FC Edmonton confirms one-year deal for ex-Impact defender Kevin Hatchi By Steven Sandor Posted on November 17, 2011 1 0 903 Share on Facebook Share on Twitter From 2011: Whitecap Davide Chiumiento tackled by Montreal's Kevin Hatchi. Kevin Hatchi made the announcement on Facebook a couple of weeks ago, but FC Edmonton made it official on Thursday. The French defender has agreed to a one-year deal with the NASL club. Hatchi is a French defender who will look to become an impact player on the back line, after the likes of John Jonke, Alex Surprenant and Eddy Sidra were released days after the 5-0 first-round playoff defeat to the eventual NASL finalist Fort Lauderdale Strikers. Hatchi has played for a number of a lower-division French clubs and also had a spell with Belgian side Excelsior Mouscron from 2005 to 2007. The Montreal Impact made him one of a series of French imports brought in from 2010-11 to shore up the club. Hatchi was signed in February of 2011 but was released four months later, and the fit in the dressing room was cited by management as the cause of his departure. Edmonton needed to wait on confirmation of his release from the Montreal Impact. The Impact released Hatchi’s in June, just 10 games into the season. But FCE had to follow the paper trail to ensure that Hatchi was indeed free of any contractual obligation to the Impact. On Oct. 31, Hatchi posted an FC Edmonton logo and changed his location to Edmonton, Alberta on his own Facebook fan page — before he signed the contract with the club. Even though FC Edmonton is already training indoors in preparation for the 2012 season, Hatchi won’t report to the team until January.
