Patrice Gheisar (born June 15, 1975) is a Canadian

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

coach, who currently serves as head coach of

HFX Wanderers FC Halifax Wanderers FC, also written as HFX Wanderers FC, is a Canadian professional Association football, soccer club in Halifax, Nova Scotia. The club competes in the Canadian Premier League (CPL) at the top of the Canadian soccer league syste ...

in the

Canadian Premier League The Canadian Premier League (CPL or CanPL; ) is a professional Association football, soccer league in Canada and the highest level of the Canadian soccer league system. The league comprises eight teams, from five of provinces and territories of ...

Playing career

Gheisar attended

York University York University (), also known as YorkU or simply YU), is a public university, public research university in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. It is Canada's third-largest university, and it has approximately 53,500 students, 7,000 faculty and staff, ...

and played for the men's soccer team for five seasons. He later played for the

York Region Shooters York Region Shooters is a Canadian association football, soccer team, that plays in the Canadian Soccer League. The Shooters played their home games at the St. Joan of Arc Turf Field in the City of Vaughan, Ontario. The team's colours were blue ...

in the Canadian Professional Soccer League.

Coaching career

Gheisar began coaching with youth soccer club North York Hearts-Azzurri SC in 2005. Afterwards, he joined

Vaughan Azzurri Vaughan Azzurri is a Canadian semi-professional soccer team based in Vaughan, Ontario, that currently competes in the League1 Ontario men's and women's divisions. The semi-professional team was founded in 2014 by the Vaughan Soccer Club, which ...

as a youth soccer coach where he remained in various roles for 16 years until 2022. He also served as an assistant coach with Portugal FC/SC Toronto in the

Canadian Soccer League The Canadian Soccer League (CSL; ) is a semi-professional league for Canadian soccer clubs primarily located in the province of Ontario, and claims the history of the Canadian National Soccer League (CNSL). It is a non-FIFA league previously ...

under

Carmine Isacco Carmine Isacco (born September 20, 1970) is a Canadian soccer coach and retired player. He is currently the head coach for the York Lions varsity men's soccer team of the Ontario University Athletics, OUA. Playing career College years In 1989 ...

. In 2011, he was nominated for the Coach of the Year award while managing SC Toronto's reserve team in the CSL's second division. In 2012, he was named head coach of the first team, after Iascco moved to the role of Technical Director. At the university level, he served as an assistant coach with the

Ryerson Rams The TMU Bold, formerly known as the Ryerson Rams, are the varsity athletic teams that represent Toronto Metropolitan University (formerly known as Ryerson University) in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. Toronto Metropolitan University operates 11 men's ...

and

York Lions The York Lions is the official name for the athletic varsity teams that represent York University in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The university's varsity teams compete in the Ontario University Athletics conference of U Sports and, where applicable ...

. In December 2018, he was announced as the head coach of the

Seneca College Seneca College of Applied Arts and Technology, branded as Seneca Polytechnic since 2023, is a multi-campus public college in the Greater Toronto Area and Peterborough, Ontario, Canada. It offers full-time and part-time programs at the baccala ...

's men's soccer team at the college level. With Seneca, Gheisar was named OCAA coach of the year in 2019. He also served as coached

League1 Ontario League1 Ontario (L1ON) is a semi-professional men's soccer league in Ontario, Canada. The league is sanctioned by the Canadian Soccer Association and the Ontario Soccer Association. League1 Ontario consists of three tiers – League1 Premier ...

, under

(who he also worked with at SC Toronto and with the York Lions). In 2019, he was named head coach of the

side, taking over from Isacco. In 2019, Vaughan participated in the

2019 Canadian Championship The 2019 Canadian Championship was the twelfth edition of the Canadian Championship, contested from May 15 to September 25, 2019. Montreal Impact won their fourth Canadian Championship title (their tenth Voyageurs Cup) and earned a berth in th ...

, defeating professional club

1-0 on the road in the second leg, but were eliminated on away goals in the two-legged tie. In 2021, he was named East Division Coach of the Year, and the following season was named the overall league Coach of the Year. On November 30, 2022, he was named head coach of

of the

. At the time of his hiring, Wanderers president Derek Martin emphasized Gheiser's history of developing strong attacking teams and his recruitment ability as prime reasons for his hiring. He won his first professional match on June 10 in a 2-0 victory over

Valour FC Valour FC is a Canadian professional soccer club in Winnipeg, Manitoba, which competes in the Canadian Premier League and plays their home matches at Princess Auto Stadium. The team is coached by Phillip Dos Santos and community owned throu ...

and was named the CPL Manager of the Month for June. After his first season, he extended his contract with the club through 2025. In November 2024, he was invited to join the Canada men's team to assist with their training camp as part of Canada's Community Coaching program.

Coaching statistics

The following statistics are for club teams only (playoff and cup matches are included).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Gheisar, Patrice Living people Canadian soccer coaches HFX Wanderers FC non-playing staff Canadian Premier League coaches York Lions men's soccer players York Region Shooters players SC Toronto coaches York Lions men's soccer coaches Canadian Soccer League (1998–present) players Canadian Soccer League (1998–present) coaches 1975 births Men's association football players not categorized by position Canadian men's soccer players Canadian people of Iranian descent Sportspeople of Iranian descent University and college men's soccer players in Canada