Nikhil Bernard

Hailing from Bengaluru, Karnataka, Nikhil Bernard is a professional footballer who plays as a goalkeeper. The Bengalurean, whose grandfather is Rathnam Bernard, a former footballer, took up the sport when he was a 5th standard student in school. But that wasn't the only sport he took up; he used to play Cricket as well. When the goalie was in 7th standard, Bernard was part of school teams of both in state-level competitions.

In wasn't until he got selected for SAI southern center in Bengaluru that he focused solely on Football. Still a student at SAI, Bernard represented India at all levels. After he graduated, the goalie joined a local club, namely, Southern Blues in 2006 and was with them until he joined Hindustan Aeronautics Limited (HAL) SC in 2008.

His debut match for the club was against MEG and continued with the Blues for two years during which he received the Best Goalkeeper award at the Malayala Manorama Gold Cup tournament in 2010 at Manjeri, Kerala. In 2011 he played for Shillong-based Royal Wahingdoh as a loan for three months after which the club signed him in 2012. His debut match for the Royals was against Mumbai in Federation Cup in December 2014.

He also played for 12 fixtures in the season's 2nd-division I-League and helped the team in promotion to I-League. In 2016 Bernard joined Bengaluru FC as a loan and though he didn't appear for any match; he claims that his experience at the club was the best as he could train under former English footballer Ashley Westwood and goalkeeper coach Ali Uzunhasanoglu.

The same year, Bengaluru-based I-League 2nd Division club, Ozone FC signed him for the entire season. For Ozone, he appeared in five matches. For the 2017-18 season, he signed with I-League new entrants, Gokulam Kerala FC and played seven matches for them across all competitions including in the Super Cup where his exceptional performance led to the club's win over ISL outfit NorthEast United.

In June 2018, Chennaiyin FC signed Bernard on a one-year contract along with Jamshedpur FC's Sanjiban Ghosh Sanjiban Ghosh is a footballer of Indian origin wh >> Read More... . The talented goalkeeper is currently with his CFC teammates at Malaysia as part of month-long pre-season training. Ahead of the club's most important ISL edition in September end, the team had four friendly matches with Malaysia's U-17 squad in which Bernard participated and help win.