Former Aston Villa goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen retires

Danish goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen spent five seasons with Aston Villa. Now, at the age of 41, he officially hangs up his cleats.

Former Aston Villa goalkeeper Thomas Sorensen called it quits on his distinguished playing career. At 41, Sorensen retires from Australian club Melbourne City of the A-League.

Sorensen’s career spans what feels like forever. The former Danish international broke out with Svendborg in 1997 of Denmark’s top flight. What followed was a move to Sunderland, and the Premier League.

A few years passed and Sorensen made the move Villa Park in the summer of 2013.

In the next three seasons, Sorensen missed just two Premier League matches in three years. At the same time, Sorensen firmly entrenched himself as Denmark’s number one goalkeeper. He ended his career with 101 caps.

Sorensen played in one major senior international tournament – the 2002 FIFA World Cup. He led Denmark through to the round of 16, where, the Danes fell to England 3-0.

In his five Aston Villa seasons, (really four, because his final year was lost to injury) Sorensen made 158 appearances for the claret and blues.

What followed was a move to Stoke City where he took on the number one job once more. That lasted for a few seasons, but age slowly caught up with Sorensen, leaving him to a veteran reserves role.

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Fun Fact: Sorensen is second all-time in the Premier League is penalties saved with 12. David James is the record holder.

The official Aston Villa Twitter account acknowledged Sorensen’s shoutout:

All the best for the future, Tommy!