Christophe Didier Berra (born 31 January 1985) is a Scottish professional

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kicking a ball to score a goal. Unqualified, the word ''football'' normally means the form of football that is the most popular where the word is used. Sports commonly ...

former player and coach, who is currently the first team coach for

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. Berra began his professional career with Heart of Midlothian, playing 146 times for them before he moved to England in 2009 in a £2.5 million transfer to

Wolverhampton Wanderers Wolverhampton Wanderers Football Club (), commonly known as Wolves, is a professional football club based in Wolverhampton, England, which compete in the . The club has played at Molineux Stadium since moving from Dudley Road in 1889. The club' ...

. He was part of their promotion to the

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months later and played in the top flight with the team for three seasons before relegation. His contract was not renewed in 2013, after which he signed for

Ipswich Town Ipswich Town Football Club is a professional association football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. They play in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. The club was founded in 1878 but did not turn professio ...

. Berra made 174 league appearances in four years with Ipswich before rejoining Hearts in 2017. In April 2021, he signed a two-year pre contract agreement with Raith Rovers. After just over a season of playing for Raith and becoming a coach, Berra announced his retirement in July 2022.

Club career

Heart of Midlothian

Berra was born and raised in

Edinburgh Edinburgh ( ; gd, Dùn Èideann ) is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. Historically part of the county of Midlothian (interchangeably Edinburghshire before 1921), it is located in Lothian ...

. He joined Heart of Midlothian on 26 April 2002 from their youth development system. He is one in a long line of young defenders, particularly

centre back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield position whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Centre-backs are usually positioned in pairs, with one full-back on either ...

s, to have progressed through the Hearts youth system, including Paul Ritchie and Alan McLaren. After impressive performances in the youth and Under-21 teams, Berra made his first team debut on 30 November 2003 as a substitute in a 2–1 defeat at Dundee United. He made only a handful of further appearances during the remainder of the 2003–04 season, but continued his development over the following campaigns, becoming an important member of the first-team squad. He scored in a 2–0 victory against

Kilmarnock Kilmarnock (, sco, Kilmaurnock; gd, Cill Mheàrnaig (IPA: ʰʲɪʎˈveaːɾnəkʲ, "Marnock's church") is a large town and former burgh in East Ayrshire, Scotland and is the administrative centre of East Ayrshire, East Ayrshire Council. ...

in season 2005–06 which aided the Tynecastle club's push towards

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

qualification. That season also saw him gain a

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,2006 Scottish Cup Final win against Gretna. In July 2006, Berra signed a five-year deal with Hearts, before going on to play in the club's European ties in Champions League qualifiers and the

UEFA Cup A cup is an open-top used to hold hot or cold liquids for pouring or drinking; while mainly used for drinking, it also can be used to store solids for pouring (e.g., sugar, flour, grains, salt). Cups may be made of glass, metal, china, clay ...

during a season that saw the club finish fourth. The following season, he became the youngest captain in the SPL after the departure of the previous Hearts captain

Craig Gordon Craig Sinclair Gordon (born 31 December 1982) is a Scottish professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper for Scottish Premiership club Heart of Midlothian, where he is club captain, and the Scottish national team. Gordon started his c ...

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port city in Tyne and Wear, England. It is the City of Sunderland's administrative centre and in the Historic counties of England, historic county of County of Durham, Durham. The city is from Newcastle-upon-Tyne and is on t ...

in August 2007.

Wolverhampton Wanderers

Berra won international recognition at the end of the 2007–08 season and, during the close season, his growing reputation attracted the attention of

Championship In sport, a championship is a competition in which the aim is to decide which individual or team is the champion. Championship systems Various forms of competition can be referred to by the term championship. Title match system In this system ...

club

. They made a reported £1.5 million bid to sign him, but it was not considered as Hearts were without a manager at the time. Wolves returned with an improved offer – reportedly £2million – on 27 January 2009, but it was again rejected. However, he eventually signed for Wolves for an undisclosed fee – believed to be around £2.5m – in a four-and-a-half-year deal on

transfer deadline day A transfer window is the period during the year in which a football club can transfer players from other playing staff into their playing staff. Such a transfer is completed by registering the player into the new club through FIFA. "Transfer w ...

. He made his club debut on 7 February 2009 in a 1–2 defeat at

Coventry Coventry ( or ) is a city in the West Midlands, England. It is on the River Sherbourne. Coventry has been a large settlement for centuries, although it was not founded and given its city status until the Middle Ages. The city is governed b ...

. Berra helped Wolves complete the season at the top of the Championship and so enter Premier League. He went on to play regularly during their three seasons in the top division, being partnered at centre back by a collection of players including Jody Craddock,

Richard Stearman Richard James Michael Stearman (born 19 August 1987) is an English professional footballer who plays as a defender for Derby County. He is a versatile defender, being able to play in any defensive slot although primarily a centre half or right ...

and Roger Johnson. After three seasons Berra was a mainstay of the Wolves team that finished bottom of the

2011–12 Premier League The 2011–12 Premier League (known as the Barclays Premier League for sponsorship reasons) was the 20th season of the Premier League since its establishment in 1992. The season began on 13 August 2011 and ended on 13 May 2012 with Manchester Ci ...

and so were relegated back to the Championship. Following relegation, Berra had a transfer request accepted by Wolves. but this did not lead to any move away from the club and he remained part of the first team during the season. Then-Wolves manager Ståle Solbakken stated that Berra's game had improved and stated that he hoped the club could agree a new contract with Berra. However, Solbakken was soon fired and Berra dropped out of first team contention under Dean Saunders. At the end of the campaign, which again saw the team relegated, it was announced that Berra would leave the club. In total he made 154 appearances for the club, without scoring.

Ipswich Town

Berra signed for

, managed by his former Wolves manager Mick McCarthy, in July 2013. He made his debut for the club in a 0–2 away loss to

Stevenage Stevenage ( ) is a large town and borough in Hertfordshire, England, about north of London. Stevenage is east of junctions 7 and 8 of the A1(M), between Letchworth Garden City to the north and Welwyn Garden City to the south. In 1946, Steven ...

in a

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first-round tie on 6 August 2013. He made 46 appearances during his first season at

Portman Road Portman Road is a football stadium in Ipswich, Suffolk, England, which has been the home ground of Ipswich Town F.C. since 1884. The stadium has also hosted many England youth international matches, and one senior England friendly internation ...

, as Ipswich finished 9th in the Championship. Berra formed a defensive partnership with Tommy Smith. He scored five league goals in the 2013–14 season, which was the third highest total by an Ipswich player that season. Berra won the Ipswich Town Supporters Player of the Season award for the 2013–14 season. He continued as a first-team regular during the 2014–15 season, making his first appearance of the season in a 2–1 home win over

Fulham Fulham () is an area of the London Borough of Hammersmith & Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea. The area faces Wandswor ...

on the opening day of the season. On 19 August, he scored a brace in a 2–2 draw with

Birmingham City Birmingham City Football Club is a professional football club based in Birmingham, England. Formed in 1875 as Small Heath Alliance, it was renamed Small Heath in 1888, Birmingham in 1905, and Birmingham City in 1943. Since 2011, the first te ...

. He signed a new three-year contract with Ipswich in September 2014. Berra made 50 appearances in all competitions over the course of the season, scoring 6 goals, as Ipswich finished 6th in the league and qualified for the Championship play-offs. Berra made his first appearance of the 2015–16 season on 11 August, starting in a 2–1 win over Stevenage in a League Cup first-round tie. He scored his first goal of the season in a 2–2 draw with

Bolton Wanderers Bolton Wanderers Football Club () is a professional football club based in Horwich, Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in . The club played at Burnden Park for 102 years from 1895 after moving from their original home at Pik ...

on 8 March 2016. He made a total of 44 appearances during the season, scoring once. Berra continued to play regularly for Ipswich during the 2016–17 season. He scored his first goal of the season on 14 January, netting in a 3–2 home win over

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. Th ...

. He made 46 appearances during the season, scoring 2 goals. Ipswich had an option to extend his contract for another year, but they decided not to exercise this after Berra expressed his desire to return to Scotland and he subsequently left the club at the end of the season.

Return to Hearts

On 23 May 2017 Berra signed a pre-contract to return to Hearts. He made his second debut for the club on 18 July in the group stage of the

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in existe ...

, a 1–0 win at Elgin City. Four days later in the next game in the tournament, he scored his first goal since his comeback, heading Malaury Martin's corner kick in a 3–0 home win over East Fife. He won Heart's Player of the Year award during his first season back at the club, while also earning a place in the 2017–18 PFA Scottish Premiership Team of the Year. In August 2018, Berra suffered a severe hamstring injury during a 1–0 win against

Celtic Celtic, Celtics or Keltic may refer to: Language and ethnicity *pertaining to Celts, a collection of Indo-European peoples in Europe and Anatolia **Celts (modern) *Celtic languages **Proto-Celtic language *Celtic music *Celtic nations Sports Foo ...

. Hearts initially estimated that it would prevent him from playing for six months. He returned to action in December, and then extended his contract with Hearts in January. After signing the contract, Berra said he intended to retire as a Hearts player. Berra played regularly for Hearts during the initial part of the 2019–20 season, but was dropped by new manager Daniel Stendel after an

Edinburgh derby The Edinburgh derby is an informal title given to any football match played between Scottish clubs Heart of Midlothian (Hearts) and Hibernian (Hibs), the two oldest professional clubs based in Edinburgh, Scotland. The two clubs have a fierce ...

defeat on 26 December. Stendel then told Berra in early January that he was being made available for transfer and would no longer be involved with the Hearts first team squad. Berra was therefore stripped of the captaincy, which was then given to

Steven Naismith Steven John Naismith (born 14 September 1986) is a Scottish former professional footballer. He is football development manager at Scottish club Heart of Midlothian. Naismith began his career with Kilmarnock in 2004. He spent four years with ...

. On 31 January, Berra was loaned to

club

Dundee Dundee (; sco, Dundee; gd, Dùn Dè or ) is Scotland's fourth-largest city and the 51st-most-populous built-up area in the United Kingdom. The mid-year population estimate for 2016 was , giving Dundee a population density of 2,478/km2 or ...

. Upon his arrival, he immediately became a key player for the Dark Blues. Berra very quickly struck up an effective partnership with Jordon Forster and Josh Meekings, with the defence keeping five consecutive clean sheets before the season was ended early by the

COVID-19 pandemic The COVID-19 pandemic, also known as the coronavirus pandemic, is an ongoing global pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19) caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2). The novel virus was first identi ...

. While Berra was on loan at Dundee, Hearts had been relegated to the

Robbie Neilson Robbie Neilson (born 19 June 1980) is a Scottish professional football manager and former player who is currently the manager of Scottish Premiership club Heart of Midlothian. Neilson, who played as a right-back, started his senior career wit ...

replaced Stendel as Hearts manager during the 2020 close season and he returned the captaincy to Berra. In March 2021 Hearts announced that Berra's contract would not be extended and that he would leave the club at the end of the 2020–21 season.

Raith Rovers

In April 2021, Berra agreed a two-year contract with Raith Rovers. After a season and a

Scottish Challenge Cup The Scottish Professional Football League Challenge Cup,Livingston Livingston may refer to: Businesses * Livingston Energy Flight, an Italian airline (2003–2010) * Livingston Compagnia Aerea, an Italian airline (2011–2014), also known as Livingston Airline * Livingston International, a North American customs ...

, working under

David Martindale David Paul Martindale (born 13 July 1974) is a Scottish football manager who currently manages Scottish Premiership club Livingston. Martindale did not play for any professional team but did play Junior football for Linlithgow Rose and Wes ...

International career

Berra was eligible to play for both

Scotland Scotland (, ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. Covering the northern third of the island of Great Britain, mainland Scotland has a border with England to the southeast and is otherwise surrounded by the Atlantic Ocean to ...

(through his mother) and

France France (), officially the French Republic ( ), is a country primarily located in Western Europe. It also comprises of Overseas France, overseas regions and territories in the Americas and the Atlantic Ocean, Atlantic, Pacific Ocean, Pac ...

(through his father), although having been born and grown up in Scotland, he has always committed to Scotland, and has been capped at different age levels right up to the senior side. He made his senior international debut as a substitute, on 30 May 2008 in a 3–1 defeat against the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, or simply Czechia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. Historically known as Bohemia, it is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the southeast. The ...

at the AXA Arena in Prague. Berra made his first start for the national team in the

Amsterdam Arena The Johan Cruyff Arena ( nl, Johan Cruijff Arena ; officially stylised as Johan Cruijff ArenA) is the main stadium of the Dutch capital city of Amsterdam and the home stadium of football club AFC Ajax since its opening. Built from 1993 to 1996 ...

on 28 March 2009 in the match against 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 ...

as part of

2010 FIFA World Cup qualification Qualifying for the 2010 FIFA World Cup was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA confederations. Each confederation — the AFC (Asia), CAF (Africa), CONCACAF (North, Central America and Caribbean), CONMEBOL (South America), OFC (Oc ...

. Berra scored his first goal for Scotland on 25 May 2011 against

Wales Wales ( cy, Cymru ) is a country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by England to the east, the Irish Sea to the north and west, the Celtic Sea to the south west and the Bristol Channel to the south. It had a population in ...

in the 2011 Nations Cup. Scotland finished as runners-up in the tournament. He featured regularly during Scotland's

UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying The qualifying competition for UEFA Euro 2012 was a series of parallel association football competitions held over 2010 and 2011 to decide the qualifiers for UEFA Euro 2012, held in Poland and Ukraine. The draw for the qualifying rounds was hel ...

campaign, featuring in games against

Lithuania Lithuania (; lt, Lietuva ), officially the Republic of Lithuania ( lt, Lietuvos Respublika, links=no ), is a country in the Baltic region of Europe. It is one of three Baltic states and lies on the eastern shore of the Baltic Sea. Lithuania ...

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein (german: link=no, Fürstentum Liechtenstein), is a German language, German-speaking microstate located in the Alps between Austria and Switzerland. Liechtenstein is a semi-constit ...

and

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") , ...

. Scotland finished third in the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying Group I, just missing out on a place in the group play-offs. On 29 February 2012 he scored his second goal for Scotland, netting the equalizing goal in a 1–1 friendly draw with

Slovenia Slovenia ( ; sl, Slovenija ), officially the Republic of Slovenia (Slovene: , abbr.: ''RS''), is a country in Central Europe. It is bordered by Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the southeast, and ...

at the Bonifika Stadium, Koper, Slovenia. Later that year, Berra was called up to the Scotland squad for the 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification. He featured in four of the group stage matches, with Scotland finishing fourth in the UEFA Group A. He scored his next goal for his country on 25 March 2015 when he scored the winning goal in a 1–0 win over

Northern Ireland Northern Ireland ( ga, Tuaisceart Éireann ; sco, label=Ulster Scots dialect, Ulster-Scots, Norlin Airlann) is a part of the United Kingdom, situated in the north-east of the island of Ireland, that is #Descriptions, variously described as ...

Hampden Park Hampden Park (Scottish Gaelic: ''Pàirc Hampden''), often referred to as Hampden, is a football stadium in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow, Scotland. The -capacity venue serves as the national stadium of football in Scotland. It is the no ...

, Glasgow, Scotland. Berra was part of Scotland's 2018 FIFA World Cup qualification campaign. He scored in a 2–0 win over

Malta Malta ( , , ), officially the Republic of Malta ( mt, Repubblika ta' Malta ), is an island country in the Mediterranean Sea. It consists of an archipelago, between Italy and Libya, and is often considered a part of Southern Europe. It lies ...

at Hampden Park in a qualifier on 4 September 2017. Scotland finished third in their qualifying group.

Career statistics

Club

International

International goals

:''As of match played 4 September 2017. Scotland score listed first, score column indicates score after each Berra goal.''

Honours

Heart of Midlothian *

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,2005–06; runner-up: 2018–19, 2019–20 *

Scottish Championship The Scottish Championship, known as the cinch Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional football clubs in Scotland. The Scottish Champio ...

2020–21 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen b ...

Wolverhampton Wanderers *

Football League Championship The English Football League Championship (often referred to as the Championship for short or the Sky Bet Championship for sponsorship purposes) is the highest division of the English Football League (EFL) and second-highest overall in the E ...

: 2008–09 Raith Rovers *

Scottish Challenge Cup The Scottish Professional Football League Challenge Cup,2021–22 Scotland * Nations Cup runner-up:

2011 File:2011 Events Collage.png, From top left, clockwise: a protester partaking in Occupy Wall Street heralds the beginning of the Occupy movement; protests against Libyan dictator Muammar Gaddafi, who was killed that October; a young man celebrates ...

Individual * Scottish Premier League Young Player of the Month: January 2007 * Ipswich Town Player of the Year: 2013–14 * Heart of Midlothian Player of the Year: 2017–18 * PFA Scotland Team of the Year:

2017–18 Scottish Premiership The 2017–18 Scottish Premiership (known as the Ladbrokes Premiership for sponsorship reasons) was the fifth season of the Scottish Premiership, the highest division of Scottish football. The fixtures were published on 23 June 2017. The season ...

References

External links

Christophe Berra profile
at the Ipswich Town F.C. website * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Berra, Christophe 1985 births Living people Footballers from Edinburgh Scottish footballers Scotland under-21 international footballers Scotland B international footballers Scotland international footballers Association football defenders Heart of Midlothian F.C. players Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C. players Ipswich Town F.C. players Dundee F.C. players Scottish Premier League players English Football League players Premier League players Scottish Professional Football League players Scottish people of French descent Raith Rovers F.C. non-playing staff Livingston F.C. non-playing staff