Bernard Parker (born 16 March 1986) is a South African professional association footballer who plays as a

midfielder A midfielder is an outfield position in association football. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in that case known as defensive midfielders. As central midfielders often go across boundarie ...

forward Forward is a relative direction, the opposite of backward. Forward may also refer to: People * Forward (surname) Sports * Forward (association football) * Forward (basketball), including: ** Point forward ** Power forward (basketball) ** Sm ...

for

Premier Soccer League Premier is a title for the head of government in central governments, state governments and local governments of some countries. A second in command to a premier is designated as a deputy premier. A premier will normally be a head of governm ...

club TS Galaxy. Between 2007 and 2015 he made 73 appearances for the South Africa national team scoring 23 goals. Parker started his professional football career playing for Thanda Royal Zulu in the

, where he made 70 appearances before a one year loan to Serbian side

Red Star Belgrade Fudbalski klub Crvena zvezda ( sr-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Црвена звезда, lit=Red Star Football Club, ), commonly known as Red Star Belgrade in English-language media, is a Serbian professional football club based in Bel ...

. He joined

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

side

FC Twente Football Club Twente () is a Dutch professional football club from the city of Enschede, sometimes known internationally as Twente Enschede. The club was formed in 1965 by the merger of 1926 Dutch champions Sportclub Enschede with Enschedese Bo ...

in 2009, where he spent a season and a half before being loaned out to

Panserraikos Panserraikos Football Club ( el, Πανσερραϊκός 1964), the ''All-Serres Football Club'', is a Greece, Greek Association football, football club based in Serres in Central Macedonia, Greece. Panserraikos is one of the most important and ...

in the

Greek Super League The Super League Greece 1 ( el, Ελληνική Σούπερ Λιγκ 1), or Super League 1, is the highest professional association football league in Greece. The league was formed on 16 July 2006 and replaced ''Alpha Ethniki'' at the top of ...

. During his time in the Eredivisie, Parker won the 2009-10 Eredivisie and the

2010 Johan Cruyff Shield The fifteenth edition of the Johan Cruyff Shield ( nl, Johan Cruijff Schaal) was held on 31 July 2010 at the Johan Cruyff Arena, Amsterdam Arena. The match was played between the 2009–10 Eredivisie champions FC Twente and 2009–10 KNVB Cup win ...

. He moved to Kaizer Chiefs in 2011. He was awarded the 2013–14

Lesley Manyathela Golden Boot The Lesley Manyathela Golden Boot is an annual association football award presented by the Premier Soccer League to the leading goalscorer in the South African Premier Division. The award, colloquially known as the PSL Golden Boot or simply the Go ...

and won two league titles, the

Nedbank Cup The Nedbank Cup is the current name of South Africa's Premier Soccer League, premier club association football, soccer knockout tournament. While many formats have been used over the years, the tournament has always been based on the idea of givi ...

and the

MTN 8 MTN 8 is the current branding for a South African soccer cup competition launched in 1972 for teams who finished in the top 8 positions of the league table of the country's preceding top-flight league (currently the DStv Premiership) season. T ...

with the South African club. Parker was released by Kaizer Chiefs in June 2022 after spending over a decade at the club, making over 350 appearances and scoring over 60 goals.

Early life

Parker was born and grew up in

Reiger Park Reiger Park is a coloured township situated in Boksburg in the Ekurhuleni Metropolitan Municipality, Gauteng, South Africa. It was established as Stirtonville after the Second World War when people influxed from rural areas seeking work on the g ...

, a township next to

Boksburg Boksburg is a city on the East Rand of Gauteng province of South Africa. Gold was discovered in Boksburg in 1887. Boksburg was named after the State Secretary of the South African Republic, W. Eduard Bok. The Main Reef Road linked Boksburg ...

Gauteng Gauteng ( ) is one of the nine provinces of South Africa. The name in Sotho-Tswana languages means 'place of gold'. Situated on the Highveld, Gauteng is the smallest province by land area in South Africa. Although Gauteng accounts for only ...

. He was quite good in a variety of sports and excelled in short and long-distance running as well as achieving Eastern Gauteng colours in swimming.

Club career

A product of the School of Excellence, Parker made his debut in the professional ranks for Cape Town's

Hellenic FC Hellenic FC is a South African association football club based in Cape Town. They were nicknamed ''The Greek Gods''. Established in 1958 by Greek South Africans, Hellenic campaigned in the lower amateur leagues of Cape Town. But by the 1970s the ...

, later bought and renamed

Benoni Premier United Thanda Royal Zulu was a South African football club based in Richards Bay, KwaZulu-Natal. History The club started after a Swedish consortium that included Sven-Goran Eriksson bought the franchise from Benoni Premier United at the end of the 20 ...

. After the club was once again renamed and moved to Durban he remained with

Thanda Royal Zulu F.C. Thanda Royal Zulu was a South African football club based in Richards Bay, KwaZulu-Natal. History The club started after a Swedish consortium that included Sven-Goran Eriksson bought the franchise from Benoni Premier United at the end of the 20 ...

until early 2009 when he obtained a transfer to European Cup Winners

Red Star A red star, five-pointed and filled, is a symbol that has often historically been associated with communist ideology, particularly in combination with the hammer and sickle, but is also used as a purely socialist symbol in the 21st century. I ...

in Serbia. His stay in Belgrade was cut short after reports that the club had cash flow problems and owed its players' salaries. Parker signed with

in July 2009 and was a member of the team that won the Dutch 2009–10 Eredivisie. After Twente manager

Steve McClaren Stephen McClaren (born 3 May 1961) is an English former professional footballer and coach who currently serves as an assistant coach for Premier League club Manchester United, in his second spell at the club. McClaren began his coaching care ...

's move to

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

, Parker failed to convince new coach

Michel Preud'homme Michel Georges Jean Ghislain Preud'homme (born 24 January 1959) is a Belgian retired footballer and manager who played as a goalkeeper. Currently, he is vice-president and sports director at Standard Liège. He was considered one of the world's ...

of his qualities and thus spent the first half of the 2010–11 Dutch season mostly on the bench. He joined

Leicester City Leicester ( ) is a city, unitary authority and the county town of Leicestershire in the East Midlands of England. It is the largest settlement in the East Midlands. The city lies on the River Soar and close to the eastern end of the National ...

on trial in December 2010 with a view to a permanent move away from the Dutch club. On 18 January 2011, he moved to Panserraikos F.C. on loan, to secure extra game time and returned to FC Twente after the end of the 2010–11 season. After receiving interest from Swedish clubs Malmö FF and Helsingborgs IF as well as South Africa's Kaizer Chiefs, Parker chose the latter ahead of the other clubs. In the 2012–13 season, Parker scored 12 league goals in 28 matches and finished as runner up to Katlego Mashego who had 13 and helped Chiefs to a league and cup double. The following season, he won the Lesley Manyathela Golden Boot with 10 goals. After Parker spent over a decade at Kaizer Chiefs, the club decided not to renew his contract that was to expire on 30 June 2022. He scored over 60 goals in 350 appearances there. In August 2022 Parker joined TS Galaxy on a two-year contract.

International career

Bernard Parker had his national team debut against Malawi in 2007, scoring his first goal in 2008 against the same team. On 17 June 2009, he scored both goals in a 2–0 win over

New Zealand New Zealand ( mi, Aotearoa ) is an island country in the southwestern Pacific Ocean. It consists of two main landmasses—the North Island () and the South Island ()—and over 700 smaller islands. It is the sixth-largest island count ...

in the

2009 Confederations Cup The 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup was the eighth Confederations Cup, and was held in South Africa from 14 June to 28 June 2009, as a prelude to the 2010 FIFA World Cup. The draw was held on 22 November 2008 at the Sandton Convention Centre in Joh ...

, and also received the Man of the Match award. He played in

2010 FIFA World Cup , image = 2010 FIFA World Cup.svg , size = 200px , caption = ''Ke Nako. (Tswana and Sotho for "It's time") Celebrate Africa's Humanity'It's time. Celebrate Africa's Humanity'' (English)''Dis tyd. Vier Afrika se mensd ...

representing South Africa but the team was eliminated after group stage. He also played in 2013 African Cup of Nations hosted in

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

. On 16 June 2013, Parker scored an own goal in a 2–1 defeat to

Ethiopia Ethiopia, , om, Itiyoophiyaa, so, Itoobiya, ti, ኢትዮጵያ, Ítiyop'iya, aa, Itiyoppiya officially the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia, is a landlocked country in the Horn of Africa. It shares borders with Eritrea to the ...

which ended South Africa's chances of qualifying for the 2014 World Cup. Earlier in the match he had given South Africa a 1–0 lead. Parker also scored by chipping the ball over

Víctor Valdés Víctor Valdés Arribas (; born 14 January 1982) is a Spanish football coach and former professional player, who played as a goalkeeper. Valdés was considered fiercely competitive and demanding, demonstrating great mental strength and concen ...

in the 56th minute in a 1–0 shock win over the then-world and European champions

Spain , image_flag = Bandera de España.svg , image_coat = Escudo de España (mazonado).svg , national_motto = ''Plus ultra'' (Latin)(English: "Further Beyond") , national_anthem = (English: "Royal March") , i ...

Soccer City First National Bank Stadium or simply FNB Stadium ( af, ENB-stadion), also known as Soccer City ( af, Sokkerstad) and The Calabash, is an association football (soccer) and Rugby union stadium located in Nasrec, bordering the Soweto area of Joha ...

, where it won the World Cup in 2010. Parker won the top goalscorer award at the 2014 African Nations Championship with four goals from three group matches.

Personal life

Parker married Wendy Cherry in

Ballito Ballito is an affluent town located in KwaZulu-Natal, South Africa. Ballito is about north of Durban. It forms part of the KwaDukuza Local Municipality, and iLembe District Municipality. Dolphins are common on this stretch of the North Coast sh ...

KwaZulu-Natal KwaZulu-Natal (, also referred to as KZN and known as "the garden province") is a province of South Africa that was created in 1994 when the Zulu bantustan of KwaZulu ("Place of the Zulu" in Zulu) and Natal Province were merged. It is locate ...

, on 16 June 2012 at a ceremony attended by 170 guests.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list South Africa's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Parker goal.''

Honours

FC Twente *

: 2009–10 *

Johan Cruijff Schaal The Johan Cruyff Shield (, ) is a football trophy in the Netherlands named after Dutch footballer Johan Cruyff, also often referred to as the Dutch Super Cup. The winner is decided in one match only, played by the winner of the national footbal ...

2010 File:2010 Events Collage New.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2010 Chile earthquake was one of the strongest recorded in history; The Eruption of Eyjafjallajökull in Iceland disrupts air travel in Europe; A scene from the opening ceremony of ...

Kaizer Chiefs *

: 2012–13, 2014–15 *

: 2012–13 *

2015 File:2015 Events Collage new.png, From top left, clockwise: Civil service in remembrance of November 2015 Paris attacks; Germanwings Flight 9525 was purposely crashed into the French Alps; the rubble of residences in Kathmandu following the Apri ...

Individual *

: 2013–14 *

African Nations Championship The African Nations Championship (french: Championnat d'Afrique des Nations; abbreviated as CHAN), known as the TotalEnergies African Nations Championship for sponsorship purposes, is a biennial African national association football tourname ...

Golden Boot:

2014 File:2014 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Stocking up supplies and personal protective equipment (PPE) for the Western African Ebola virus epidemic; Citizens examining the ruins after the Chibok schoolgirls kidnapping; Bundles of wat ...

References

External links

* * {{DEFAULTSORT:Parker, Bernard 1986 births Living people People from Boksburg Soccer players from Gauteng Cape Coloureds South African soccer players Association football midfielders Association football forwards South Africa international soccer players South Africa A' international soccer players 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup players 2010 FIFA World Cup players 2013 Africa Cup of Nations players 2014 African Nations Championship players 2015 Africa Cup of Nations players Serbian SuperLiga players Eredivisie players Super League Greece players Thanda Royal Zulu F.C. players Kaizer Chiefs F.C. players Red Star Belgrade footballers FC Twente players Panserraikos F.C. players TS Galaxy F.C. players South African expatriate soccer players South African expatriate sportspeople in Serbia Expatriate footballers in Serbia South African expatriate sportspeople in the Netherlands Expatriate footballers in the Netherlands South African expatriate sportspeople in Greece Expatriate footballers in Greece