The tournament is contested by clubs from North Ameri ...

. On December 2, 2008 the Montreal Impact announced the re-signing of Brillant to a two-year contract. During the 2009 USL season Brillant contributed by helping the Impact clinch a playoff spot under new head coach

Marc Dos Santos Marc Dos Santos (born May 26, 1977) is a Canadian soccer coach who is an assistant coach for Los Angeles FC in Major League Soccer. He was previously the head coach of Montreal Impact in D2 Pro League and the Vancouver Whitecaps FC, was North ...

. He helped the Impact reach the finals where Montreal would face the

Vancouver Whitecaps Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Vancouver. They compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The MLS iteration of the club was established on Mar ...

, this marking the first time in USL history where the final match would consist of two Canadian clubs. In the final Brillant helped the Impact win the series 6-3 on aggregate. The victory gave the Impact their third USL Championship and also the victory marked Brillant's first USL Championship. On November 30, 2009, Brillant was released by the Impact, and joined the reserve team

Trois-Rivières Attak Trois-Rivières Attak was a Canadian soccer team that played three seasons in the Canadian Soccer League. They formally served as a reserve and academy team for the USL First Division side Montreal Impact. The club was an instant success withi ...

in the Canadian Soccer League.

International

Brillant played for the Canadian national U-17 team in the late 1990s. He was on the bench for Canada’s

FIFA World Cup The FIFA World Cup, often simply called the World Cup, is an international association football competition contested by the senior men's national teams of the members of the ' ( FIFA), the sport's global governing body. The tournament ha ...

Qualifier against

Guatemala Guatemala ( ; ), officially the Republic of Guatemala ( es, República de Guatemala, links=no), is a country in Central America. It is bordered to the north and west by Mexico; to the northeast by Belize and the Caribbean; to the east by H ...

on 13 October 2004, but did not play in the game.

Honors

Cape Cod Crusaders

Champions (1): 2003

References

External links

Montreal Impact bio
* {{DEFAULTSORT:Brillant, Felix 1980 births Living people AS Cannes players Black Canadian men's soccer players Canadian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Canadian expatriate soccer players Canadian expatriate sportspeople in France Canadian expatriate sportspeople in Norway Canadian soccer players Cape Cod Crusaders players Expatriate footballers in France Expatriate footballers in Norway Expatriate soccer players in the United States Association football midfielders Franklin Pierce University alumni Haitian Quebecers Haitian emigrants to Canada Major League Soccer players Naturalized citizens of Canada New England Revolution players Soccer people from Quebec People from Brossard Sarpsborg 08 FF players USL First Division players Virginia Beach Mariners players Canadian Soccer League (1998–present) players USL League Two players Montreal Impact (1992–2011) players Trois-Rivières Attak players Canada men's youth international soccer players New England Revolution draft picks