About Archie Thompson
Archie Gerald Thompson (born 23 October 1978) is an Australian former professional soccer player who played as a forward. He serves as a club ambassador for Melbourne Victory FC. Born in New Zealand, Thompson played youth football at the New South Wales Institute of Sport before going on to play numerous seasons in the National Soccer League and A-League. After eleven seasons with Melbourne Victory, he moved on to play for Heidelberg United in 2016. Thompson also played overseas, for Belgian Pro League side Lierse and for Dutch Eredivisie side PSV Eindhoven. Thompson has played over 50 times for the Australian national team, scoring 28 goals. He was in the squad for the 2006 FIFA World Cup, the 2001 and 2005 FIFA Confederations Cups, the 2007 AFC Asian Cup, the 2008 Summer Olympics and the successful 2004 OFC Nations Cup. He previously held the all-time goal-scoring record for a single international match, having scored 13 goals in a 31–0 victory against American Samoa in 2001. That record was subsequently surpassed by Muhammad Nazriev, who scored 14 goals in a U-17 international match against Guam. In that same qualification campaign, Thompson scored 16 goals, which made him the top scorer. As of November 2024, Thompson is Melbourne Victory's all time top goalscorer, with 97 goals in all competitions, and is Melbourne Victory's most capped forward of all time, with 262 appearances in all competitions. In 2015, preeminent football journalist Michael Cockerill declared Thompson was the "greatest player in A-League history". A fan favourite, Thompson scored 9 goals in his first season with the Belgian First Division club before injury curtailed his progress. In becoming the first player to score more than 3 goals in an A-League match, Thompson exceeded his own expectations, predicting before the game that he would get a hat trick. He holds the all time goal scoring record for a single international match, where he scored 13 goals in a 31–0 victory against American Samoa in 2001. With the A-League season finishing in March and a four-month gap between then and Australia's first World Cup group match, Thompson was approached in late 2005 join Dutch team PSV Eindhoven on a temporary loan.
Biography source: Wikipedia. The profile adds birthday-specific historical context from the Celebs Birthday Today editorial database.