Patrice Bernier (born September 23, 1979) is a Canadian retired professional soccer player. A long-time mainstay of the Canada national team, the

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 ...

played the majority of his career with Montreal Impact in addition to playing in Denmark, Germany, and Norway.

Club career

In 1998-99, Bernier played

college soccer College soccer is played by teams composed of soccer players who are enrolled in colleges and universities. It is very prominent in United States, Japan, South Korea, Canada, and as well as in South Africa and the Philippines. The United K ...

for Syracuse University in the United States. At Syracuse, Bernier played 38 matches and recorded 34 points with 12 goals and 10 assists. He was named to the

Big East The Big East Conference is a collegiate athletic conference that competes in NCAA Division I in ten men's sports and twelve women's sports. Headquartered in New York City, the eleven full-member schools are primarily located in Northeast and ...

All-Rookie Team in his freshman year and the All-Big East First Team in his sophomore year. Bernier played for the original Montreal Impact in the A-league in Canada in 2000. He joined Norwegian side Moss F.K. to play alongside compatriot

Rob Friend Rob or ROB may refer to: Places * Rob, Velike Lašče, a settlement in Slovenia * Roberts International Airport (IATA code ROB), in Monrovia, Liberia People * Rob (given name), a given name or nickname, e.g., for Robert(o), Robin/Robyn * Rob ( ...

at the start of the 2003 season. He has some background in hockey, but he was told he was too short to reach the top level.

Tromsø

Bernier signed for

Tromsø IL Tromsø Idrettslag is a Norwegian professional football club founded in 1920, based in the city of Tromsø. They play their home games at Alfheim Stadion. Tromsø play in the Eliteserien. Tromsø have won the Norwegian Cup twice, in 1986 and 19 ...

in the summer of 2004. He was picked up from the Norwegian 1st division team Moss F.K. for less than 500,000 NOK (approx.

€ The euro sign () is the currency sign used for the euro, the official currency of the eurozone and unilaterally adopted by Kosovo and Montenegro. The design was presented to the public by the European Commission on 12 December 1996. It consists ...

63,000 or $75,000

USD The United States dollar (symbol: $; code: USD; also abbreviated US$ or U.S. Dollar, to distinguish it from other dollar-denominated currencies; referred to as the dollar, U.S. dollar, American dollar, or colloquially buck) is the official ...

). An almost complete midfielder, he was very aggressive, with good technique, a fine passing foot, heavy shot, and exceptional running capacity. He delivered the best stamina test results in the history of Tromsø, surpassing even former Tromsø player

Morten Gamst Pedersen Morten Gamst Pedersen (born 8 September 1981) is a Norwegian professional footballer who last played as a midfielder for Åsane. Pedersen began his career with Tromsø, then played for English side Blackburn Rovers between 2004 and 2013. He the ...

. After a spectacular autumn season and a fine spring for Tromsø, they refused an offer of 10 million NOK (approx. €1.3 million) for him from the Turkish club Beşiktaş. Bernier started the 2007 season as one of the Tippeliga's best players, scoring two fantastic goals against Norway's best soccer club over the last 20 years, Rosenborg BK. Although Rosenborg went on to win the game with an injury-time goal by Alexander Tettey, Bernier was awarded the "Man of the Match"-prize. Tromsø immediately offered Bernier a new contract; however, he rejected it as he wanted to leave Norway for a better league. Tromsø then put forth an even better deal, but Bernier was determined to leave Tippeligaen.

Kaiserslautern

On May 28, 2007, Bernier left Tromsø for the German

2. Bundesliga The 2. Bundesliga ( ) is the second division of professional football in Germany. It was implemented 11 years after the founding of the Fußball-Bundesliga as the new second division for professional football. The 2. Bundesliga is ranked below ...

club

1. FC Kaiserslautern 1. Fußball-Club Kaiserslautern e. V., also known as 1. FCK, FCK (), FC Kaiserslautern () or colloquially Lautern (), is a German sports club based in Kaiserslautern, Rhineland-Palatinate. In addition to football, the club also operates in sev ...

, where former Vålerenga I.F. Fotball

Kjetil Rekdal Kjetil André Rekdal (born 6 November 1968) is a Norwegian football manager and a former player. He is the manager of Eliteserien club Rosenborg. Rekdal began his playing career in Molde FK, playing afterwards for clubs in the Bundesliga, Lig ...

was the trainer.

Nordsjælland

On June 25, 2008, Bernier signed a contract with Danish club

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 ...

. On August 14, 2008, he scored the winning goal in the first leg of a

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 ...

second qualifying round match versus Scottish club, Queen of the South of Dumfries. Bernier scored the winning goal and his first goal of the 2010 season on November 14 in a 2–1 home win over

Lyngby Kongens Lyngby (, Danish for "the King's Heather Town"; short form Lyngby) is the seat and commercial centre of Lyngby-Taarbæk Municipality in the northern suburbs of Copenhagen, Denmark. Lyngby Hovedgade is a busy shopping street and the site ...

. He ended his season early in May against

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 ...

, following an early substitution it was revealed that he suffered a fracture in his fibula. He played over 90 games in all competitions combined with FC Nordsjaelland from the summer of 2008 until the summer of 2011, winning the Danish Cup in 2010 and 2011. He was voted Player of the Year in 2010 by the supporters of FC Nordsjaelland.

Lyngby Boldklub

On August 24, 2011, Bernier signed a one-year contract with

Lyngby Boldklub Lyngby Boldklub () is a Danish professional football club founded in 1921. It is based at Lyngby Stadion in Kongens Lyngby, Lyngby-Taarbæk Municipality, a northern suburb of Copenhagen. From 1994 to 2001 the club was known as Lyngby FC. The club ...

. He made his debut against his former club, in a 4–0 loss to FCN. On October 16, Bernier scored his first goal for the club in a 3–2 loss to

Silkeborg IF Silkeborg Idrætsforening, (; commonly known as Silkeborg IF or SIF in short) is a professional football club based in Silkeborg, Denmark. The club was founded in 1917, reached the highest level of Danish football in 1987, and afterwards became ...

Montreal Impact

On December 19, 2011, Bernier signed a contract to join Montreal Impact upon their entry into Major League Soccer in 2012. He remained under contract with Lyngby Boldklub while they finished their season. However, he had an out clause that allowed him to leave without a transfer fee to the Impact. Bernier scored his first goal for Montreal in a 2–0 away victory against Sporting Kansas City on May 5, 2012. He was named MLS Player of the Week for Week 13–15 in the 2012 MLS. He was also named MLS Player of the Month for the month of August 2012. Under his captaincy, the Impact reached the CONCACAF Champions League final in 2015 and the MLS Eastern Conference final losing to Toronto FC in 2016. At age 38, he played the final match of his career on October 22, 2017 against the

New England Revolution The New England Revolution is an American professional soccer club based in the Greater Boston area that competes in Major League Soccer (MLS), in the Eastern Conference of the league. It is one of the ten charter clubs of MLS, having compe ...

International career

Bernier played at the 1995 FIFA U-17 World Championship in

Ecuador Ecuador ( ; ; Quechua: ''Ikwayur''; Shuar: ''Ecuador'' or ''Ekuatur''), officially the Republic of Ecuador ( es, República del Ecuador, which literally translates as "Republic of the Equator"; Quechua: ''Ikwadur Ripuwlika''; Shuar: ' ...

, alongside Brad Parker. They are the only ones of that squad to make it to the senior team. He made his senior debut for

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

in a November 2003 friendly match 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 ...

. By December 2009, he earned a total of 43 caps, scoring two goals. He reached 50 caps in a friendly against Jamaica on September 9, 2014. After a two-year absence, Bernier returned to the national team under

Octavio Zambrano Octavio Zambrano Viera (born February 3, 1958) is an Ecuadorian football coach. He is a former player with international coaching experience. Zambrano has coached in North America, Latin America, and Europe. He holds a UEFA "A" diploma and a USS ...

for a friendly against Curaçao on June 13, 2017. The next month he captained Canada at the

2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup The 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup was the 14th edition of the CONCACAF Gold Cup, the biennial international men's soccer championship of the North, Central American and Caribbean region organized by CONCACAF, and 24th CONCACAF regional championship ove ...

, retiring from the national team after Canada's elimination in the quarter-finals to

Jamaica Jamaica (; ) is an island country situated in the Caribbean Sea. Spanning in area, it is the third-largest island of the Greater Antilles and the Caribbean (after Cuba and Hispaniola). Jamaica lies about south of Cuba, and west of His ...

Personal life

Bernier was born in

Brossard Brossard (, , ) is a municipality in the Montérégie region of Quebec, Canada and is part of the Greater Montreal area. According to the 2021 census, Brossard's population was 91,525. It shares powers with the urban agglomeration of Longueuil ...

Quebec Quebec ( ; )According to the Canadian government, ''Québec'' (with the acute accent) is the official name in Canadian French and ''Quebec'' (without the accent) is the province's official name in Canadian English is one of the thirtee ...

, in a Haitian family to Jean and Gladys Bernier. After watching the 1986 FIFA World Cup in Mexico (the only World Cup that Canada had appeared in until

2022 File:2022 collage V1.png, Clockwise, from top left: Road junction at Yamato-Saidaiji Station several hours after the assassination of Shinzo Abe; Anti-government protest in Sri Lanka in front of the Presidential Secretariat; The global monkeypo ...

), he was drawn to the sport. His family signed him up for soccer as it was the most popular sport in Haiti. He began his club career at ''L'Association de Soccer de Brossard'' (AS Brossard), with his father as his first coach.

Coaching career

In 2018, a few weeks after his retirement, it was announced that Bernier was named as a U13, U15, U17, and U19 assistant coach at the

Montreal Impact Academy Montreal ( ; officially Montréal, ) is the second-most populous city in Canada and most populous city in the Canadian province of Quebec. Founded in 1642 as '' Ville-Marie'', or "City of Mary", it is named after Mount Royal, the triple-pe ...

. In 2019, he became an assistant coach with the first team under

Thierry Henry Thierry Daniel Henry (born 17 August 1977) is a French professional football coach, pundit, and former player who is an assistant coach for the Belgium national team. Considered one of the best strikers of all time and one of the best player ...

. In February 2021, he announced he was leaving his role with the first team to take a broadcasting position, but will remain with the club's academy as post-training supervisor, particularly with the Under-23 team.

Broadcasting career

In February 2021, Bernier announced he would quit his coaching position at CF Montreal to become an analyst for

TVA Sports TVA Sports is a Canadian French-language sports specialty channel owned by the Groupe TVA, a publicly traded subsidiary of Quebecor Media. The channel is a general-interest sports network, and the first major competitor to RDS, the only other ...

Hockey career

Bernier was also placed in hockey at the age of six. He played two seasons in the major-junior

Quebec Major Junior Hockey League The Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (french: Ligue de hockey junior majeur du Québec; abbreviated ''QMJHL'' in English, ''LHJMQ'' in French) is one of the three major junior ice hockey leagues that constitute the Canadian Hockey League. The ...

(QMJHL) as a defender. He spent parts of those seasons with the

Val-d'Or Foreurs The Val-d'Or Foreurs are a junior ice hockey team based in Val-d'Or, in the region of Abitibi-Témiscamingue, Quebec, Canada. The team was founded for the 1993–94 season of the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League, a member of the Canadian Hock ...

where he would be teammates with future

National Hockey League The National Hockey League (NHL; french: Ligue nationale de hockey—LNH, ) is a professional ice hockey league in North America comprising 32 teams—25 in the United States and 7 in Canada. It is considered to be the top ranked professional ...

players Steve Bégin and

Roberto Luongo Roberto Luongo (, , ; born April 4, 1979) is a Canadian former professional ice hockey goaltender. He played 19 seasons in the National Hockey League (NHL) for the New York Islanders, Florida Panthers and the Vancouver Canucks. Luongo is a two ...

, and the

Sherbrooke Castors The Sherbrooke Castors or Beavers (in English) was the name of two different junior ice hockey teams in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League and another team in the Quebec Eastern Provincial Hockey League. Both later franchises played at the Pal ...

. In his first season in 1996-97, Bernier's

took part in the QMJHL playoffs and made it through the second round before being eliminated in the division final by the

Hull Olympiques The Gatineau Olympiques are a junior ice hockey, major junior ice hockey team based in Gatineau, Quebec, Canada, that plays in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League (QMJHL). Starting with the 2021–22 season, the Olympiques play home games at Ce ...

, the eventual playoff winners. He began the following season with Val-d'Or, but roughly 40 games later joined the

who failed to qualify for the playoffs. Bernier decided to end his hockey career following discussions with an agent who told him that he lacked interest from any

teams. In 143 games, he amassed 17 goals and 73 points.

Honours

Club

FC Nordsjælland *

Danish Cup The Danish Cup ( da, Landspokalturneringen; often referred to as Pokalen) is the official "knockout" cup competition in Danish football, run by the Danish Football Association. The cup has been contested annually since 1955. The winner will quali ...

: 2009–10,

2010–11 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number representing a single or the only entity. 1 is also a numerical digit and represents a single unit of counting or measurement. For example, a line segment of ''unit length'' is a line segment of length 1. ...

Montreal Impact * Canadian Championship:

2013 File:2013 Events Collage V2.png, From left, clockwise: Edward Snowden becomes internationally famous for leaking classified NSA wiretapping information; Typhoon Haiyan kills over 6,000 in the Philippines and Southeast Asia; The Dhaka garment fa ...

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 ...

Individual * Quebec Soccer Hall of Fame: 2017 * Canada Soccer Hall of Fame: 2022

References

External links

* * / Canada Soccer Hall of Fame
Patrice Bernier
at Montreal Impact
FC Nordsjælland stats
* * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Bernier, Patrice 1979 births Living people People from Brossard Francophone Quebec people Black Canadian soccer players Association football midfielders Soccer people from Quebec Canadian soccer players Canada men's international soccer players 2005 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2007 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2009 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 2017 CONCACAF Gold Cup players Canadian expatriate soccer players Canadian expatriate sportspeople in the United States Canadian expatriate sportspeople in Norway Canadian expatriate sportspeople in Germany Canadian expatriate sportspeople in Denmark Syracuse Orange men's soccer players Montreal Impact (1992–2011) players Moss FK players Tromsø IL players 1. FC Kaiserslautern players FC Nordsjælland players Lyngby Boldklub players CF Montréal players A-League (1995–2004) players Eliteserien players Danish Superliga players 2. Bundesliga players Major League Soccer players Major League Soccer All-Stars Expatriate soccer players in the United States Expatriate footballers in Norway Expatriate footballers in Germany Expatriate men's footballers in Denmark Canadian sportspeople of Haitian descent Canada men's youth international soccer players Canada men's under-23 international soccer players Val-d'Or Foreurs players Sherbrooke Faucons players