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

football Football is a family of team sports that involve, to varying degrees, kick (football), kicking a football (ball), ball to score a goal (sports), goal. Unqualified, football (word), the word ''football'' generally means the form of football t ...

former player and coach. 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 referred to as Wolves, is a professional association football, football club based in Wolverhampton, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football league s ...

. He was part of their promotion to the

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

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 football club based in Ipswich, Suffolk, England. The club currently competes in the EFL Championship, the second tier of English football. Ipswich Town were founded in 1878 but did not turn ...

. 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 Raith Rovers Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the town of Kirkcaldy, Fife. The club was founded in 1883 and currently competes in the as a member of the Scottish Professional Football League. The club has won f ...

. After just over a poor 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 is the capital city of Scotland and one of its 32 Council areas of Scotland, council areas. The city is located in southeast Scotland and is bounded to the north by the Firth of Forth and to the south by the Pentland Hills. Edinburgh ...

. 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 Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

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 Dundee United Football Club is a Scotland, Scottish professional association football, football club based in the city of Dundee. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1923. United are nickname ...

. 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 ( ; ; , ), meaning "the church of Mernóc", is a town and former burgh in East Ayrshire situated in southwest Scotland. The town has served as the administrative centre of East Ayrshire Council since 1996 and is the region's main ...

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

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (UCL) is an annual club association football competition organised by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) that is contested by List of top-division football clubs in UEFA countries, top-divisio ...

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 The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star. Computer scientists and Mathematici ...

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 club Heart of Midlothian and the Scotland national team. Gordon started his career with Currie Boys before joining Heart of ...

Sunderland Sunderland () is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Tyne and Wear, England. It is a port at the mouth of the River Wear on the North Sea, approximately south-east of Newcastle upon Tyne. It is the most p ...

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 sys ...

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

Coventry Coventry ( or rarely ) is a City status in the United Kingdom, cathedral city and metropolitan borough in the West Midlands (county), West Midlands county, in England, on the River Sherbourne. Coventry had been a large settlement for centurie ...

. 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 Jody Darryl Craddock (born 25 July 1975) is an English former professional Association football, footballer and artist who played as a centre back in the Premier League for Sunderland A.F.C., Sunderland and Wolverhampton Wanderers F.C., Wolverh ...

Richard Stearman Richard James Michael Stearman (born 19 August 1987) is an English former professional footballer who is first team coach at Swansea City. He was a versatile defender, being able to play in any defensive slot although primarily a centre half or ...

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 C ...

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 Ståle Solbakken (born 27 February 1968) is a Norwegian professional football manager and former player who is the head coach of the Norway national team. During his playing career, Solbakken was named 1995 Norwegian midfielder of the year, an ...

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 Dean Nicholas Saunders (born 21 June 1964) is a Welsh football manager and former professional footballer. As a player, he was a striker in a career which lasted from 1982 until 2001. He played for Liverpool and Aston Villa in the 1990s, and ...

. 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 Michael Joseph McCarthy (born 7 February 1959) is a professional Manager (association football), football manager, pundit and former Association football, footballer. He was most recently the head coach of Blackpool F.C., Blackpool. McCarthy b ...

, in July 2013. He made his debut for the club in a 2–0 away loss to

Stevenage Stevenage ( ) is a 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, Stevenage w ...

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

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

, 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 and Fulham in West London, England, southwest of Charing Cross. It lies in a loop on the north bank of the River Thames, bordering Hammersmith, Kensington and Chelsea, London, Chelsea ...

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. The team compete in the ...

. 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 The English Football League (EFL) Championship play-offs are a series of play-off matches contested by the association football teams finishing from third to sixth in the EFL Championship table and are part of the English Football League play-of ...

. 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 association football, football club based in Horwich, Metropolitan Borough of Bolton, Greater Manchester, England, which competes in EFL League One, League One, the third level of the Englis ...

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 level 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 Premier Sports 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 ...

, 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 Foot ...

. 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 Daniel Stendel (born 4 April 1974) is a German professional football manager and former player, who currently is the head coach for Hannover 96 II Stendel played as a striker in his native Germany, spending most of his playing career with Hanno ...

after an

Edinburgh derby The Edinburgh derby is an informal title given to any association football, football match played between Football in Scotland, Scottish clubs Heart of Midlothian F.C., Heart of Midlothian (Hearts) and Hibernian F.C., Hibernian (Hibs), the two o ...

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 professional association football, football coach and former player. Naismith began his career with Kilmarnock F.C., Kilmarnock in 2004. He spent four years with the Ayrshire side wher ...

. On 31 January, Berra was loaned to

club

Dundee Dundee (; ; or , ) is the List of towns and cities in Scotland by population, fourth-largest city in Scotland. The mid-year population estimate for the locality was . It lies within the eastern central Lowlands on the north bank of the Firt ...

. 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 and COVID pandemic), caused by severe acute respiratory syndrome coronavirus 2 (SARS-CoV-2), began with an disease outbreak, outbreak of COVID-19 in Wuhan, China, in December ...

. 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 was most recently the head coach of USL Championship club Tampa Bay Rowdies. Neilson, who played as a right-back, started his senior career with ...

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

. After a season and a

Scottish Challenge Cup The Scottish Professional Football League Challenge Cup,Livingston, working under David Martindale. He left Livingston at the end of the 2022–23 season. Berra is currently the Interim Head Coach for

Huntsville City FC Huntsville City FC is an American professional soccer team based in Huntsville, Alabama. It is the reserve team of Nashville SC and plays in MLS Next Pro, the third tier of American soccer. The team plays its games at Joe Davis Stadium, a forme ...

MLS Next Pro MLS Next Pro (MLSNP) is a men's professional association football, soccer league in the United States and Canada that is affiliated with Major League Soccer (MLS). It launched in 2022 with 21 teams and now comprises 27 reserve sides of MLS clu ...

International career

Berra was eligible to play for both

Scotland Scotland is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It contains nearly one-third of the United Kingdom's land area, consisting of the northern part of the island of Great Britain and more than 790 adjac ...

(through his mother) and

France France, officially the French Republic, is a country located primarily in Western Europe. Overseas France, Its overseas regions and territories include French Guiana in South America, Saint Pierre and Miquelon in the Atlantic Ocean#North Atlan ...

(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, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

Stadion Letná The Letná Stadium ( ), is a football stadium in Prague. It is the home venue of AC Sparta Prague and often hosts the home matches of the Czech Republic national football team. The stadium's capacity is 18,887 seats. History The first wood ...

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

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

on 28 March 2009 in the match against the

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

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 ( ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, country that is part of the United Kingdom. It is bordered by the Irish Sea to the north and west, England to the England–Wales border, east, the Bristol Channel to the south, and the Celtic ...

in the

2011 Nations Cup The 2011 Nations Cup (also known as the Carling Nations Cup after its headline sponsor) was a Round-robin tournament, round-robin association football, football tournament between the Northern Ireland national football team, Northern Ireland, Re ...

. 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 across Europe between 2010 and 2011 to decide the qualifiers for UEFA Euro 2012. The draw for the qualifying rounds was held on 7 Febru ...

campaign, featuring in games against

Lithuania Lithuania, officially the Republic of Lithuania, 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, bordered by Latvia to the north, Belarus to the east and south, P ...

Liechtenstein Liechtenstein (, ; ; ), officially the Principality of Liechtenstein ( ), is a Landlocked country#Doubly landlocked, doubly landlocked Swiss Standard German, German-speaking microstate in the Central European Alps, between Austria in the east ...

and

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

. Scotland finished third in the

UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying Group I This page shows the standings and results for Group I of the UEFA Euro 2012 qualifying tournament. Standings Matches Group I fixtures were negotiated between the participants at a meeting in Madrid, Spain, on 19 February 2010.Slovenia Slovenia, officially the Republic of Slovenia, is a country in Central Europe. It borders Italy to the west, Austria to the north, Hungary to the northeast, Croatia to the south and southeast, and a short (46.6 km) coastline within the Adriati ...

at the

Bonifika Stadium Bonifika Stadium () is a multi-purpose stadium in Koper, Slovenia. It is used mostly for football matches and is the home ground of FC Koper. The stadium is part of Bonifika sports complex, together with a smaller athletics stadium, indoor hall ...

, Koper, Slovenia. Later that year, Berra was called up to the Scotland squad for the

2014 FIFA World Cup qualification The 2014 FIFA World Cup qualification was a series of tournaments organised by the six FIFA#Structure, FIFA confederations. The 2014 FIFA World Cup featured 32 teams, with one place reserved for the host nation, Brazil national football team, Bra ...

. 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 ( ; ) is a Countries of the United Kingdom, part of the United Kingdom in the north-east of the island of Ireland. It has been #Descriptions, variously described as a country, province or region. Northern Ireland shares Repub ...

Hampden Park Hampden Park ( ; Scottish Gaelic: ''Pàirc Hampden'') is a association football, football stadium in the Mount Florida area of Glasgow, Scotland, which is the national stadium of football in Scotland and home of the Scotland national football ...

, 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, is an island country in Southern Europe located in the Mediterranean Sea, between Sicily and North Africa. It consists of an archipelago south of Italy, east of Tunisia, and north of Libya. The two ...

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

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Scotland's goal tally 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 William Hill (bookmaker), William Hill Championship for sponsorship reasons, is the second tier of the Scottish Professional Football League, the league competition for men's professional association footb ...

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 ...

Wolverhampton Wanderers *

Football League Championship The English Football League Championship, known simply as the Championship and for sponsorship purposes as Sky Betting & Gaming, Sky Bet Championship, is a professional association football league in England and Wales. Contested by 24 clubs, i ...

: 2008–09 Raith Rovers *

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

2011 The year marked the start of a Arab Spring, series of protests and revolutions throughout the Arab world advocating for democracy, reform, and economic recovery, later leading to the depositions of world leaders in Tunisia, Egypt, and Yemen ...

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 The Professional Footballers' Association Scotland Team of the Year (often called the PFA Scotland Team of the Year, or simply the Team of the Year) is an annual award given to a set of 44 footballers in the four national tiers of the Scottish foo ...

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 men's footballers Scotland men's under-21 international footballers Scotland men's B international footballers Scotland men's international footballers Men's 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 21st-century Scottish sportsmen