Thomas Sørensen

Source: Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia.
For the defender, see Thomas Sørensen (footballer, born 1984).

Thomas Sørensen
Sørensen in 2007
Personal information
Full name Thomas Løvendahl Sørensen[1]
Date of birth (1976-06-12) 12 June 1976 (age 47)[1]
Place of birth Fredericia, Denmark
Height 1.96 m (6 ft 5 in)[2]
Position(s) 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)
International career
1993–1995 Denmark U19 3 (0)
1993–1997 Denmark U21 25 (0)
1996 Denmark B 1 (0)
1999–2012 Denmark 101 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Thomas Løvendahl Sørensen (Danish pronunciation: [ˈsɶɐ̯ˀn̩sn̩]; born 12 June 1976) is a Danish former professional footballer who played as a goalkeeper.

Sørensen started his career with his local side

Svendborg he was signed by English side Sunderland in 1998. After five years as first-choice goalkeeper on Wearside, he joined Aston Villa for £2 million. He remained a regular for his time at Villa Park until a fall-out with manager Martin O'Neill saw him dropped and then released in May 2008. He then went to Stoke City, where he was first-choice goalkeeper for three seasons, helping the club consolidate in the Premier League. He then finished his playing career with a two-year spell at Australian club Melbourne City. He remains to date the Danish player with the most Premier league appearances (364 in total).[3]

Between 2000 and 2012, Sørensen was the starting goalkeeper for the Denmark national football team, the successor to the legendary Peter Schmeichel, and he played 101 matches for his country, making him their eighth-most capped player of all time. He was part of Denmark's UEFA Euro 2000, 2002 FIFA World Cup, UEFA Euro 2004, and 2010 FIFA World Cup squads.

Club career

Early career

Born in

Werder Bremen in February 1993, and signed a trainee contract with the club.[5] He was soon a professional with Odense BK's first team squad in the Danish Superliga championship. Sørensen served as an understudy to club legend goalkeeper Lars Høgh
, and did not play any league games for the club.

During the

FC Svendborg in the second-tier Danish 1st Division league,[10] where he played the full 1997–98 season
.

Sunderland

In the summer 1998, Sørensen moved abroad to play for English club

clean sheet record with 29 clean sheets in the process.[11]

Sørensen established himself as Sunderland's starting goalkeeper in the Premiership, and helped the club finish 7th in both of their two first Premiership seasons. He gained legendary status with Sunderland fans in 2001, when he saved a penalty kick from Alan Shearer in the dying moments of a November 2000 game, to preserve a valuable win over archrivals and neighbouring club Newcastle United.[14] In the 2002–03 season, Sørensen was injured from October 2002 to January 2003, and only played 21 of 38 games. Sunderland were struggling both on and off the pitch and Sørensen could not save the club from relegation at the end of the season.

Reid had already been sacked, and as a result of the club's mounting financial worries, Sunderland sold Sørensen for £2 million to Aston Villa,[12] who had held off interest from a handful of other clubs, including Manchester United and Arsenal. He played nearly 200 games on Wearside for Sunderland and remains a fan favourite.

Aston Villa

At Aston Villa, Sørensen developed his reputation as a good goalkeeper. Sørensen's ability as a shot stopper allowed him to retain his place as Villa's number one under both managers

Stuart Taylor. In his first three seasons at Aston Villa, he only missed four games. In a November 2003 game against Newcastle, he once again saved an Alan Shearer penalty kick.[15] He suffered a knee injury during the 2006–07 season,[16]
but still played 29 games that term.

During the 2007–08 season he fell out of favour at Villa. Sørensen had suffered an injury during the pre-season, and Villa decided to loan in goalkeeper

Stuart Taylor
.

Stoke City

First-choice goalkeeper: 2008–2010

On 28 July 2008, Sørensen started a trial with newly promoted Premier League team Stoke City, and two days later, he signed a three-year contract with the club.[20] Sørensen became City's first choice goalkeeper for the 2008–09 season replacing Steve Simonsen. During a match in October 2008 against Tottenham Hotspur he was involved in a clash with Spurs's defender Alan Hutton whose challenge struck Sørensen on his head, Sørensen said he was close to losing his eyesight.[21] Hutton later apologised for his challenge.[22] He made a number of important performances as Stoke achieved in a safe position of 12th in their first season in the Premier League.

He continued to be Stoke's first choice goalkeeper in

Britannia Stadium until 2011.[23] During the 2009–10 season he continued his good form in goal. He saved penalties during games against Portsmouth,[24] Arsenal[25] and Wigan Athletic,[26] and played an important part in Stoke's good run in the league, which brought them to 10th place in December.[27] On 12 December Sørensen saved yet another penalty, meaning he had by then saved five out of the last six penalty kicks against him.[28] Sørensen got extra competition for the spot as Stoke's first-choice goalkeeper, following the signing of Asmir Begović from Portsmouth in February 2010.[29] He dislocated his elbow in a game against Chelsea on 25 April.[30]
The elbow was put back in place without the need for surgery, but Sørensen missed the last three games of the 2009–10 season.

Position challenged: 2010–2012

After starting the first nine matches of the

FA Cup Final against Manchester City on 14 May 2011 where he put in a good performance despite Stoke City losing 1–0.[32] For the 2011–12 season Sørensen remained as 2nd choice 'keeper to Begović where he played in cup matches as well as in the UEFA Europa League.[33] After some poor performances by Begović, Sørensen was recalled to league matches.[34] In a match against Everton he received mild concussion after a clash with Tim Cahill and had to be stretchered off.[35] However he soon made a quick recovery.[36] He signed a new two and a half-year contract at Stoke in December 2011 keeping him at the club until 2014.[37] After signing his new contract Sørensen stated that he wanted to continue playing top flight football after his contract ends.[38]

Final years as back-up: 2012–2015

In

Britannia Stadium making 129 appearances.[45] Sørensen decided to mark his departure from Stoke by cycling 4,000 miles across the United States to raise money for charity.[46][47]

Melbourne City

On 31 August 2015, Sørensen signed a two-year deal with Australian side

A-League debut on 10 October in the first match of the new season away to Sydney FC in a 1–1 draw.[50] Sørensen was released by Melbourne City in April 2017 after they lost their elimination-final to Perth Glory.[51]

On 24 July 2017, Sørensen announced his retirement from professional football at the age of 41.[52]

International career

Sørensen in action for Denmark

Sørensen made his international debut with the Danish under-19 national team in April 1993, and was moved into the Danish under-21 national team in September 1993, making his under-21 debut at 17 years of age. He went on to play 24 games for the Denmark under-21s until October 1997. Following his initial impressive form for Vejle, he was called up for an unofficial national team game in April 1996, and replaced Lars Høgh at half-time.

After his move to Sunderland, Sørensen made his debut for the senior

Niigata Stadium, Sørensen conceded three goals, one of them a mistake by Sørensen,[12] as he bundled the ball into his own goal from a Rio Ferdinand
header in the fifth minute. England went on to win the match 3–0.

Once again representing his country in an international tournament, Sørensen played in all his country's games at Euro 2004, gathering 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 once more eliminated in a 3–0 loss, this time to the Czech Republic
in the quarter-finals.

During the 2010 World Cup qualifiers, Denmark faced Sweden at Råsunda Stadium in Stockholm. Sweden was awarded a penalty in the tenth minute, which Sørensen saved as Denmark went on to win the game 1–0. Sørensen missed three qualification matches through injury, yet Denmark still qualified for the 2010 World Cup with one match to go. Sørensen's elbow injury put his chance of appearing in his second World Cup in doubt,[30] but Denmark coach Morten Olsen included him in the final squad, and on regaining full fitness Sørensen was named the starting goalkeeper for his second World Cup campaign, and played full-time in Denmark's three games at the tournament.

He reached the landmark of

Imtech Arena, Sørensen had to be substituted for an injury in the 24th minute[55] which led to his withdrawal from Denmark's squad for UEFA Euro 2012.[56][57]

On 7 August 2012, after making 101 appearances for Denmark, he announced his retirement from international football.[58]

Personal life

Sørensen grew up supporting Odense BK and cites Lars Høgh as his role model. He married Maria Borring in Svendborg, Denmark on 16 June 2001. Thomas and Maria have two children: Marcus and Celine.[59]

In 2006, Sørensen became an investor in Golf Punk magazine, alongside former Sunderland teammates Phil Babb, Michael Gray, Jason McAteer, and Stephen Wright, saving the publication from closure.[60]

Sørensen currently resides in Australia, where he has gained citizenship.

Copa America 2021 fixtures, as well as the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup
, appearing as a panellist during pre and post game intervals.

Career statistics

Club

Appearances and goals by club, season and competition[62]
Club Season League FA Cup League Cup Europe Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Odense BK 1994–95 Danish Superliga 0 0 0 0 — — 0 0
1995–96 Danish Superliga 0 0 0 0 — — 0 0
Total 0 0 0 0 — 0 0 0 0
Vejle (loan) 1995–96 Danish Superliga 6 0 0 0 — — 6 0
1996–97 Danish Superliga 0 0 0 0 — — 0 0
Total 6 0 0 0 — 0 0 6 0
Svendborg
(loan) 		1997–98 Danish 1st Division 45 0 0 0 — — 45 0
Sunderland 1998–99[63] First Division 45 0 2 0 9 0 — 56 0
1999–2000[64] Premier League 37 0 2 0 0 0 — 39 0
2000–01[65] Premier League 34 0 4 0 4 0 — 42 0
2001–02[66] Premier League 34 0 1 0 0 0 — 35 0
2002–03[67] Premier League 21 0 4 0 0 0 — 25 0
Total 171 0 13 0 13 0 0 0 197 0
Aston Villa 2003–04[68] Premier League 38 0 1 0 6 0 — 45 0
2004–05[69] Premier League 36 0 1 0 2 0 — 39 0
2005–06[70] Premier League 36 0 4 0 3 0 — 43 0
2006–07[71] Premier League 29 0 0 0 2 0 — 31 0
2007–08[72] Premier League 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 0
Total 139 0 6 0 13 0 0 0 158 0
Stoke City 2008–09[73] Premier League 36 0 0 0 0 0 — 36 0
2009–10[74] Premier League 33 0 5 0 0 0 — 38 0
2010–11[75] Premier League 10 0 7 0 0 0 — 17 0
2011–12[76] Premier League 16 0 1 0 2 0 7 0 26 0
2012–13[77] Premier League 0 0 3 0 1 0 — 4 0
2013–14[78] Premier League 4 0 0 0 4 0 — 8 0
2014–15[79] Premier League 0 0 0 0 0 0 — 0 0
Total 99 0 16 0 7 0 7 0 129 0
Melbourne City 2015–16
A-League
 29 0 1 0 — — 30 0
2016–17 A-League 8 0 2 0 — — 10 0
Total 37 0 3 0 — — 40 0
Career total 497 0 38 0 33 0 7 0 575 0

International

Appearances and goals by national team and year[80][81]
National team Year Apps Goals
Denmark 1999 1 0
2000 1 0
2001 8 0
2002 11 0
2003 10 0
2004 12 0
2005 10 0
2006 6 0
2007 11 0
2008 6 0
2009 9 0
2010 6 0
2011 8 0
2012 2 0
Total 101 0

Honours

Sunderland

Stoke City

  • 2010–11

Melbourne City

Individual

See also

References

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  2. ^ "Thomas Sørensen". Premier League. Retrieved 21 May 2019.
  3. ^ "Premier League player appearances". Premier League. Retrieved 11 January 2020.
  4. ^ Jan B. Jensen, "Sørensen ud af skyggen", Jyllands-Posten, 18 November 1999.
  5. ^ Allan Pedersen, "Senegal bedre end Brande", Ekstra Bladet, 3 February 1993
  6. ^ Allan Pedersen, "Talent ud af Høghs skygge", Ekstra Bladet, 10 December 1995
  7. ^ Ib Pilegaard, "Thomas bliver den ny Schmeichel", B.T., 14 April 1996.
  8. ^ Søren Olsen, "Håb om ufortjent sejr", Politiken, 5 May 1996, p.24
  9. ^ Lars Hendel, "Brud på brud", B.T., 12 July 1996.
  10. ^ Søren Olsen, "Svendborg-målmandens mareridt", Politiken, 20 August 1997, p.19.
  11. ^ a b EURO 2008 profile, UEFA, 2006
  12. ^ a b c Ronald Atkin, Why Sorensen is keeping to the Schmeichel strut holds, The Independent on Sunday, 16 November 2003
  13. ISBN 978-1-85983-771-9
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