Pernille Mosegaard Harder (born 15 November 1992) is a Danish professional

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 ...

who plays as an

attacking 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 ...

or a forward for

FA Women's Super League The Women's Super League (WSL), currently known as the Barclays Women's Super League (BWSL) for sponsorship reasons, is the highest league of women's football in England. Established in 2010, it is run by the Football Association and features ...

club

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 ...

and the Denmark national team. In September 2020, she became the world's most expensive female footballer following her transfer from

VfL Wolfsburg Verein für Leibesübungen Wolfsburg e. V., commonly known as VfL Wolfsburg () or Wolfsburg, is a German professional sports club based in Wolfsburg, Lower Saxony. The club grew out of a multi-sports club for Volkswagen workers in the city of W ...

to Chelsea, but the record was broken in September 2022 by Keira Walsh when she was signed to Barcelona . Harder, who is also known for her

LGBTQ+ ' is an Acronym, initialism that stands for lesbian, gay, bisexual, and transgender. In use since the 1990s, the initialism, as well as some of its common variants, functions as an Hyponymy and hypernymy, umbrella term for Sexuality and gende ...

advocacy, won the

UEFA Women's Player of the Year Award The UEFA Women's Player of the Year Award (previously known as the UEFA Best Women's Player in Europe Award) is an association football award given to the female footballer that is considered the best player playing for a women's football club in ...

in 2018 and 2020.

Club career

Denmark

Harder played for Team Viborg and IK Skovbakken in her native Denmark's Elitedivisionen. Skovbakken had made Harder and her contemporary Sofie Junge Pedersen contracted players in April 2010, in recognition of their exceptional potential.

Linköpings FC

Harder chose Swedish club

Linköpings FC Linköpings Fotboll Club is an association football club from Linköping, Sweden. The club was established in 2003 when Kenty DFF women's football club decided to merge with the premier division ice hockey club Linköpings HC under the new name L ...

for her next destination because she wanted a new challenge, but also because she wanted to remain in

Scandinavia Scandinavia; Sámi languages: /. ( ) is a subregion in Northern Europe, with strong historical, cultural, and linguistic ties between its constituent peoples. In English usage, ''Scandinavia'' most commonly refers to Denmark, Norway, and Swe ...

. In September 2013 she scored all four goals in Linköpings' 4–1 win at

relegation In sports leagues, promotion and relegation is a process where teams are transferred between multiple divisions based on their performance for the completed season. Leagues that use promotion and relegation systems are often called open leagues. ...

-bound Sunnanå SK. In the

2015 Damallsvenskan 2015 Damallsvenskan was the 27th season of the Swedish women's association football top division, Damallsvenskan. It was played between 11 April 2015 and 18 October 2015. FC Rosengård were the defending champions, having won the competition in 201 ...

season, Harder scored 17 goals in 22 appearances for Linköping, winning a series of national awards including Årets Anfallare ( en, Forward of the Year) and Årets Allsvenska Spelare ( en, League Player of the Year). At the annual awards gala, she shared the stage with male winner

Zlatan Ibrahimović Zlatan Ibrahimović (, ; born 3 October 1981) is a Swedish professional footballer who plays as a striker for club AC Milan and the Sweden national team. Ibrahimović is renowned for his acrobatic strikes and volleys, powerful long-range sho ...

and was described as "hyper-talented" and "world-class" by Swedish national coach

Pia Sundhage Pia Mariane Sundhage (, born 13 February 1960) is a Swedish football manager and former professional player. She is the head coach of the Brazil women's national team. As a player, Sundhage played most of her career as a forward and retired a ...

. Harder was also voted

Danish Football Player of the Year The Danish Player of the Year award is an annual prize, which has been given to the best male Danish football player by the Danish Football Association since 1963. The winner is decided in a vote among the professional Danish footballers. Since 20 ...

in 2015. In June 2016, Harder was among 30 local worthies to be named in a Wall of Fame by

Linköping Municipality Linköping Municipality (''Linköpings kommun'') is a municipality in Östergötland County in southern Sweden. With more than 165,000 inhabitants, it is the fifth largest municipality in Sweden. The municipality is bordered in the west by Motal ...

. Harder enjoyed further success in the

2016 Damallsvenskan The 2016 Damallsvenskan is the 28th season of the Swedish women's association football top division, Damallsvenskan. FC Rosengård were the defending champions, having won the competition in 2015. Linköpings FC is the champion of the season. ...

season, retaining the League Player of the Year award. Her 23 league goals secured the Top Goalscorer award and helped Linköping win the Damallsvenskan title. By now a transfer target for the biggest clubs in women's football, Harder's agent announced in November 2016 that she would be leaving Linköping for a new challenge.

VfL Wolfsburg

In December 2016, it was announced that Harder had signed a two-and-a-half-year contract with

running from January 2017. In all four seasons with the team, Harder won the

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 ...

and

DFB-Pokal The DFB-Pokal ( is a German knockout football cup competition held annually by the German Football Association (DFB). Sixty-four teams participate in the competition, including all clubs from the Bundesliga and the 2. Bundesliga. It is considered ...

double. She also played in two Champions League finals (

2018 File:2018 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: The 2018 Winter Olympics opening ceremony in PyeongChang, South Korea; Protests erupt following the Assassination of Jamal Khashoggi; March for Our Lives protests take place across the Unit ...

and

2020 2020 was heavily defined by the COVID-19 pandemic, which led to global social and economic disruption, mass cancellations and postponements of events, worldwide lockdowns and the largest economic recession since the Great Depression in t ...

), losing both to

Lyon Lyon,, ; Occitan language, Occitan: ''Lion'', hist. ''Lionés'' also spelled in English as Lyons, is the List of communes in France with over 20,000 inhabitants, third-largest city and Urban area (France), second-largest metropolitan area of F ...

Chelsea

On 1 September 2020, Harder signed for

on a three-year contract for a world-record fee for a female footballer, reportedly in excess of £250,000. In the

2020–21 UEFA Women's Champions League The 2020–21 UEFA Women's Champions League was the 20th edition of the European women's club football championship organised by UEFA, and the 12th edition since being rebranded as the UEFA Women's Champions League. The final was held at the G ...

quarter-finals, she scored in both legs against her former club VfL Wolfsburg.

International career

At the inaugural 2008 FIFA U-17 Women's World Cup in New Zealand, Harder was part of the Denmark team who won their group before losing 4–0 to eventual champions North Korea in the quarter-final. Still 16 years old, she contributed a

hat-trick A hat-trick or hat trick is the achievement of a generally positive feat three times in a match, or another achievement based on the number three. Origin The term first appeared in 1858 in cricket, to describe H. H. Stephenson taking three wic ...

to a crushing 15–0 win over

Georgia Georgia most commonly refers to: * Georgia (country), a country in the Caucasus region of Eurasia * Georgia (U.S. state), a state in the Southeast United States Georgia may also refer to: Places Historical states and entities * Related to the ...

in her senior international debut in October 2009, and she has continued to score regularly for the Danish team ever since. Harder scored further hat-tricks against

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

and

Armenia Armenia (), , group=pron officially the Republic of Armenia,, is a landlocked country in the Armenian Highlands of Western Asia.The UNbr>classification of world regions places Armenia in Western Asia; the CIA World Factbook , , and ' ...

in 2011 and

Russia Russia (, , ), or the Russian Federation, is a transcontinental country spanning Eastern Europe and Northern Asia. It is the largest country in the world, with its internationally recognised territory covering , and encompassing one-eig ...

in 2013. She was named in national coach Kenneth Heiner-Møller's

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

squad for

UEFA Women's Euro 2013 The 2013 UEFA Women's Championship, commonly referred to as Women's Euro 2013, was the 11th European Championship for women's national football teams organised by UEFA. The final tournament, held in Sweden from 10 to 28 July 2013, became the mos ...

. With nine goals she had been the team's top goalscorer in qualifying. In October 2013, Harder won her 50th

cap A cap is a flat headgear, usually with a visor. Caps have crowns that fit very close to the head. They made their first appearance as early as 3200 BC. Caps typically have a visor, or no brim at all. They are popular in casual and informal se ...

for Denmark in a 1–1 draw with

Serbia Serbia (, ; Serbian: , , ), officially the Republic of Serbia (Serbian: , , ), is a landlocked country in Southeastern and Central Europe, situated at the crossroads of the Pannonian Basin and the Balkans. It shares land borders with Hungar ...

. She scored Denmark's goal in the match. In March 2016, Harder was appointed captain of the national team. In 2017, she was named in national coach

Nils Nielsen Nils Herbert Kromann Nielsen (born 3 November 1971) is a Danish football manager. Since 14 November 2018, he is the head coach of the Switzerland women's national football team. Nielsen is best known for his tenure with the Denmark women's natio ...

's Denmark squad for the

UEFA Women's Euro 2017 The 2017 UEFA European Women's Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Women's Euro 2017, was the 12th edition of the UEFA Women's Championship, the quadrennial international football championship organised by UEFA for the women's national tea ...

. She captained the team to the

final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: * Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of con ...

and scored a goal in Denmark's 4–2 defeat by hosts

the Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

. She was voted runner-up to

Lieke Martens Lieke Elisabeth Petronella Martens (; born 16 December 1992) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a winger or midfielder for Division 1 Féminine club Paris Saint-Germain and the Netherlands national team. Martens began her profess ...

in the

for 2016–17. On 16 September 2021, she became the record goalscorer of the Denmark national team, with her 66 goal in her 129 games. She was called up for the

UEFA Women's Euro 2022 The 2022 UEFA European Women's Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Women's Euro 2022 or simply Euro 2022, was the 13th edition of the UEFA Women's Championship, the quadrennial international football championship organised by UE ...

and scored the only goal for denmark, but was eliminated with the national team in the group stage.

Personal life

Since May 2014, Harder has been in a relationship with current

teammate and Swedish international,

Magdalena Eriksson Magdalena Lilly Eriksson (also Ericsson, born 8 September 1993) is a Swedish professional footballer who plays as a defender for Chelsea Women in the English Women's Super League as well as for the Swedish national team.

. She and Magdalena Eriksson work with the charity Common Goal and pledged 1% of their salaries to help tackle social issues throughout football. The couple also both push for equality and LGBTQ+ rights in sport. She has a

Master's degree A master's degree (from Latin ) is an academic degree awarded by universities or colleges upon completion of a course of study demonstrating mastery or a high-order overview of a specific field of study or area of professional practice.

in Business administration. She grew up as an avid Manchester United fan.

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Denmark's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Harder goal.''

Honours

Linköpings *

Damallsvenskan The Damallsvenskan, Swedish for ''ladies all-Swedish'' and also known as OBOS Damallsvenskan for sponsorship reasons, is the highest division of women's football in Sweden. It is also referred to as the women's Allsvenskan. The term Allsvenskan ...

2016 File:2016 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: Bombed-out buildings in Ankara following the 2016 Turkish coup d'état attempt; the Impeachment of Dilma Rousseff, impeachment trial of Brazilian President Dilma Rousseff; Damaged houses duri ...

Svenska Cupen Svenska Cupen (, ''The Swedish Cup'') is a knockout cup competition in Swedish football and the main Swedish football cup. Svenska Cupen usually refers to the men's tournament, although a women's tournament is also held. Each year 96 teams compe ...

: 2014, 2015; runner-up: 2016 *

Svenska Supercupen Svenska Supercupen, ''Swedish Super Cup'', was a one-off fixture in Swedish football played between the Allsvenskan champions and the winners of Svenska Cupen. The fixture was played in November, after the Allsvenskan season. In the event of a ...

runner up: 2015, 2016 VfL Wolfsburg *

: 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20 *

UEFA Women's Champions League The UEFA Women's Champions League, previously called the UEFA Women's Cup (2001–2009), is a European women's association football competition. It involves the top club teams from countries affiliated with the European governing body UEFA. The ...

runner-up: 2017–18, 2019–20 Chelsea *

: 2020–21, 2021–22 *

Women's FA Cup The Women's FA Challenge Cup Competition is the top annual cup tournament for women's clubs in English football. Founded in 1970, it has been named the WFA Cup, FA Women's Cup and now Women's FA Cup (Vitality Women's FA Cup for sponsorship rea ...

: 2020–21, 2021–22 *

FA Women's League Cup The FA Women's League Cup is a league cup competition in English women's association football. The competition was originally open to the eight teams in the FA WSL, but since the WSL's restructuring to two divisions, it has featured 23 teams. Pri ...

: 2020–21 * UEFA Women's Champions League runner-up: 2020–21 Denmark *

UEFA Women's Euro The UEFA European Women's Championship, also called the UEFA Women's Euro, held every four years, is the main competition in women's association football between national teams of the UEFA confederation. The competition is the women's equivalent ...

runner-up:

2017 File:2017 Events Collage V2.png, From top left, clockwise: The War Against ISIS at the Battle of Mosul (2016-2017); aftermath of the Manchester Arena bombing; The Solar eclipse of August 21, 2017 ("Great American Eclipse"); North Korea tests a s ...

Individual * Danish Breakthrough Player of the Year: 2010 *

: 2012, 2015, 2016, 2017, 2018, 2019, 2020 *

's Most Valuable Player: 2015, 2016 * Damallsvenskan Forward of the Year: 2015, 2016 * Damallsvenskan Top scorer:

* FIFPro: FIFA FIFPro World XI: 2017, 2020 * UEFA Women's European Championship All Star Team: 2017 * Goal 50: 2017 * UEFA Women's Champions League Squad of the Season: 2016–17, 2017–18, 2018–19, 2019–20, 2020–21 * IFFHS Women's World Team: 2017, 2018, 2020 * Frauen-Bundesliga Top scorer: 2017–18, 2019–20 *

: 2017–18, 2019–20 * UEFA Women's Champions League Top scorer: 2018–19 * UEFA Champions League Forward of the Season: 2019–20 * The 100 Best Female Footballers In The World Winner: 2018, 2020 * Niedersachsens Fußballer des Jahres: 2020 *

Women's Footballer of the Year (Germany) The title Footballer of the Year (German: ''Fußballer des Jahres'') has been awarded in Germany since 1960. Eligible are German players as well as non-German players playing in Germany. In 1996, the title Women's Footballer of the Year (German ...

: 2020 * '' World Soccer''s Women's World Player of the Year: 2020 * IFFHS World's Best Woman Player: 2020 * IFFHS UEFA Woman Team of the Decade 2011–2020 *

Goal of the Month: September 2021 *Nominated for the

Ballon d'Or Féminin The Ballon d'Or Féminin (), also known as the Women's Ballon d'Or, is an association football award presented by '' France Football'' that honours the player deemed to have performed the best over the previous season. It was first awarded in 20 ...

(2018 2.place), (2019 14.place) (2021 7.place)

References

External links

* * *
Danish football stats
at DBU * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Harder, Pernille 1992 births Living people Danish women's footballers Denmark women's international footballers Danish expatriate women's footballers Danish expatriate sportspeople in Germany Expatriate women's footballers in Germany Danish expatriate sportspeople in Sweden Expatriate women's footballers in Sweden Danish expatriate sportspeople in England Expatriate women's footballers in England Damallsvenskan players Linköpings FC players Women's Super League players VfL Wolfsburg (women) players Chelsea F.C. Women players People from Ikast-Brande Municipality Women's association football forwards Lesbian sportswomen LGBT association football players LGBT rights activists from Denmark LGBT sportspeople from Denmark FIFA Century Club Sportspeople from the Central Denmark Region UEFA Women's Euro 2022 players UEFA Women's Euro 2017 players