Niall Joseph Thompson (born 16 April 1974) is an English-Canadian

soccer Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 players who primarily use their feet to propel the ball around a rectangular field called a pitch. The objective of the game is ...

player and coach, who works currently as an assistant coach with

Vancouver FC Vancouver Football Club, commonly known as Vancouver FC, is a Canadian professional Association football, soccer club in Langley, British Columbia (district municipality), Langley, British Columbia. The club competes in the Canadian Premier Le ...

of the

Canadian Premier League The Canadian Premier League (CPL or CanPL; french: Première ligue canadienne, links=no) is a professional men's Association football, soccer league in Canada. At the top of the Canadian soccer league system, it is the country's primary nationa ...

Club career

Thompson moved to Canada, aged two, and later played for the

Edmonton Brick Men The Edmonton Brick Men (also Edmonton Brickmen) were a Canadian soccer team in Edmonton, Alberta that competed in the Canadian Soccer League and the Western Soccer Alliance. During their time in the WSA and the CSL, the team played at both John Du ...

and

Winnipeg Fury The Winnipeg Fury were a professional soccer team in Winnipeg, Canada. The team was part of the Canadian Soccer League from 1987 to 1992. They were one of four teams to participate in every season of the CSL. In 1993, they played in the Canadia ...

in the

Canadian Soccer League The Canadian Soccer League (CSL; french: Ligue canadienne de soccer — LCS) is a semi-professional league for Canadian soccer clubs primarily located in the province of Ontario, and claims the history of the Canadian National Soccer League (C ...

. He then played for the

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; en, Philips Sports Association ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional football department, whi ...

youth team. He started his professional career as a trainee with

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition building ...

but after an unsuccessful spell moved to play for

Colchester United Colchester United Football Club is a professional association football club based in the city of Colchester, Essex, England. The team competes in , the fourth tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1937, the club spent its earl ...

, before returning to Canada for family reasons. Thompson played for Montreal Impact,

Seattle Sounders Seattle Sounders Football Club is an American professional men's association football, soccer club based in Seattle. The Sounders compete as a member of the Western Conference (MLS), Western Conference of Major League Soccer (MLS). The club w ...

and

Zultse VV Sportvereniging Zulte Waregem (), commonly known as Zulte Waregem or by their nickname Essevee (), is a Belgian professional football club based in Waregem, West Flanders. Zulte Waregem plays in the Belgian First Division A. Their highest finis ...

, before returning to Canada again to play local football, while waiting for a visa which would allow him to play in the United States. Seattle Sounders expressed interest in re-signing him, but could not due to visa issues. A friend contacted

Micky Adams Michael Richard Adams (born 8 November 1961) is an English former professional association football, footballer and football manager. As a player, he was a Full-back (football), full back, and made a total of 438 league appearances in a ninete ...

, then-manager of English

Second Division In sport, the Second Division, also called Division 2 or Division II is usually the second highest division of a league, and will often have promotion and relegation with divisions above and below. Following the rise of Premier League style compet ...

side

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

and Thompson signed for the club on non-contract terms in February 1998. After leaving the Bees in September 1998, Thompson went on to play for

Vancouver 86ers Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the city, up from 631,486 in 2016. The ...

Airdrieonians Airdrieonians Football Club is a Scottish professional football team in Airdrie, North Lanarkshire, who are members of the Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) and play in Scottish League One. They were formed in 2002 as Airdrie United ...

, Bay Area Seals,

Wycombe Wanderers Wycombe Wanderers Football Club is an English professional association football club based in the town of High Wycombe, Buckinghamshire. The team compete in League One, the third tier of the English football league system. They play their home ...

, Montreal Impact and

Vancouver Whitecaps Vancouver Whitecaps Football Club is a Canadian professional soccer team based in Vancouver. They compete in Major League Soccer (MLS) as a member club of the league's Western Conference. The MLS iteration of the club was established on March ...

International career

Thompson represented Canada at the

1991 Pan American Games The 1991 Pan American Games were held in Havana, Cuba from August 2 to August 18, 1991. There were 4,519 athletes from 39 countries of the Pan American Sports Organization, PASO community, with events in 33 different sports. The main stadium was ...

. He made his senior debut for

Canada Canada is a country in North America. Its ten provinces and three territories extend from the Atlantic Ocean to the Pacific Ocean and northward into the Arctic Ocean, covering over , making it the world's second-largest country by tot ...

in a March 1993 friendly match against

South Korea South Korea, officially the Republic of Korea (ROK), is a country in East Asia, constituting the southern part of the Korea, Korean Peninsula and sharing a Korean Demilitarized Zone, land border with North Korea. Its western border is formed ...

and earned a total of nine caps, scoring two goals. He represented Canada in just one

FIFA World Cup qualification The FIFA World Cup qualification is a competitive match that a national association football team takes in order to qualify for one of the available berths at the final tournament of the (men's) FIFA World Cup. Qualifying tournaments are hel ...

match, in October 2000. That game, against

Panama Panama ( , ; es, link=no, Panamá ), officially the Republic of Panama ( es, República de Panamá), is a transcontinental country spanning the southern part of North America and the northern part of South America. It is bordered by Cos ...

, proved to be his final international.

Coaching career

Thompson served as a coach with amateur club Surrey United SC, before joining

club

as an assistant ahead of the 2023 season.

International goals

:''Scores and results list Canada's goal tally first.''

Personal life

While living in

Vancouver Vancouver ( ) is a major city in western Canada, located in the Lower Mainland region of British Columbia. As the List of cities in British Columbia, most populous city in the province, the 2021 Canadian census recorded 662,248 people in the ...

in late 1997, Thompson worked for

Umbro Umbro is an English sports equipment manufacturer founded in 1924 in Wilmslow, Cheshire and based in Manchester. They specialise in football and rugby sportswear featuring their ''Double Diamond'' logo. Umbro products are marketed in over 100 c ...

in a bid to earn money for a flight ticket back to the UK.

References

External links

* * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Thompson, Niall 1974 births Living people Footballers from Birmingham, West Midlands English emigrants to Canada Naturalized citizens of Canada Men's association football forwards English men's footballers Canadian men's soccer players Canada men's youth international soccer players Canada men's international soccer players Canadian expatriate sportspeople in the United States English expatriate men's footballers British expatriates in the Netherlands British expatriates in Belgium Crystal Palace F.C. players Colchester United F.C. players Montreal Impact (1992–2011) players S.V. Zulte Waregem players Seattle Sounders (1994–2008) players Brentford F.C. players Vancouver Whitecaps (1986–2010) players Airdrieonians F.C. (1878) players San Francisco Seals (soccer) players Wycombe Wanderers F.C. players Surrey United SC players USL First Division players USISL players Expatriate men's footballers in Belgium Expatriate men's footballers in Scotland Expatriate men's soccer players in the United States Vancouver Whitecaps FC non-playing staff Pan American Games competitors for Canada Footballers at the 1991 Pan American Games 1993 CONCACAF Gold Cup players 1996 CONCACAF Gold Cup players Canadian expatriate men's soccer players Canadian expatriate sportspeople in Scotland Canadian expatriate sportspeople in England English expatriate sportspeople in the United States Edmonton Brick Men players Winnipeg Fury players Vancouver FC non-playing staff