Inter Gainesville KF: Providing Players Opportunities Regardless of Their Background

Coach Bernier's journey from youth player to head coach of his own club.

After dominating the UPSL and consistently performing against MLS Next Pro opposition, head coach Darnell Bernier was given an incredible opportunity. He could bring a USL 2 team to Gainesville.

Bernier, 39, is a first generation Haitian-American who was born in New York. His father, Jean Bernier, introduced him to the beautiful game as a child. Since then, soccer has been Bernier’s whole life.

He moved to Gainesville when he was 11 years old. He played at the highest level, even making the United States ODP team. At 18 years old, he signed his first professional contract.

“Out of high school, I was offered a professional contract into the USL Championship with the Islanders,” he said. “From there I began my playing career. It ended early due to injuries, but then I started coaching.”

As a youth coach, Bernier had a lot of success. He won state titles, helped players get offers from big universities and even got some into the USYNT rosters.

Unfortunately, the previous club he coached for did not share his same ambition of developing players. Coach Bernier felt that players had to wait until they reached the age group he was coaching in order for them to take that next step.

“Instead of complaining about things, it’s better to do it yourself,” he said. “[LEG-AZ World FC] was born out of a need. I wanted a club culture.”

The club was founded in 2021. After plenty of success in a short amount of time, an opportunity arose. LEG-AZ would be able to join the Southern Conference in the USL 2.

The club decided it would be best to rebrand. LEG-AZ had a positive impact in the city, but there needed to be unification.

“We need a city name to represent the city,” he said. “We are a club full of international players from all walks of life, so it… gives people a chance to look at us like a new opportunity. It made sense for me to create a brand that represents the city of Gainesville, there has never been a pre professional team in this area and I think it is something they can take pride in as a soccer player growing up.”

That’s when Inter Gainesville KF was born.

Why KF? It stands for Kléb Foutból and was done in commemoration to Bernier’s father.

“I think it’s only fair that… as I step into this new tier and bring something for the city of Gainesville… something in that name is in honor of him,” he said.

The club isn’t going the traditional route recruiting players for USL 2. Instead of offering spots to players who attend the top universities, Inter is finding players with talent and quality who don’t have the eyes on them that they deserve.

“We aren’t going to be the prototypical team looking for if you play for Wake Forest or if you play for FIU,” Bernier said. “We are going to be looking for a player that is that quality or better, but is not on the same platforms as those players are and that is what our job is to do. We look for players that are off the radar that have that ability. We provide them a platform, give them the developmental hours that they need and then put them on the stage where agents and professional scouts can identify them.”

Coach Bernier and his staff are here to provide all players from all walks of life a platform.

With this new opportunity, Bernier also hopes to have youth players have a sense of pride playing for the club. They have the opportunity to rise up through the youth system into the USL academy and then potentially play for the USL 2 team against some of the top collegiate players in the country.

This season, Bernier expects to compete. He wants to win and challenge for silverware this season, but this isn’t his main goal.

“It’s to bring light and exposure to the players that we have to allow them to move on to the next level of the game,” he said. “That’s our first immediate goal. That’s a win for us. The win for me is that we have players that get USL Championship, MLS Next Pro or USL 1 deals this season so they can see we have a real product on our hand here.”

Coach knows winning is still important. If the club is successful, college and professional teams around the country will know his players have the drive and discipline to compete at a high level.

Inter Gainesville KF’s first game is on Saturday, May 11, at 7 pm. The club plays Florida Elite Soccer Academy at home. The game will be live-streamed on the club’s YouTube channel.

“Gainesville right now does not have a high level men’s soccer,” Bernier said. “Now you’re going to look at it and you have a source of entertainment for kids to grow up in the town and see high level soccer represented throughout the league and high level soccer within the players that come from the same city as them.”