Elrio van Heerden (, ; born 11 July 1983) is a South African retired

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby le ...

who played 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 ...

for the likes of

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( or .; da, København ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a proper population of around 815.000 in the last quarter of 2022; and some 1.370,000 in the urban area; and the wider Copenhagen metropolitan ar ...

Club Brugge (), known simply as Club Brugge (in English also: ''Club Bruges''), is a Belgian professional football club based in Bruges, Belgium. It was founded in 1891 and its home ground is the Jan Breydel Stadium, which has a capacity of 29,062.

and

Blackburn Rovers Blackburn Rovers Football Club is a professional football club, based in Blackburn, Lancashire, England, which competes in the , the second tier of the English football league system. They have played home matches at Ewood Park since 1890. T ...

, among other clubs. He was previously also been an established member of the South African national team, representing the nation from 2004 to 2009.

Club career

Van Heerden started his career with Glenville Celtic and moved 1998 in the Soccer School of Excellence which was part of the

Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University Nelson Mandela University (formerly known as ''Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University (NMMU)'' ) and before that - the University of Port Elizabeth (UPE), the Port Elizabeth Technikon and Vista University's Port Elizabeth campus. This South Afr ...

FC Copenhagen

He came to Denmark in 2002, where he spent his first two years learning from the older players. Elrio got his debut in 2004 against AaB at

Parken Stadium Parken Stadium, also known simply as Parken and as Telia Parken (2014–2020), is a football stadium in the Indre Østerbro (''Inner Østerbro'') district of Copenhagen, Denmark, built from 1990 to 1992. The stadium, which features a retractable ...

, and the little South African immediately wrote history with his equalizer short before the final whistle. The goal meant, that FC København could secure the championship in the next (and last) round against

FC Nordsjælland Football Club Nordsjælland, commonly known as FC Nordsjælland, Nordsjælland () or FCN, is a professional Danish football team from the North Zealand town of Farum. Founded as ''Farum Boldklub'' from the merger of the town's two football club ...

Farum Park Right to Dream Park, historically known as Farum Park, is a football stadium, located in Farum, Denmark, and is the home ground of FC Nordsjælland. It has a capacity of 10,300 of which 9,800 are seated. Farum Park is the first stadium in the Dani ...

, which they did with a 4–2 victory.

Club Brugge

A move to

was made on 24 January 2006, where he spent two years with the Belgian club scoring two goals from his 67 appearances.

Blackburn Rovers

It was announced on 2 June 2009 that Van Heerden had agreed a two-year deal with the

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Foo ...

club

, arriving on a free transfer from

. He only played two official matches for the club; in the

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

against Gillingham in the second round, and

Chelsea Chelsea or Chelsey may refer to: Places Australia * Chelsea, Victoria Canada * Chelsea, Nova Scotia * Chelsea, Quebec United Kingdom * Chelsea, London, an area of London, bounded to the south by the River Thames ** Chelsea (UK Parliament consti ...

in the quarter-finals, both as a second-half substitute. On 8 January 2010 it was reported that Elrio was close to signing for

Turkish Turkish may refer to: *a Turkic language spoken by the Turks * of or about Turkey ** Turkish language *** Turkish alphabet ** Turkish people, a Turkic ethnic group and nation *** Turkish citizen, a citizen of Turkey *** Turkish communities and mi ...

club

Sivasspor Sivasspor Kulübü, known as Demir Grup Sivasspor due to sponsorship reasons, is a Turkish sports club based in Sivas. The primary department of the club is men's football. Formed in 1967, its football department competes in Süper Lig, as of 201 ...

. Goal.com revealed that Elrio was due to travel to

Turkey Turkey ( tr, Türkiye ), officially the Republic of Türkiye ( tr, Türkiye Cumhuriyeti, links=no ), is a list of transcontinental countries, transcontinental country located mainly on the Anatolia, Anatolian Peninsula in Western Asia, with ...

for a medical ahead of signing on Monday 11 January 2010.

Sivasspor

On 11 January 2010, Blackburn Rovers announced the transfer of the South African midfielder to

Westerlo

On 27 July 2010,

Belgian Pro League The Belgian Pro League,(officially the Jupiler Pro League due to sponsorship reasons with Jupiler), is the top league competition for association football clubs in Belgium. Contested by 18 clubs since the 2020–21 season and reduced to 16 team ...

side

Westerlo Westerlo () is a municipality located in the Belgian province of Antwerp. The municipality comprises seven towns: * Westerlo centrum * * Tongerlo * Heultje * Voortkapel * Oosterwijk * In 2021, Westerlo had a total population of 25,288. The ...

announced the signing of Van Heerden. In November 2012, after having been without a club since the end of the 2011–12 season, Van Heerden had an unsuccessful trial with

MLS Major League Soccer (MLS) is a men's professional soccer league sanctioned by the United States Soccer Federation, which represents the sport's highest level in the United States. The league comprises 29 teams—26 in the U.S. and 3 in Canada ...

side

Sporting Kansas City Sporting Kansas City, often shortened to Sporting KC, is an American men's professional Association football, soccer club based in the Kansas City metropolitan area. The administrative offices are located in Downtown Kansas City, Missouri, and t ...

PE Stars

In 2017, after five years out of the game, van Heerden returned to sign for

ABC Motsepe League ABC are the first three letters of the Latin script known as the alphabet. ABC or abc may also refer to: Arts, entertainment, and media Broadcasting * American Broadcasting Company, a commercial U.S. TV broadcaster ** Disney–ABC Television ...

side PE Stars.

International career

He won 37 full international caps for

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 ...

, scoring three goals. He represented "Bafana Bafana" at the

2006 Africa Cup of Nations The 2006 Africa Cup of Nations was the 25th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the association football championship of Africa. It was hosted by Egypt. Just like in 2004, the field of sixteen teams was split into four groups of four. Egypt w ...

Egypt Egypt ( ar, مصر , ), officially the Arab Republic of Egypt, is a transcontinental country spanning the northeast corner of Africa and southwest corner of Asia via a land bridge formed by the Sinai Peninsula. It is bordered by the Mediter ...

, the

2008 Africa Cup of Nations The 2008 Africa Cup of Nations, also known as the MTN Africa Cup of Nations due to the competition's sponsorship by MTN, was the 26th edition of the Africa Cup of Nations, the biennial football tournament for nations affiliated to the Confederat ...

Ghana Ghana (; tw, Gaana, ee, Gana), officially the Republic of Ghana, is a country in West Africa. It abuts the Gulf of Guinea and the Atlantic Ocean to the south, sharing borders with Ivory Coast in the west, Burkina Faso in the north, and To ...

and the

2009 FIFA 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 ...

International goals

Statistics

"Bafana Bafana"
SAFA. Retrieved 15 March 2013.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Van Heerden, Elrio 1983 births Living people Cape Coloureds South African people of Dutch descent South African soccer players South Africa international soccer players South African expatriate soccer players F.C. Copenhagen players Club Brugge KV players Sivasspor footballers K.V.C. Westerlo players Association football midfielders Sportspeople from Port Elizabeth Danish Superliga players Süper Lig players Belgian Pro League players 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup players 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2006 Africa Cup of Nations players 2008 Africa Cup of Nations players Blackburn Rovers F.C. players Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark Expatriate footballers in England Expatriate footballers in Turkey Expatriate footballers in Belgium South African expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Lamontville Golden Arrows F.C. players Soccer players from the Eastern Cape