Patrice Bernier inherited his passion for soccer from his father, Jean Bernier, a builder of soccer in Quebec. His parents, Gladys and Jean, left Haiti for Quebec in 1971 and Patrice was born in Brossard, a suburb of Montreal, in 1979. As a sportsman, he played ice hockey and soccer with various youth clubs such as AS Brossard and FsC Sélect Rive-Sud in the Quebec Elite Soccer League.
HOCKEY
During his studies, he also played ice hockey like his cousins who became professionals: Maxime Fortunus and Georges Laraque.
He played two seasons in the Quebec Major Junior Hockey League as a defenceman. In his first season in 1996-97, he finished seventh in scoring for the Val-d’Or Foreurs. The Val-d’Or players participated in the QMJHL playoffs and went through two rounds before being eliminated in the divisional finals by the eventual playoff winners, the Hull Olympiques. He starts the following season with Val-d’Or but after about 40 games, joins the Sherbrooke Faucons who do not qualify for the playoffs. He decided to stop his hockey career after discussions with an agent who told him that his profile was not wanted by National Hockey League teams.
SOCCER
He then moved to the United States to study at Syracuse University in 1999. During his year there, he played soccer with the Syracuse University Orange in the NCAA. He was selected to the All-Rookie team.
The following year, he joined his hometown club, the Montreal Impact in the United Soccer Leagues. He played three seasons at this level before trying his luck in Europe. He had a first try in Sweden with Vasteras SK and then a second try in Norway with Moss FK who offered him a contract. He then played with Norwegian club Tromsø IL before being transferred to German second division side FC Kaiserslautern in the summer of 2007. He left FC Kaiserslautern in 2008 to join FC Nordsjælland, a Danish top division club.
On 19 December 2011, he joined the club of his debut: the Montreal Impact for the team’s first season in MLS.
On 13 February 2014, he was named captain of his team. Under his captaincy, the Impact reached the CONCACAF Champions League final in 2015 and the Eastern Association final lost to Toronto FC in 2016. At 38, he played the last game of his career on October 22, 2017 against the New England Revolution in which he scored a goal.
POST-CAREER
A few weeks after his sporting retirement, Patrice Bernier has been announced as assistant coach of the Montreal Impact academy for the U13, U15, U17 and U19 teams, starting in 2018.
In August 2019, he was promoted to Assistant Director of the Montreal Impact, thus beginning a new chapter in his career.
Patrice Bernier was also an analyst for TVA Sports in 2018-2019 and then from 2021 until November 2022, when he joined the RDS team as a soccer analyst during FIFA 2022. In 2023, he joined Apple.
THE HONORS
In 2017, he received the Médaille de l’Assemblée nationale for his participation in the vivre-ensemble campaign and his contribution to Quebec society, and was inducted into the Quebec Soccer Hall of Fame. He joins his father, Jean Bernier (soccer), who had been there for 13 years in the Builders category. In 2022, he is inducted into the Canadian Soccer Hall of Fame; in 2023, he is inducted into the CF MONTRÉAL Wall of Fame at Saputo Stadium; and in 2024, he is one of 8 inductees into the Quebec Sports Hall of Fame.
