Marshall Soper, born 12 May 1960, is a former

football (soccer) Association football, more commonly known as football or soccer, is a team sport played between two teams of 11 Football player, players who almost exclusively use their feet to propel a Ball (association football), ball around a rectangular f ...

and

Australia Australia, officially the Commonwealth of Australia, is a country comprising mainland Australia, the mainland of the Australia (continent), Australian continent, the island of Tasmania and list of islands of Australia, numerous smaller isl ...

International. A bustling but skilful centre-forward with a reputation for hot-headedness, he was originally from the Hunter region, 2 hours north of Sydney. In 1981 he was signed by APIA Leichhardt, helping them win the 1982

NSL Cup The National Soccer League Cup (known most commonly as the NSL Cup) was an annual knockout football competition in men's domestic Australian soccer organised by the Australian Soccer Federation between 1977 and 1997. History The NSL Cup was or ...

. In 1983 he was signed by their local rivals

Sydney Olympic Sydney Olympic Football Club is an Australian semi-professional soccer club, based in Belmore, Sydney, New South Wales New South Wales (commonly abbreviated as NSW) is a States and territories of Australia, state on the Eastern states o ...

where he would spend the next 7 seasons and where he would make his name as a player, he scored 60 goals in 151 appearances in all competitions for the club between 1983 and 1989, in the process becoming a household name and star for the Socceroos. After finishing up with Olympic, Soper also played an important role during a successful period at

Parramatta FC Parramatta Football Club, commonly known as Parramatta Melita Eagles or just Melita, are a semi-professional Australian soccer club based in South Granville, New South Wales. The club was established by Maltese migrants in 1956 and played sever ...

, helping the club win the 1991 NSL Cup. At a national level, Soper played 29 times for the Socceroos, scoring four goals, mostly in "XI" matches against club teams. In 1991, he top scored (11 goals) for

Penang FA Penang Football Club (simply known as Penang FC) is a Malaysian professional football club based in George Town, Penang, that competes in Malaysia Super League, the top tier of Malaysian football. Unofficially founded in 1920, officially as ...

in the

Malaysian Premier League The Malaysia Premier League () was the second-tier professional Association football, football league in Malaysia. It replaced the Liga Perdana 2 in the Malaysian football league system. The Malaysia Premier League was contested by 12 clubs. T ...

. Soper trialled with Arsenal FC. In later years he coached the Fairfield Bulls and Illawarra Lions. In late 2010 it was announced that he would become a coach for Newcastle United Jets. Soper then moved to a team in the Illawarra Premier League the Coniston Lions FC to become their club coaching director before accepting the post at his former club

Perak FA Perak Football Club (Perak FC) was a professional football team based in Ipoh, Perak, Malaysia. Founded in 1921, it was one of the oldest football clubs in the country and last competed in the Malaysia Super League. Formerly overseen by the P ...

as their academy head coach in April 2013.

References

External links

OzFootball profile
1960 births Living people Australian men's soccer players Australian expatriate men's soccer players Australia men's international soccer players National Soccer League (Australia) players APIA Leichhardt FC players Bonnyrigg White Eagles FC players Marconi Stallions FC players Parramatta FC players Sydney Olympic FC players Wollongong Wolves FC players Perak F.C. players Penang F.C. players Expatriate men's footballers in Malaysia Expatriate men's footballers in England Men's association football forwards Soccer players from Newcastle, New South Wales 20th-century Australian sportsmen {{Australia-footy-forward-stub