Pernille Mosegaard Harder (born 15 November 1992) is a Danish professional footballer who plays as an attacking midfielder or a forward for Frauen-Bundesliga club Bayern Munich and the Denmark national team. In September 2020, she became the world's most expensive female footballer following her transfer from VfL Wolfsburg to Chelsea, but the record was broken in September 2022 by Keira Walsh when she was signed to Barcelona. She is considered one of the best footballers in the world.
Harder won the UEFA Women's Player of the Year Award in 2018 and 2020.
Harder, like her partner Magdalena Eriksson, is also known for her LGBTQ+ advocacy and LGBTQ+ rights in sport.
Club career
Early career
Harder played for Team Viborg and IK Skovbakken in her native Denmark's Elitedivisionen. Skovbakken had made Harder and her contemporary Sofie Junge Pedersen contracted players in April 2010, in recognition of their exceptional potential.
Linköpings FC
Harder chose Swedish club Linköpings FC for her next destination because she wanted a new challenge, but also because she wanted to remain in Scandinavia. In September 2013 she scored all four goals in Linköpings' 4–1 win at relegation-bound Sunnanå SK.
In the 2015 Damallsvenskan season, Harder scored 17 goals in 22 appearances for Linköping, winning a series of national awards including Årets Anfallare () and Årets Allsvenska Spelare (). At the annual awards gala, she shared the stage with male winner Zlatan Ibrahimović and was described as "hyper-talented" and "world-class" by Swedish national coach Pia Sundhage. Harder was also voted Danish Football Player of the Year in 2015. In June 2016, Harder was among 30 local worthies to be named in a Wall of Fame by Linköping Municipality.
Harder enjoyed further success in the 2016 Damallsvenskan season, retaining the League Player of the Year award. Her 23 league goals secured the Top Goalscorer award and helped Linköping win the Damallsvenskan title. By now a transfer target for the biggest clubs in women's football, Harder's agent announced in November 2016 that she would be leaving Linköping for a new challenge.
VfL Wolfsburg
In December 2016, it was announced that Harder had signed a two-and-a-half-year contract with VfL Wolfsburg running from January 2017. In all four seasons with the team, Harder won the Bundesliga and DFB-Pokal double. She was top scorer in the league twice. She also played in two Champions League finals (2018 and 2020), losing both to Lyon.
Chelsea
On 1 September 2020, Harder signed for Chelsea on a three-year contract for a world-record fee for a female footballer, reportedly in excess of £250,000. In the 2020–21 UEFA Women's Champions League quarter-finals, she scored in both legs against her former club VfL Wolfsburg.
Bayern Munich
On 1 June 2023, it was announced that Harder, along with partner and former Chelsea teammate Magdalena Eriksson, had signed for Bayern Munich on a three-year deal.
International career
At the inaugural 2008 U-17 World Cup in New Zealand, Harder was part of the Denmark team who won their group before losing 4–0 to eventual champions North Korea in the quarter-final. Still 16 years old, she contributed a hat-trick to a crushing 15–0 win over Georgia in her senior international debut in October 2009, and she has continued to score regularly for the Danish team ever since.
Harder scored further hat-tricks against Austria and Armenia in 2011 and Russia in 2013. She was named in national coach Kenneth Heiner-Møller's Denmark squad for Euro 2013. With nine goals she had been the team's top goalscorer in qualifying.
She played in the Algarve Cup in 2011, 2012, 2013, and 2015, but had an injury in 2014. In October 2013, Harder won her 50th cap for Denmark in a 1–1 draw with Serbia. She scored Denmark's goal in the match. In March 2016, Harder was appointed captain of the national team.
In 2017, she was named in national coach Nils Nielsen's Denmark squad for the Euro 2017. She captained the team to the final and scored a goal in Denmark's 4–2 defeat by hosts the Netherlands. She was voted runner-up to Lieke Martens in the UEFA Women's Player of the Year Award for 2016–17. On 16 September 2021, she broke Merete Pedersen's 12.5-year-long national record, becoming the record goalscorer of the Denmark national team, with her 66 goal in her 129 games. In the successful qualifying for the Euro 2022 she was used in all ten games and scored eight goals. She was called up for the Euro 2022 and scored the only goal for Denmark, but was eliminated with the national team in the group stage.