Thomas Sørensen facts for kids
Sørensen in 2007
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| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Thomas Løvendahl Sørensen | ||
| Date of birth | 12 June 1976 | ||
| Place of birth | Fredericia, Denmark | ||
| Height | 1.96 m | ||
| Playing position | Goalkeeper | ||
| Youth career | |||
| Erritsø | |||
| Assens | |||
| OB | |||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps† | (Gls)† |
| 1993–1998 | OB | 0 | (0) |
| 1995–1997 | → Vejle (loan) | 6 | (0) |
| 1997–1998 | → Svendborg (loan) | 45 | (0) |
| 1998–2003 | Sunderland | 171 | (0) |
| 2003–2008 | Aston Villa | 139 | (0) |
| 2008–2015 | Stoke City | 99 | (0) |
| 2015–2017 | Melbourne City | 37 | (0) |
| Total | 497 | (0) | |
| National team | |||
| 1993–1995 | Denmark U19 | 3 | (0) |
| 1993–1997 | Denmark U21 | 25 | (0) |
| 1996 | Denmark B | 1 | (0) |
| 1999–2012 | Denmark | 101 | (0) |
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Thomas Løvendahl Sørensen (born June 12, 1976) is a Danish former professional footballer. He was a talented goalkeeper.
Sørensen started his football journey with his local team, Odense BK. After playing well on loan at Vejle Boldklub and Svendborg, he joined the English club Sunderland in 1998. He was the main goalkeeper for five years there.
Later, he moved to Aston Villa for £2 million. He continued to be a regular player at Villa Park. However, he had a disagreement with his manager, Martin O'Neill, and left the club in May 2008.
Next, he joined Stoke City. He was their first-choice goalkeeper for three seasons. He helped the team stay strong in the Premier League. Thomas Sørensen finished his playing career with two years at the Australian club Melbourne City. He holds the record for the most Premier League appearances by a Danish player, with 364 games.
From 2000 to 2012, Sørensen was the main goalkeeper for the Denmark national football team. He followed in the footsteps of the famous goalkeeper Peter Schmeichel. Sørensen played 101 matches for his country. This makes him the eighth most-capped Danish player ever. He was part of Denmark's teams for UEFA Euro 2000, 2002 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro 2004, and 2010 FIFA World Cup.
Contents
Thomas Sørensen's Club Career
Starting His Football Journey
Thomas Sørensen was born in Fredericia, Denmark. He began playing youth football with local clubs in Erritsø and Assens. Later, he joined the youth team of Odense Boldklub, a top club. He signed a training contract with Odense BK in February 1993.
Soon, he became a professional player with Odense BK's main team in the Danish Superliga. He was a backup goalkeeper to the club's legend, Lars Høgh. Because of this, he didn't play any league games for Odense.
Playing on Loan
During the 1995–96 season, Sørensen was loaned to Vejle BK in December 1995. He was initially a backup to Erik Boye. He made his first Superliga appearance in March 1996. Sørensen played three impressive games in a row. The news called him "the new Peter Schmeichel".
He played six league matches for Vejle. After a game where an opponent scored by heading the ball from his hands, he was dropped by the coach. Sørensen broke his arm in the summer of 1996. He stayed with Vejle on loan until summer 1997 but didn't play more games. Odense then loaned him again to FC Svendborg in the second-tier Danish 1st Division. He played the entire 1997–98 season there.
Time at Sunderland A.F.C.
In the summer of 1998, Sørensen moved to England to play for Sunderland. At that time, Sunderland was in the Football League First Division, the second-highest league in England. Not many people outside Denmark knew about him. The English manager Peter Reid bought the 22-year-old from Odense for about £510,000 in July 1998. He was suggested to the club by Peter Schmeichel.
Sørensen helped Sunderland get promoted to the top league, the English Premiership, in 1999. He and his team won the League Championship title. Sørensen set a new club record by keeping 29 clean sheets (games where the opponent doesn't score).
He became Sunderland's main goalkeeper in the Premiership. He helped the club finish 7th in their first two seasons. He became a legend among Sunderland fans in 2001. He saved a penalty kick from Alan Shearer in the last moments of a game in November 2000. This saved a valuable win against their rivals, Newcastle United.
In the 2002–03 season, Sørensen was injured from October 2002 to January 2003. He played only 21 out of 38 games. Sunderland was struggling, and Sørensen could not prevent the club from being moved down to a lower league at the end of the season.
The club was facing money problems. Sunderland sold Sørensen for £2 million to Aston Villa. Other big clubs like Manchester United and Arsenal were also interested. He played nearly 200 games for Sunderland and is still a favorite among their fans.
Playing for Aston Villa
At Aston Villa, Sørensen became known as a very good goalkeeper. He was excellent at stopping shots. This helped him keep his spot as Villa's number one goalkeeper under different managers. He played ahead of other goalkeepers like Stefan Postma and Stuart Taylor. In his first three seasons at Aston Villa, he missed only four games. In November 2003, he saved another penalty kick from Alan Shearer in a game against Newcastle. He had a knee injury during the 2006–07 season but still played 29 games.
During the 2007–08 season, things changed for him at Villa. Sørensen got injured before the season started. Villa decided to bring in goalkeeper Scott Carson on loan from Liverpool. Carson became the main goalkeeper. Sørensen said in December 2007 that he wanted to leave the club.
At the end of the 2007–08 season, Sørensen's contract with Villa ended. He left the club for free. He didn't play any games in his last season there. He was the third-choice goalkeeper behind Scott Carson and Stuart Taylor.
Years at Stoke City
Becoming First-Choice Goalkeeper
On July 28, 2008, Sørensen began a trial with Stoke City, a team that had just been promoted to the Premier League. Two days later, he signed a three-year contract with the club. Sørensen became Stoke City's main goalkeeper for the 2008–09 season. He replaced Steve Simonsen.
In October 2008, during a match against Tottenham Hotspur, he had a collision with Spurs' defender Alan Hutton. Hutton's challenge hit Sørensen on the head. Sørensen later said he almost lost his eyesight. Hutton apologized for the challenge. Sørensen made many important saves, helping Stoke finish in a safe 12th place in their first Premier League season.
He continued to be Stoke's main goalkeeper in the 2009–10 season. He signed a contract extension in November 2009, keeping him at the Britannia Stadium until 2011. He continued his good form in goal. He saved penalties in games against Portsmouth, Arsenal, and Wigan Athletic. He played a big part in Stoke's good performance in the league, which brought them to 10th place in December. By December 12, Sørensen had saved five out of the last six penalty kicks against him.
Sørensen got more competition when Stoke signed Asmir Begović from Portsmouth in February 2010. On April 25, he dislocated his elbow in a game against Chelsea. His elbow was put back in place without surgery. However, Sørensen missed the last three games of the 2009–10 season.
Challenges and Back-up Role
After starting the first nine matches of the 2010–11 season, Sørensen lost his spot to Begović. However, he played in all of the club's FA Cup games. This included the FA Cup Final against Manchester City on May 14, 2011. He played well, even though Stoke City lost 1–0.
For the 2011–12 season, Sørensen remained the second-choice goalkeeper behind Begović. He played in cup matches and in the UEFA Europa League. After some less strong performances by Begović, Sørensen was brought back for league matches. In a game against Everton, he got a mild concussion after a clash with Tim Cahill. He had to be carried off the field on a stretcher. But he recovered quickly. He signed a new two-and-a-half-year contract with Stoke in December 2011, keeping him at the club until 2014. After signing, Sørensen said he wanted to keep playing top-level football.
In the 2012–13 season, Sørensen only played in cup games because Begović was playing so well. Also, Stoke signed Jack Butland, another goalkeeper. This made Sørensen think about his future at Stoke City. After manager Tony Pulis left, Sørensen planned to talk with the new manager, Mark Hughes, about his role.
Sørensen played his first Premier League game in over 20 months on December 26, 2013, against Newcastle United. This happened because Begović was injured. Sørensen saved a penalty from Loïc Rémy, but Stoke had two players sent off and lost 5–1. Sørensen started the next two matches. Then he got injured himself against Everton. This allowed third-choice goalkeeper Butland to play for Begović. Once Begović returned from his injury, Butland was loaned to Leeds United. Sørensen then went back to being the backup goalkeeper for the rest of the 2013–14 season. He was offered a one-year contract extension, which he signed in May 2014.
In December 2014, Sørensen said he would leave Stoke at the end of the 2014–15 season. He received a special award for his contributions to Stoke. He spent seven seasons at the Britannia Stadium and played 129 games. Sørensen decided to mark his departure from Stoke by cycling 4,000 miles across the United States to raise money for charity.
Playing in Australia
On August 31, 2015, Sørensen signed a two-year deal with the Australian team Melbourne City. He made his A-League debut on October 10. This was the first match of the new season away to Sydney FC, which ended in a 1–1 draw. Melbourne City released Sørensen in April 2017 after they lost their final playoff game to Perth Glory.
On July 24, 2017, Sørensen announced he was retiring from professional football at the age of 41.
Thomas Sørensen's International Career
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Sørensen first played for the Danish under-19 national team in April 1993. He then moved to the Danish under-21 national team in September 1993, at just 17 years old. He played 24 games for the Denmark under-21 team until October 1997. After playing well for Vejle, he was called up for an unofficial national team game in April 1996. He replaced Lars Høgh at halftime.
After moving to Sunderland, Sørensen made his debut for the senior Danish national team in November 1999. This was in a match against Israel, where he came on to replace an injured Peter Schmeichel. He was a backup goalkeeper for Denmark at Euro 2000, as Schmeichel was nearing the end of his career.
For the 2002 FIFA World Cup qualifying games in 2001, he became the main goalkeeper and helped Denmark qualify. Sørensen was very important as Denmark won their first group. They finished ahead of Senegal, Uruguay, and the defending World Cup champions France. This set up a second-round match against England. However, in the heavy rain at the Niigata Stadium, Sørensen let in three goals. One of them was a mistake by Sørensen, as he fumbled the ball into his own goal from a Rio Ferdinand header in the fifth minute. England went on to win the match 3–0.
Sørensen again represented his country in an international tournament at Euro 2004. He played in all of Denmark's games. He won the official man of the match award after both the 0–0 draw with Italy and the 2–0 victory against Bulgaria. Despite his efforts, Denmark was again knocked out with a 3–0 loss. This time, it was to the Czech Republic in the quarter-finals.
During the 2010 World Cup qualifiers, Denmark played Sweden at Råsunda Stadium in Stockholm. Sweden was given a penalty kick in the tenth minute, which Sørensen saved. Denmark went on to win the game 1–0. Sørensen missed three qualification matches due to injury. Still, Denmark qualified for the 2010 World Cup with one match left to play.
Sørensen's elbow injury made it uncertain if he would play in his second World Cup. But Denmark coach Morten Olsen included him in the final team. After he fully recovered, Sørensen was named the starting goalkeeper for his second World Cup. He played every minute in Denmark's three games at the tournament.
He reached the milestone of 100 international games at age 36 on February 29, 2012. This was in a 0–2 friendly loss to Russia in Copenhagen. On May 26, in a friendly game against Brazil in Hamburg, Sørensen had to leave the game due to an injury in the 24th minute. This injury meant he had to withdraw from Denmark's team for UEFA Euro 2012.
On August 7, 2012, after playing 101 games for Denmark, he announced his retirement from international football.
Thomas Sørensen's Personal Life
Sørensen grew up supporting Odense BK. He looks up to Lars Høgh as his role model. He married Maria Borring in Svendborg, Denmark, on June 16, 2001. Thomas and Maria have two children, Marcus and Celine.
In 2006, Sørensen became an investor in Golf Punk magazine. He joined former Sunderland teammates Phil Babb, Michael Gray, Jason McAteer, and Stephen Wright. Their investment saved the magazine from closing down.
Sørensen now lives in Australia and has become an Australian citizen. He often appears as a commentator for Optus Sport's online coverage of the English Premier League. Sørensen also guests on the network's 'GegenPod' podcast. He shares his thoughts on Australia's A-League, the Socceroos national team games, and European leagues. He also helped cover UEFA Euro 2020 and Copa America 2021 games. He was also a commentator for the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup.
Honours and Awards
Sunderland
- Football League First Division: 1998–99 (Champions)
Stoke City
- FA Cup runner-up: 2010–11
Melbourne City
- FFA Cup: 2016 (Winners)
Individual Awards
- North East Football Writers' Player of the Year: 2001
- PFA A-League Team of the Season: 2015–16
- A-League Goalkeeper of the Year: 2015–16
See also
In Spanish: Thomas Sørensen para niños
- List of men's footballers with 100 or more international caps
