Thomas Sørensen

Early career

Born in Fredericia, Sørensen started playing youth football with local clubs in Erritsø and Assens. He then moved to the youth team of local top-flight club Odense Boldklub. He played in training matches against FC St. Pauli and Werder Bremen in February 1993, and signed a trainee contract with the club. 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 1995–96 season, he was loaned out to league rivals Vejle BK in December 1995. Initially an understudy to Erik Boye, he made his Superliga debut in March 1996. Sørensen played three thoroughly impressive games in a row, and the press dubbed him the new Peter Schmeichel. He played six league matches in all for Vejle, including a 6–0 defeat to Brøndby IF, before being dropped by coach Ole Fritsen following a 1–0 defeat to Viborg FF, in which Viborg's Ralf Pedersen headed the ball from Sørensen's hands to score the goal. Sørensen broke his arm in the summer 1996, but continued his loan deal with Vejle until the summer 1997, without playing any more games for the club. Odense then loaned him out again, this time to FC Svendborg in the second-tier Danish 1st Division league, where he played the full 1997–98 season.

Sunderland

In the summer 1998, Sørensen moved abroad to play for English club Sunderland in the Football League…

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 Danish national team in November 1999 in a match against Israel, coming on to replace an injured Peter Schmeichel. He was a reserve keeper for Denmark at Euro 2000, when Schmeichel was at the end of his career. For the 2002 FIFA World Cup qualifying campaign in 2001, he took over the job as goalkeeper and helped Denmark qualify. Sørensen was then instrumental, as Denmark won their first round group ahead of Senegal, Uruguay and defending World Cup champions France to book a second round clash against England. However, in the pouring rain at the Niigata Stadium, Sørensen conceded three goals, one of them a mistake by Sørensen, 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…

Club

International

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. 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. Sørensen currently resides in Australia, where he has gained citizenship. He is a frequent panellist for Stan Sport’s streaming coverage of the English Premier League. Sørensen also actively appears as a guest on the network's 'GegenPod' podcast, providing punditry input to Australia's A-League, Socceroos national team fixtures and European leagues. He is also a regular panellist for the 'A-Leagues Download', a weekly review show produced by the Australian Professional Leagues. Additionally, Sørensen was present in covering UEFA Euro 2020 and Copa America 2021 fixtures, as well as the 2023 FIFA Women's World Cup, appearing as a panellist during pre and post game intervals.