Keegan Pereira

Biography

Keegan Pereira has wanted to represent Canada since watching the Pan American Cup in London, Ontario as a child. He now has more than 185 senior caps to his credit since making his international debut in 2009, coincidentally against India, his country of birth, making it one of the proudest moments of his career. In 2010 Pereira represented Canada at the FIH World Cup as well as the Commonwealth Games in Delhi. He returned to the Commonwealth Games in 2014 and 2018. Pereira was also part of the silver medal-winning team at the 2011 Pan Am Games in Guadalajara.

While playing professionally in Belgium in November 2014, Pereira was celebrating what he calls the best goal he’s ever scored when he jumped and tore his left ACL. He had surgery in January 2015, which meant he spent most of the season recovering. After four months of rehab in Toronto, he re-joined the national team in Vancouver where he could start training with them, giving him more confidence that he could return to action. He did late in the year when he helped Canada finish eighth at the FIH World League Final. In his Olympic debut at Rio 2016, Pereira started all five of Canada’s games and achieved a personal highlight by scoring against Germany in the opening match. It was also in 2016 that he signed a contract to play with German club Uhlenhorst Mülheim, where he has since won two Bundesliga championships.

In 2017, Pereira had another career highlight, as he helped Canada upset his native India 3-2 in the World League semifinals and qualify for the 2018 FIH World Cup. Later that year he scored two goals at the Pan American Cup, helping Canada to a silver medal. In 2019 he scored three goals for Canada at the Pan Am Games in Lima, as Canada won its third straight silver medal. He scored a pair of goals in Canada’s Olympic Qualifying tournament against Ireland, which Canada went on to win in a shootout to earn their spot at Tokyo 2020. He scored two goals in five games in his second Olympic appearance. 

A Little More About Keegan

Getting into the Sport: Started playing field hockey at age 5 while in school in India… His father was a professional field hockey player and the family moved to Canada in 1998 after he finished his on-field career… Outside Interests: Enjoys podcasting, reading about markets, business and investing… Earned Masters of Sports Management at the Johan Cruyff Institute after graduating from the University of British Columbia with a degree in human geography… Affiliated with Classroom Champions, a program that connects children with athlete mentors… Odds and Ends: Nickname: Reggie… Only ties his shoes just before getting on the pitch… Collects fridge magnets from every city he visits… Favourite quote: “You miss 100% of the shots you don’t take” -Wayne Gretzky… Brother Kevin was a goalie for Canada’s Junior National Team…