Gabriel Gervais

Gabriel Gervais (born September 18, 1976) is a retired defender who played for the Montreal Impact and Canada.

Gervais was born in Montreal, Canada. During this tenure with the Montreal Impact Gervais helped the club win the league championship in 2004, as well as the regular season championships in 2005 and 2006. He was proclaimed Defensive Player of the Year for the Impact three times in 2002, 2003 and 2006, and won the Giuseppe-Saputo Trophy in 2004, awarded to the most valuable player of the Impact. Gervais was also named Defender of the Year in the USL First Division in 2003, 2004 and 2006, becoming the first player in the league to win that award in three consecutive years. Gervais was also picked on the USL First Division All-League Team for six straight years, from 2002 to 2007.

On January 6, 2009 Gervais announced his retirement from soccer, after a nine-year career in the United Soccer Leagues First Division. On April 15, 2009 during the Montreal Impact's pre-season banquet the club honoured Gervais by recognizing him as a Team Builder and was made an ambassador to the club. Gervais had a stint in the National Professional Soccer League with the short lived expansion franchise the Toronto ThunderHawks during the 2000–2001 winter indoor season. He helped the ThunderHawks reach the postseason by finishing second in the National Conference, and reached the Conference finals where they were defeated by the Milwaukee Wave.

Gervais made his national team debut on January 18, 2004 in a 1–0 win against Barbados. He was invited to the Canadian World Cup team's training camp held between January 12 and January 23, 2004 in Fort Lauderdale, following the hiring of Frank Yallop as new head coach. That was his first invitation at that level – Gervais played his first game for the Canadian national team on January 18, 2004 against Barbados. He helped his team beat Barbados 1–0. He played against Guatemala September 8, 2004 in a World Cup qualifying game. He played an international friendly against Northern Ireland on February 9, 2005 in Belfast where he received two yellow cards and was sent off. He was invited to the Canadian national team's training camp in Fort Lauderdale from June 4–9, 2005, and to the Gold Cup, from July 6–24. Though he missed the opening game for Canada at the Gold Cup against Costa Rica due to injury, he started and played 90 minutes against the USA on July 9, as well as playing against Cuba on July 12.

After his retirement, he graduated from the MBA program at McGill University in Montreal.

Montreal Impact

• USL First Division Championship (1): 2004
• USL First Division Commissioners Cup (2): 2005, 2006
• Voyageurs Cup Champions (5): 2004, 2005, 2006, 2007, 2008

Rochester Raging Rhinos

• USL First Division Championship (2): 2000, 2001

Notes