Fabien Farnolle


Fabien Ceddy Farnolle is a French-born Beninese professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Turkish club Yeni Malatyaspor and the Benin national team.

Club career

Born in Bordeaux, Farnolle joined FC Girondins de Bordeaux at the age of ten. He was promoted to the senior side in 2002 at the age of 17. His stay in the senior side was short-lived as he was relegated to Bordeaux's reserve side, where he remained for his entire first spell at Bordeaux. His three-year spell with the reserve side saw him play very little with fifteen appearances made over the three years playing for Bordeaux's B team. He left Les Girondins in the summer of 2005 for Portugal. Farnolle signed for Primeira Liga side Vitória de Setúbal.
He impressed manager Luís Norton de Matos, who kept him in the first team squad, where he competed to be Setúbal's number one choice goalkeeper alongside Marcelo Moretto and Marco Tábuas. Despite impressing Setúbal's manager, he was beaten to the starting line up by Marcelo Moretto. His relegation to the bench saw him be relegated to Setúbal's B team, who at the time were playing in the Portuguese Second Division.
Following the end of the 2005–06 season, he left the Sadinos and return to France to play for US Quevilly, where he remained for one season. Over the next few seasons, he moved to several different clubs in the quest to play more first-team football, including a return to Bordeaux, where, like his first spell, he ended up relegated to the B team. In the summer of 2010, he left Bordeaux for Ligue 2 side Clermont Foot, where he established himself as Clermont's first choice goalkeeper.
In February 2015, Farnolle signed a contract for three seasons with Romanian club Dinamo București. He played only one game, in the League Cup, then he became a bench-warmer and two months later decided to put an end to the deal.
Farnolle signed for Turkish club Yeni Malatyaspor in June 2017.

International career

Farnolle represented the French French under-18 side at youth level.
In 2012, Farnolle received an invitation by the Benin Football Federation to play for the Beninese national side, as he had Beninese parentage who settled in France prior to his birth. After accepting the invitation, he was selected by then manager Manuel Amoros for Benin's first international game of the year.
Farnolle's debut came against Ethiopia in a 2013 Africa Cup of Nations qualifier on 29 February.

Career statistics

International