METZ, France (AP) — After surviving a fatal bar fire in Switzerland on New Year’s Day, French soccer player Tahirys Dos Santos has signed his first professional contract with Metz.

The Ligue 1 club announced the one-year contract signing late Monday, nine days after the 19-year-old defender returned to play for its reserves team.

Dos Santos was severely burned in the fire at a bar in ski resort Crans-Montana in the early hours of Jan. 1 that killed 41 people and injured more than 100.

“This moment has an even more special meaning after the difficult months I went through in the hospital,” Dos Santos said in a club statement. “This test made me stronger and taught me to never give up.”

The French teenager, who has family ties to Cape Verde, joined his local club Metz at age eight. His return to action on April 11 was in the French fifth-tier division.

Metz is last in Ligue 1 and will be relegated to play in the second tier next season.