Christophe Berra

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Christophe Berra
Christophe Berra.jpg
Berra playing for Scotland in 2011
Personal information
Full name Christophe Didier Berra[1]
Date of birth (1985-01-31) 31 January 1985 (age 39)[1]
Place of birth Edinburgh, Scotland
Height Script error: No such module "person height".
Position(s) Defender
Team information
Current team
 Ipswich Town
Number 6
Youth career
0000–2003 Heart of Midlothian
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2003–2009 Heart of Midlothian 123 (4)
2009–2013 Wolverhampton Wanderers 141 (0)
2013– Ipswich Town 110 (12)
International career‡
2005–2006 Scotland U21[3] 5 (0)
2007 Scotland B 1 (0)
2008– Scotland 32 (3)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals, correct as of 19:58, 2 January 2016 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals, correct as of 24th March 2016 (UTC)

Christophe Didier Berra (born 31 January 1985) is a Scottish professional footballer who plays as a defender for Championship club Ipswich Town.

Berra began his professional career with Heart of Midlothian in his home city of Edinburgh, playing 146 times for them before he moved to England in 2009 in a £2.5 million transfer to Wolverhampton Wanderers. He was part of their promotion to the Premier League 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.

Club career

Hearts

Berra joined Heart of Midlothian (Hearts) on 26 April 2002 from their youth development system.[4] He is one in a long line of young defenders, particularly central defenders, to have progressed through the Hearts youth system,[5] 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. 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[6] in season 2005–06 which aided the Tynecastle club's push towards UEFA Champions League qualification. That season also saw him gain a Scottish Cup winner's medal after being a non-playing substitute in the 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 during a season that saw the club finish fourth. The following season, he became the youngest captain in the SPL[7] after the departure of the previous Hearts captain Craig Gordon to Sunderland 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 club Wolverhampton Wanderers. They made a reported £1.5 million bid to sign him,[8] 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.[9] However, he eventually signed for Wolves for an undisclosed fee – believed to be around £2.5m[10] – in a four-and-a-half-year deal on transfer deadline day.[10] He made his club debut on 7 February 2009 in a 1–2 defeat at Coventry.[11]

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, Richard Stearman and Roger Johnson.[12] After three seasons Berra was a mainstay of the Wolves team that finished bottom of the 2011–12 Premier League and so were relegated back to the Championship.

Following relegation, Berra had a transfer request accepted by Wolves.[12] 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 stated that Berra's game had improved and stated that he hoped the club could agree a new contract with Berra.[13] However, Solbakken was soon fired and Berra dropped out of first team contention under Dean Saunders. At the end of the campaign, which again saw the team relegated, it was announced that Berra would leave the club.[14] In total he made 154 appearances for the club, without scoring.

Ipswich Town

Berra signed for Ipswich Town, managed by his former Wolves manager Mick McCarthy, in July 2013.[15] Ipswich finished 9th in the Championship in his first season.[16] 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. Berra won the Ipswich Town Supporters Player of the Season award for the 2013–14 season.[citation needed]

International career

Berra was eligible to play for both Scotland (through his mother) and France (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 at the AXA Arena in Prague. Berra made his first start for the national team in the Amsterdam ArenA on 28 March 2009 in the match against the Netherlands.[17]

Berra scored his first goal for Scotland on 25 May 2011 against Wales in the 2011 Nations Cup.[18]

Career statistics

Club

As of matches played 2 January 2016.
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National Cup League Cup Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Heart of Midlothian 2003–04[19] Scottish Premier League 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 6 0
2004–05[20] Scottish Premier League 12 0 1 0 1 0 0 0 14 0
2005–06[21] Scottish Premier League 12 1 2 0 2 0 — 16 1
2006–07[22] Scottish Premier League 35 1 1 0 2 0 6[lower-alpha 1] 0 44 1
2007–08[23] Scottish Premier League 35 2 2 0 4 1 — 41 3
2008–09[24] Scottish Premier League 23 0 1 0 1 0 — 25 0
Total 123 4 7 0 10 1 6 0 146 5
Wolverhampton Wanderers 2008–09[24] Championship 15 0 — — — 15 0
2009–10[25] Premier League 32 0 2 0 2 0 — 36 0
2010–11[26] Premier League 32 0 2 0 2 0 — 36 0
2011–12[27] Premier League 32 0 2 0 1 0 — 35 0
2012–13[28] Championship 30 0 1 0 1 0 — 32 0
Total 141 0 7 0 6 0 — 154 0
Ipswich Town 2013–14[29] Championship 42 5 2 0 1 0 — 45 5
2014–15[30] Championship 45 6 2 0 1 0 2[lower-alpha 2] 0 50 6
2015–16[31] Championship 23 0 0 0 1 0 — 24 0
Total 110 11 4 0 3 0 2 0 119 11
Career total 374 15 18 0 19 1 8 0 419 16
  1. ↑ Four appearances in UEFA Champions League, two in UEFA Cup
  2. ↑ Appearances in Championship play-offs

International

As of match played 11 October 2015.[32]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team Year Apps Goals
Scotland 2008 3 0
2009 3 0
2010 3 0
2011 9 1
2012 8 1
2013 2 0
2015 3 1
Total 31 3

International goals

As of match played 25 March 2015. Scotland score listed first, score column indicates score after each Berra goal.[32]
International goals by date, venue, cap, opponent, score, result and competition
No. Date Venue Cap Opponent Score Result Competition Ref
1 25 May 2011 Aviva Stadium, Dublin, Ireland 12  Wales 3–1 3–1 2011 Nations Cup [18]
2 29 February 2012 Bonifika Stadium, Koper, Slovenia 19  Slovenia 1–1 1–1 Friendly [33]
3 25 March 2015 Hampden Park, Glasgow, Scotland 29  Northern Ireland 1–0 1–0 Friendly [34]

Honours

Heart of Midlothian

Wolverhampton Wanderers

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  10. ↑ 10.0 10.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  11. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  12. ↑ 12.0 12.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  13. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  14. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  18. ↑ 18.0 18.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  19. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
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  23. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  24. ↑ 24.0 24.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  25. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  26. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  27. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  28. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  29. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  30. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  31. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  32. ↑ 32.0 32.1 Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.Lua error in Module:WikidataCheck at line 28: attempt to index field 'wikibase' (a nil value).
  33. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.
  34. ↑ Lua error in package.lua at line 80: module 'strict' not found.

External links

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