Fyfe, 29, made way for former Brisbane Roar skipper Matt McKay at the K.League club but was snapped up by the Reds to bolster their backline in Asia.

The ex-Sydney FC man spent the 2009/10 and 2010/11 seasons with the Reds and notched up 140 A-League appearances before heading to Korea.

Fyfe’s signing coincides with the final departure of Reds defender Milan Susak to Chinese club Tianjin Teda after a transfer deal was hammered out in the last 48 hours.

Susak still had a year to run on his Adelaide United contract and earned the club an undisclosed transfer fee from Tianjin.

United Coach John Kosmina welcomed Fyfe’s return to Adelaide and is pleased to add more stability to the Reds’ defence.

“It’s great to have Fyfey back, I’ve worked with him before and he’s a stalwart defender who has been around the game for a long time,” Kosmina said.

“His experience and character will certainly benefit the team.”

Fyfe has been named in a 28-player squad for the Reds’ fourth venture into Asia’s premier club competition and is expected to arrive in Adelaide over the weekend, meaning he will not be part of the travelling party to Uzbekistan.

Kosmina has opted to go with Cassio, Sergio van Dijk and Francisco Usucar for his three foreigners, meaning Ukrainian Evgeniy Levchenko will miss out.

“The consideration was that we would either take Lev as a defender or Pancho as a midfielder, so when we signed Iain Fyfe, we decided to go with Pancho for the AFC Champions League,” Kosmina said.

“While that’s the decision we’ve made, I’ve got a lot of respect and admiration for Lev because he took the news on the jaw and he is determined to still do his best and everything he can to help the team for the rest of the A-League season.

“I also really appreciate that he has taken on a role in the last four games that he’s never been familiar with before, and he’s done a very good job at it.”

With clubs allowed to name a squad of up to 30, Kosmina has also included Adelaide United Youth players Teeboy Kamara, Evan Kostopoulos, Allan Welsh, Jon Mavromatis, Jordan Elsey, Liam Wooding and goalkeeper John Hall.

Clubs participating in the 2012 AFC Champions League are required to submit their final squad seven days prior to their opening match of the competition, which for the Reds is against reigning Uzbek league champions Bunyodkor on March 6 in Tashkent.

The Reds’ travelling squad will stay in Sydney on Friday night before departing for Tashkent on Saturday morning.

Adelaide United FC – AFC Champions League 2012 Squad
1.Eugene GALEKOVIC (gk), 2.Osama MALIK, 3.Nigel BOOGAARD, 4.Jon McKAIN, 5.Daniel MULLEN, 6.CASSIO, 7.Zenon CARAVELLA, 9.Sergio VAN DIJK, 10.Dario VIDOSIC, 11.Bruce DJITE, 12.Antony GOLEC, 13.Ricardo DA SILVA, 14.Cameron WATSON, 15.Jacob MELLING, 16.Spase DILEVSKI, 17.Iain RAMSAY, 18.Fabian BARBIERO, 20.Mark BIRIGHITTI (gk), 21.Francisco USUCAR, 22.Iain FYFE, 23.Evan KOSTOPOULOS, 24.Teeboy KAMARA, 25.Allan WELSH, 26.Jonathan MAVROMATIS, 27.Jordan ELSEY, 28.Liam WOODING, 30.Paul IZZO (gk), 38.John HALL (gk)