Patrick Nyema Gerhardt (born 31 July 1985) is a former 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 last played for

National Premier Leagues Victoria 2 The National Premier Leagues Victoria (NPL Victoria or NPL VIC) is a semi-professional association football, soccer league in Victoria (state), Victoria, Australia. The league is a part of the National Premier Leagues, and is the highest level w ...

side Nunawading City. Born in Switzerland, he represented the

Liberia national football team The Liberia national football team, nicknamed the ''Lone Stars'', represents Liberia in men's international association football, football and is controlled by the Liberia Football Association. Although the nation produced the 1995 FIFA World ...

. He is known for his strength, technical skill, heading ability and industrious work rate.

Early life

Gerhardt was born in

Bern Bern (), or Berne (), ; ; ; . is the ''de facto'' Capital city, capital of Switzerland, referred to as the "federal city".; ; ; . According to the Swiss constitution, the Swiss Confederation intentionally has no "capital", but Bern has gov ...

, Switzerland. He holds a Liberian citizenship through his heritage. He began his football career at Bern, local club FC Bumpliz, before impressing enough to be selected in the

BSC Young Boys Berner Sport Club Young Boys (YB by short abbreviation, ) is a Swiss professional sports club based in Bern, Switzerland. Its first team has won 17 Swiss league championships and eight Swiss Cups. YB is one of the most successful Swiss footbal ...

youth system, where he played for the under 15, under 17, under 18 and under 21 teams. He also won international youth caps for the Swiss national under 15 and under 16 side.

Career

After four years in the youth system and at the age of 19 he won a senior contract with BSC, playing 22 times for the ''BSC Young Boys II'' team. After a series of loans to local sides Concordia Basel and

SR Delémont Sport-Réunis de Delémont (shortened to SR Delémont) is a Swiss Association football, football club based in Delémont and founded in 1909. The team currently play in Swiss 1. Liga (football), 1st League Classic from 2025–26, the fourth tier ...

he left BSC after just one senior appearance. Gerhardt left BSC in the middle of 2008 and joined newly promoted

Romania Romania is a country located at the crossroads of Central Europe, Central, Eastern Europe, Eastern and Southeast Europe. It borders Ukraine to the north and east, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Bulgaria to the south, Moldova to ...

Liga I Liga I (; ''First League''), also spelled as Liga 1 and officially known as SuperLiga for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Romania and the highest level of the Romanian football league system. Contested by 1 ...

team

CS Otopeni Clubul Sportiv Otopeni, commonly known as CS Otopeni, or simply as Otopeni, was a Romanian professional football club from Otopeni, Ilfov County, founded in 2001 and dissolved in 2013. Its greatest performance was that it played for one season ...

. He left after a frustrating season which saw Otopeni relegated and few first team chances. In 2010, he joined

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 ...

side

Brantford Galaxy Brantford Galaxy Soccer Club was a semi-professional Canadian soccer club based in Brantford, Ontario, Canada, with their home venue located in Hamilton, Ontario at the Heritage Field Turf. The club competes in the Canadian Soccer League, a league ...

. After an up and down 'regular season' Gerhardt helped the side win the league playoffs, where they came from way back in 7th place to beat

Hamilton Croatia Hamilton Croatia is a Croatian Canadian amateur soccer team founded in Hamilton, Ontario, Canada in 1957. It is supported by the Croatian Sports and Community Centre of Hamilton Inc. (formerly the Croatian National Sports Club of Hamilton, Inc. ...

0–3 in the final.

FK Željezničar

On 26 January 2011,

FK Željezničar Sarajevo Fudbalski klub Željezničar Sarajevo ( sh-Cyrl, Фудбалски клуб Жељезничap Сарајево; English language, English: Football Club Željezničar Sarajevo), commonly referred to as Željo, is a professional Association fo ...

announced that Gerhardt was coming on trial with the club. He signed for FK Željezničar on 7 February, for the remainder of the 2010–11 season. After helping the Club win the

National league cup National League Cup is the name of: * National League Cup (football), football competition * National League Cup (rugby), rugby league competition {{disambig ...

he was awarded a 1-year contract, keeping him at the club until the end of the 2011/12 season. The 2011–12 season was an even better one for the club and for Gerhardt, winning 'the Double' (League and Cup titles), as well as qualifying for the

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 ...

. It was the first double for any club since the unified

Bosnia and Herzegovina Bosnia and Herzegovina, sometimes known as Bosnia-Herzegovina and informally as Bosnia, is a country in Southeast Europe. Situated on the Balkans, Balkan Peninsula, it borders Serbia to the east, Montenegro to the southeast, and Croatia to th ...

football competitions started in 2002.

Melbourne Heart FC

On 22 June 2012, he signed for Australian

A-League A-League Men, also known as the Isuzu UTE A-League for sponsorship reasons, is a professional soccer league in Australia and New Zealand and the highest level of the Australian soccer league system. Established in 2004 as the A-League by the ...

club Melbourne Heart. He was released by the club on 30 April 2014. After a stint with Malaysian Sarawak FA, Gerhardt returned to Australia, signing for

National Premier Leagues Victoria The National Premier Leagues Victoria (NPL Victoria or NPL VIC) is a semi-professional soccer league in Victoria, Australia. The league is a part of the National Premier Leagues, and is the highest level within the Victorian soccer league syst ...

club

Melbourne Knights FC Melbourne Knights Football Club is an Australian professional Association football, soccer club based in the suburb of Sunshine North, Victoria, Sunshine North, Melbourne. The club currently competes in the National Premier Leagues Victoria, t ...

. After battling various injuries in the first part of the season, Gerhardt made his Knights debut in Round 14, coming on as a late substitute in a 1–0 win over

Hume City FC Hume City Football Club is a semi-professional football club based in Broadmeadows, a suburb of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Established by the local Turkish Australian community, the club competes in the National Premier Leagues Victoria. ...

. He moved to Nunawading City in June 2017.

International career

Despite being born in Bern, Switzerland, Gerhardt accepted the call to play for the Liberian national team. He was eligible to play for Liberia due to his heritage. He debuted on 26 March 2011 in a

2012 Africa Cup of Nations qualification 1 (one, unit, unity) is a number, numeral, and glyph. It is the first and smallest positive integer of the infinite sequence of natural numbers. This fundamental property has led to its unique uses in other fields, ranging from science to s ...

match against Cape Verde Islands, a 2–4 loss.

Honors

FK Željezničar

Winner *

Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina The Premier League of Bosnia and Herzegovina (; ; sr-Cyrl, Премијер лига Босне и Херцеговине), officially known as the Wwin League of Bosnia and Herzegovina for sponsorship purposes, is the top tier football leagu ...

: 2011/2012 *

Bosnia and Herzegovina Football Cup The Bosnia and Herzegovina Football Cup ( sh-Latn-Cyrl, separator=" / ", Kup Bosne i Hercegovine, Куп Босне и Херцеговине) is a knock-out football competition contested annually by clubs from Bosnia and Herzegovina. The winner ...

: 2010/2011, 2011/2012

Brantford Galaxy

Winner *

(playoffs): 2010

References

External links