Archie Thompson

Personal information
Full name	Archibald Gerald Thompson
Height	1.74 m (5 ft 8+1⁄2 in)
Position(s)	Striker
Team information
Current team	Melbourne Victory
Number	10

Archibald Gerald "Archie" Thompson (born 23 October 1978 in Otorohanga, New Zealand) is an Australian football (soccer) player, currently playing for the Melbourne Victory in the Australian A-League, where he holds the all time scoring record for the competition. Thompson also holds the joint record for most goals, 13, scored in one international match.

Archie Thompson began his career in Bathurst, playing there in the 1995-1996 season. He then moved to play for Gippsland Falcons between 1996 and 1999. After the collapse of Gippsland Falcons, he played a season for Carlton S.C. from 1999 to 2000. He spent 2001 with Marconi Stallions, before making a big break in 2001 in signing with Belgium's Lierse SK. He returned to his home country to play for Template:ALeague MV in 2005 (the inaugural A-League season), scoring the team's first ever regular season goal.

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. PSV was then coached by Guus Hiddink, who was also the Australian national team's head coach, and playing for the team would provide Thompson with the match fitness and exposure to help his chances of being selected in the World Cup team. After negotiations between the Victory and PSV stalled over the financial terms of the deal, Thompson was officially placed on six-month loan to PSV Eindhoven on 13 January 2006. He played what was thought at the time to be his final Template:ALeague MV game against Template:ALeague QR, scoring the only goal as the team's acting captain.^[1] This goal took his tally to 8 for the season, which made him Melbourne Victory's inaugural Golden Boot winner. He also tied for the A-League's top goal scorer (the Reebok Golden Boot award) with Alex Brosque, Bobby Despotovski and Stewart Petrie. Thompson made just two appearances for PSV as a substitute. He was informed by the club that they would not be signing him to a further deal, and so he returned to Template:ALeague MV for the A-League 2006-07 season.

Resuming with Template:ALeague MV in domestic football, Thompson formed a deadly partnership in the second season of the A-League with strike partner Danny Allsopp, who both benefited from the attacking skills of Brazilian midfielder Fred. Their quality forward play lead Melbourne to become both premiers and champions of the A-League in 2006-07.

Thompson starred in the 2007 A-League Grand Final on 18 February 2007, scoring 5 goals and helping Template:ALeague MV to a 6-0 thrashing of rivals Template:ALeague AU. 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. For his efforts, Thompson was awarded the Joe Marston Medal as the Man of the Match.

Thompson made his first international appearance for Australia on February 28, 2001 in a friendly match against Colombia. He then was included by coach Frank Farina in the squad for the 2002 FIFA World Cup qualification matches played in April 2001. On April 9, 2001, he came on as a substitute and scored his first international goal in Australia's first match against Tonga, which Australia easily won 22–0, breaking the world record for the largest win in an international match.^[2] Two days later, in the match against American Samoa, Thompson was named as starter with regular attackers were either rested or omitted from the squad. Australia went on to break their own record by winning 31–0, with Thompson scoring 13 goals, breaking the world record for most goals scored in an international match. American Samoa, who had player eligibility issues, fielded a team with youth players and was not a match to Australia, even though Australia themselves were missing several star players.^[3]

A month later, Thompson was named in Australia's squad for the 2001 FIFA Confederations Cup. He made two substitute appearances on the tournament as Australia went on to achieve third place at the competition. In total, Thompson made 7 international appearances in 2001, scoring an impressive 16 goals. However, after 2001, he was not called up by Farina for more than three years before earning a recall in 2004.

On October 12, 2004, he was recalled to the team and made a substitute appearance in the 2004 OFC Nations Cup final, which Australia won. Since then, Thompson was more regularly called up to the national team, although most of his appearances were as a substitute. He was also included in Australia's squad for the 2005 FIFA Confederations Cup, appearing in two matches as a substitute. In 2005, Thompson returned to Australia to play for Template:ALeague MV in the inaugural A-League season. Despite not playing in Europe, he retained his place in the national team and became the only A-League based player in Australia's squad for the qualification matches against Uruguay for a berth in the 2006 FIFA World Cup.^[4] Australia eventually qualify for the 2006 World Cup. His good form for Melbourne earned Thompson a place in Australia's squad for the World Cup. He was one of three A-League based players in the squad, even though he spent the run-up to the tournament on loan at PSV Eindhoven.^[5] However, he did not receive any playing time in the tournament, as Australia was eliminated in the second round.

In 2007, Thompson was once again included in Australia's squad for a major tournament. This time, Thompson participated in the 2007 AFC Asian Cup, appearing as a substitute once, in a match against the eventual winners Iraq. In 2008, Thompson was included in Australia's under-23 squad for the 2008 Olympics as one of the three over-age players allowed in the team.^[6]

Thompson's 13 goals broke the previous record of 7 goals, which was jointly held by another Australian, Gary Cole, who scored seven goals against Fiji in the 1982 World Cup qualification on August 14, 1981,^[7] and Iranian Karim Bagheri, who also scored seven goals against Maldives in the 1998 World Cup qualification on June 2, 1997.^[8][3] Some sources mentioned that the previous record was 10 goals, which was achieved by Denmark's Sophus "Krølben" Nielsen in a 17–1 win against France at the 1908 Olympics and Germany's Gottfried Fuchs in a 16–0 win against Russia at the 1912 Olympics.^[9] These matches, although were fully recognized by FIFA, was played by amateur players. Thompson also equaled the world record for most goals scored in a recognized senior match, set in 1885 when John Petrie scored 13 goals in Abroath's 36–0 win over Bon Accord in a Scottish Cup tournament.^[10]

Scores and results list Australia's goal tally first.

Date	Venue	Opponent	Result	Competition	Goals (Total goals)
April 9, 2001	International Sports Stadium, Coffs Harbour	Tonga	22-0	2002 FIFA World Cup qualification	1 (1)
April 11, 2001	International Sports Stadium, Coffs Harbour	American Samoa	31-0	2002 FIFA World Cup qualification	13 (14)
April 16, 2001	International Sports Stadium, Coffs Harbour	Samoa	11-0	2002 FIFA World Cup qualification	2 (16)
October 12, 2004	Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney	Solomon Islands	6-0	2004 OFC Nations Cup	1 (17)
September 3, 2005	Sydney Football Stadium, Sydney	Solomon Islands	7-0	2006 FIFA World Cup qualification	1 (18)
September 7, 2005	Lawson Tama Stadium, Honiara	Solomon Islands	2-1	2006 FIFA World Cup qualification	1 (19)
October 9, 2005	Craven Cottage, London	Jamaica	5-0	Friendly	1 (20)
February 22, 2006	National Stadium, Bahrain	Bahrain	3-1	2007 Asian Cup qualification	1 (21)

(Correct as of 15 February 2009)

Thompson's father is a New Zealander and his mother is from Papua New Guinea, and has three brothers and two sisters.^{[citation needed]} He has two children, Isabella and Axel, and bears two tattoos on his inner forearms (one on each forearm) of his children's names.^{[citation needed]} Archie is the official ambassador for FIFA 08 in Australia and New Zealand.^[11] Before every match, Archie listens to "Fix You" by Coldplay in remembrance of his newly born son.^{[citation needed]}

With Australia:

• OFC Nations Cup: 2004

With Melbourne Victory:

• A-League Championship: 2006-2007, 2008-2009
• A-League Premiership: 2006-2007, 2008-2009

Personal Honours:

• Joe Marston Medal: 2006-2007 with Melbourne Victory
• A-League Golden Boot: 2005-2006 with Melbourne Victory - 8 goals
• Melbourne Victory Victory Medal: 2007-2008

• Melbourne Victory profile
• Oz Football profile
• FFA - Socceroo profile
• Yahoo World Cup profile
• Hat Trick against Adelaide United on World Football Register
• Article written for The Age