Scandinavian players have always enjoyed huge popularity in the English Premier League. They played for prominent clubs. Especially if we are talking about goalkeepers, Peter Schmeichel was a part of Manchester United which brought fear to various teams in England and abroad. His son, Kasper is also on his father’s continuing legacy – playing for Leicester.
There was another very decent and interesting goalkeeper from Denmark which is Thomas Sorensen. Sorensen managed to become a cult figure for the Aston Villa fans playing from 2003 to 2008 and we know how this club always appreciates its legends. Sorensen has managed to enter this list and this article we will talk in more details about this keeper.
Early years
Thomas Løvendahl Sørensen was born on 12 June 1976 in Fredericia, Vaile, Denmark. From a very early age, he showed interest in football and it was kind of destiny for him to become a professional football player.
Prior to moving to English club Sunderland, where he spent 5 seasons Sorensen formally played for Denmark’s Odense (played two matches in the Intertoto Cup) and another Danish club, Vale, for which he played only six matches. Sorensen wanted to return to Odense but instead found himself in Division 1, at Svendborg.
Sunderland and the English Premier League
The turning point in his career was 1998 when he was bought by Sunderland. We should note that even though Sorensen is Danish, he always felt support from other Scandinavian countries. Norway, in particular, was one of the first countries where people became ardent supporters of the goalkeeper. We should even say that when the gambling industry was developing in the Nordics, Norwegian betting companies were one of the first ones to actually introduce some of the unique promotions on Sorensen. This was a long time ago and of course, it was a big thing for that time and such tendency continues even for modern players.
After Sunderland was eliminated from the English Premier League in the spring of 2003, Arsenal also wanted to sign the Danish keeper, but the Dane ended up in Birmingham. Aston Villa boughtSorensen for $3.6 million
At Aston Villa, Sorensen has earned a reputation as a good goalkeeper. He immediately won the competition against Stuart Taylor and Stefan Postma. In his first three seasons, he missed just four games.
Before the start of the 2006/07 season, Sorensen was injured and the team had to loan young goalkeeper Scott Carson from Liverpool. After that, Sorensen had to become the second goalkeeper of the team. He started looking for a new club. Even though it was a sad farewell for the club there was no other choice
On 28 July 2008, Sorensen signed a three-year contract with Premier League club Stoke City. In October 2009, he was injured in a match against Tottenham after a collision with Alan Hutton. Hatton later apologized to Sorensen.
Thomas was the team’s main goalkeeper for most of the 2009/10 season, but then he lost his place to the younger Asmir Begovic.
Later years and retirement
After the start of the 2010/11 season, Sorensen finally lost his place at Stoke City, he took part only in cup matches. In the 2011/12 season, Sorensen also played in the Europa League in addition to the cups. In December 2011, Sorensen extended his contract with the club until 2014. Thomas said he would continue to play football at the end of his contract.
On August 31, 2015, he signed a two-year contract with Melbourne City. On July 24, 2017, Sorensen announced the end of his decent football career, at which time he was 41.
International career
Sorensen made his debut for Denmark in 1999. At first, he was the second goalkeeper, but after the departure of Peter Schmeichel from the team, he started to play in the main line-up. The friendly match against Russia on February 29, 2012 (0:2) became the 100th for the goalkeeper in the national team.
Sorensen entered Denmark’s roster for the Euro 2012 but was injured while preparing for the tournament. He was replaced by Kasper Schmeichel.
In August 2012, Thomas announced his decision to stop playing for the national team.
Sorensen still remains in the hearts of Aston Villa supporters and even though there is a feeling he could have got more from his career, there is nothing to be sad about for the Danish player.
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