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

who played as a

midfielder In the sport of association football, a midfielder takes an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield position primarily in the middle of the pitch. Midfielders may play an exclusively defensive role, breaking up attacks, and are in t ...

for the likes of

Copenhagen Copenhagen ( ) is the capital and most populous city of Denmark, with a population of 1.4 million in the Urban area of Copenhagen, urban area. The city is situated on the islands of Zealand and Amager, separated from Malmö, Sweden, by the ...

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 29,042. They pl ...

and

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 ...

, among other clubs. He was previously also been an established member of the South Africa 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 Nelson Mandela Metropolitan University, is a public university in South Africa. Established in 1882 as Port Elizabeth, Art School it comprises the former University of Port Elizabeth, the Port Elizabeth Te ...

FC Copenhagen

Van Heerden came to Denmark joining

FC Copenhagen Football Club Copenhagen (, ), commonly known as F.C. København, F.C. Copenhagen, Copenhagen, or simply FCK, is a Danish professional football club based in Copenhagen. FCK was founded in 1992 as a superstructure on top of Kjøbenhavns Boldklu ...

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

Parken Stadium Parken, currently known as Parken - Connected by 3 for sponsorship reasons, and as Telia Parken (2014–2020), is a Soccer-specific stadium, football stadium in the Indre Østerbro (''Inner Østerbro'') district of Copenhagen, Denmark, built from ...

, and the little South African immediately wrote history with his equalizer short before the final whistle. The goal meant, that Copenhagen 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 association football, football team from the North Zealand town of Farum. Founded as ''Farum Boldklub'' from the merger of the to ...

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

, which they did with a 4–2 victory.

Club Brugge

A move to

was made on 24 January 2006, where Van Heerden 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 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 ...

club

, arriving on a free transfer from

. He only played two official matches for the club; in the League Cup against Gillingham in the second round, and Chelsea 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 club

Sivasspor Sivasspor Kulübü, known as Net Global 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 has competed in Süper Lig since t ...

. Goal.com revealed that Elrio was due to travel to Turkey for a medical ahead of signing on Monday 11 January 2010.

Sivasspor

On 11 January 2010, Blackburn Rovers announced the transfer of Van Heerden to

Westerlo

On 27 July 2010,

Belgian Pro League The Belgian Pro League (; ; ), officially the Jupiler Pro League () for sponsor Jupiler, is a professional association football league in Belgium and the highest level of the Belgian football league system. Contested by 16 clubs from the 2023 ...

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. Th ...

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 professional soccer league in North America and the highest level of the United States soccer league system. It comprises 30 teams, with 27 in the United States and 3 in Canada, and is sanctioned by the United ...

side

Sporting Kansas City Sporting Kansas City is an American professional Association football, soccer club based in the Kansas City metropolitan area. The club competes in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference. The ad ...

PE Stars

In 2017, after five years out of the game, van Heerden returned to sign for ABC Motsepe League side PE Stars.

International career

Van Heerden won 37 full international caps for

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the Southern Africa, southernmost country in Africa. Its Provinces of South Africa, nine provinces are bounded to the south by of coastline that stretches along the Atlantic O ...

, 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, from 20 January to 10 February. Just like in 2004, the field of sixteen teams was split int ...

in Egypt, 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 with the Confede ...

in Ghana and the

2009 FIFA Confederations Cup The 2009 FIFA Confederations Cup was the eighth FIFA Confederations Cup, 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 ...

in South Africa.

Career 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 men's soccer players South Africa men's international soccer players South African expatriate men's soccer players F.C. Copenhagen players Club Brugge KV players Sivasspor footballers K.V.C. Westerlo players Men's association football midfielders Soccer players from Gqeberha 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 men's footballers in England Expatriate men's footballers in Turkey Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium South African expatriate sportspeople in Belgium Lamontville Golden Arrows F.C. players 21st-century South African sportsmen