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 lea ...

who last played as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

for Montreal Impact in

Major League Soccer Major League Soccer (MLS) is a professional Association football, soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanc ...

. He made five appearances for the France 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 based in Martigues, Bouches-du-Rhône. It competes in Championnat National from 2025–26, the third level of football in France, having ...

, playing in both

Ligue 2 Ligue 2 (, League 2), also known as Ligue 2 BKT due to sponsorship reasons, is a French professional football league. The league serves as the second division of French football and is one of two divisions making up the Ligue de Football Prof ...

and the

Championnat National The Championnat National (), commonly referred to as simply National or Division 3, is the third division of the French football league system behind Ligue 1 and Ligue 2. Contested by 18 clubs, the Championnat National operates on a system of ...

. He joined

RC Lens Racing Club de Lens (), commonly referred to as RC Lens or simply as Lens, is a French professional football club based in the northern city of Lens in the department of Pas-de-Calais. The club's nickname, ''Les Sang et Or'' (), comes from i ...

in 2002 where he made his debut in

Ligue 1 Ligue 1 (; ), officially known as Ligue 1 McDonald's France, McDonald's for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in France and the highest level of the French football league system. Administered by the Ligue de ...

, as well as both the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

and the

UEFA Cup The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

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

Châteauroux Châteauroux ( ; ; ) 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 Châteauroux te ...

in Ligue 2.

Nice

In June 2005, he joined

Nice Nice ( ; ) is a city in and the prefecture of the Alpes-Maritimes department in France. The Nice agglomeration extends far beyond the administrative city limits, with a population of nearly one million Rennes Rennes (; ; Gallo language, Gallo: ''Resnn''; ) is a city in the east of Brittany in Northwestern France at the confluence of the rivers Ille and Vilaine. Rennes is the prefecture of the Brittany (administrative region), Brittany Regions of F ...

, where he was viewed as a replacement for Dutch defender Mario Melchiot, who had departed for

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

club

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club is a professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the EFL League One, the third level of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, they have p ...

. 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 a professional association football club based in Newcastle upon Tyne, Tyne and Wear, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English football. Since th ...

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

West Ham United West Ham United Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Stratford, London, Stratford, East London, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league system, English f ...

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 a professional association football club based in Charlton, south-east London, England. The team compete in the EFL Championship, the second level of the English football league system. Their home ground is ...

on loan until the end of season.

Return to Marseille

On 31 August 2016, Fanni returned to

Marseille Marseille (; ; see #Name, below) is a city in southern France, the Prefectures in France, prefecture of the Departments of France, department of Bouches-du-Rhône and of the Provence-Alpes-Côte d'Azur Regions of France, region. Situated in the ...

. 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 France national team against

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

on 14 October 2008 in a 3–1 victory. Despite stiff competition from players such as Bacary Sagna and François Clerc, 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. He began his football career whilst pursuing his studies, earning a BEP (French secondary school diploma) and then going on to study for a

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

in Industrial Science and Technology.

Honours

Marseille *

Coupe de la Ligue The Coupe de la Ligue (), known outside France as the French League Cup, was a knockout cup competition in French football organized by the Ligue de Football Professionnel. The tournament was established in 1993 and, unlike the Coupe de France ...

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to sp ...

, 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 cup, super cups found in many other count ...

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

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

References

External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Fanni, Rod 1981 births Living people Footballers from Martigues French men's footballers Men's association football fullbacks FC Martigues players RC Lens players LB Châteauroux players OGC Nice players Stade Rennais FC players Al-Arabi SC (Qatar) players Charlton Athletic F.C. players Olympique de Marseille players CF Montréal players Ligue 1 players Ligue 2 players Qatar Stars League players Major League Soccer players English Football League players France men's international footballers French expatriate men's footballers Expatriate men's soccer players in Canada Expatriate men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Qatar French expatriate sportspeople in Canada French expatriate sportspeople in England French expatriate sportspeople in Qatar Black French sportspeople French sportspeople of Beninese descent 21st-century French sportsmen