Michael Beauchamp
Personal information
Date of birth	8 March 1981 (1981-03-08) (age 28)
Place of birth	Sydney, Australia
Height	1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)
Playing position	Centre Back
Club information
Current club	Al-Jazira Club
Number	3
Youth career
	Marconi Stallions
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
2000–2002 2002–2004 2004–2005 2005–2006 2006–2007 2007–2008 2008–2009 2009–	Marconi Stallions Parramatta Power Sydney Olympic Central Coast Mariners → Nuremberg (loan) Nuremberg Aalborg BK Al-Jazira Club	026 00(0) 057 00(0) 003 00(0) 022 00(0) 018 00(1) 012 00(0) 012 00(1) 002 00(0)
National team2
2004 2006–	Australia U-23 Australia	001 00(0) 019 00(1)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 22 September 2009. 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 30 October 2008. * Appearances (Goals)

Michael Beauchamp (born 8 March 1981 in Sydney, New South Wales, Australia) is an Australian football (soccer) player. He currently plays for Al-Jazira Club, he played for the Danish Superliga team Aalborg BK from 2008-2009. He was a member of the Australian 2006 World Cup squad.

[edit] Club career

Beauchamp grew up in Wakeley in Sydney's south-west,^[1] and attended Westfields Sports High School until year 8, aged 14.^[2] After leaving the widely accepted system of progression in Australian youth football, Beauchamp started his career as a part-time professional at age 20 with the Marconi Stallions. Beauchamp appeared just once for the Stallions in his first season,^[3] fighting for a spot ahead of Australian representative Mark Babic. In 2001–02, Beauchamp became a regular in the team, making 24 appearances, including 19 starts as Marconi finished ninth in the league.^[4] Upon signing with Parramatta Power for 2002–03 and beyond, Beauchamp was able to quit his vinyl-laying job to play football full-time,^[5] and became a permanent member of the Parramatta starting line-up. Beauchamp played 33 matches for Parramatta in 2002–03, with the Power finishing the regular season third before coming fourth in the finals series "round-robin". Beauchamp made a further 24 appearances in 2003–04, including the last NSL Grand Final after the western Sydney club finished second in the league.^[6] The collapse of the NSL forced Beauchamp to move back to the New South Wales Premier League, where he played for Sydney Olympic FC during the 2004–05 season before signing with A-League club Central Coast Mariners.

Beauchamp was a key player for the Mariners in the inaugural A-League season, starting 22 times in central defence. The Mariners finished third and progressed to the Grand Final, with Beauchamp playing the full 90 minutes in the decider.^[7] Beauchamp received numerous accolades from the press and fans for his impressive season, chosen as "Player of the Year" by Australian football magazine FourFourTwo,^[8] and was the most popular selection in the A-League "Fans' Team of the Year",^[9] although he was ineligible for the Johnny Warren Medal after receiving a red card in a round 11 clash with Sydney FC.^[10] Beauchamp also collected the inaugural "Mariners Medal" after being voted as the most outstanding Central Coast player by his teammates.^[11] At the end of the season Beauchamp travelled to Germany to trial with 1. FC Nuremberg alongside Mariners teammate Dean Heffernan, with both players signing one-year loan contracts with the Bundesliga club.^[12] Beauchamp began training with Nuremberg shortly after the end of the World Cup, and scored a goal in his first match for the club, a 3-2 win over FSV Erlangen-Bruck.^[13] Beauchamp made his first Bundesliga start for Nuremberg on 4 November 2006 in a 2-1 loss away to Hertha Berlin.^[14] He has since become a regular of the starting first team, occasionally coming off the bench. He scored his first goal against Energie Cottbus on 18 February 2007. At the end of the 2006–07 season 1. FCN elected to sign Beauchamp on a full contract.^{[citation needed]}

In the Summer of 2008, Beauchamp moved to Danish champions AaB Football. On 17 August, in his first match in the Danish league, he was shown a straight red card 18 minutes into the game. Precisely one month later he was sent off once more in a UEFA Champions League match against Celtic in Glasgow, though on this occasion it was actually his team-mate Michael Jakobsen who should have received the red card as Beauchamp was not involved in the foul that led to the decision.

[edit] International career

Beauchamp was called up into the Australian national under-23 squad (the "Olyroos") in January 2004 for the 2004 Summer Olympics qualifying tournament under Frank Farina. He made his international debut as a substitute, playing the final 34 minutes of Australia's 9-0 victory over Papua New Guinea.^[15] That appearance became Beauchamp's only game for the Olyroos, as he missed selection for the Olympic Games themselves, where the team made the quarter finals before being eliminated by Iraq.

In 2005, Beauchamp got his first taste at the senior level as he was twice called into the Socceroos training camp in the Netherlands under Guus Hiddink. The first occasion was in place of injured captain Craig Moore, but Beauchamp was called up again in the lead-up to Australia's 2006 World Cup qualification tie against the Solomon Islands. Although he did not play a part in the qualification campaign, Beauchamp's impressive A-League season earned him his first full international cap by playing the full 90 minutes in Australia's 3-1 win over Bahrain during qualifying for the 2007 Asian Cup.^[16] This was followed by Beauchamp's selection as one of only two A-League players in the Australian squad for the 2006 FIFA World Cup. Beauchamp did not make an appearance during the finals tournament, but picked up his second international cap in a warm-up game against Liechtenstein, playing 12 minutes as a substitute for Craig Moore.^[17]

On 7 October 2006, Beauchamp scored the own goal that gave Australia a 1-1 draw in a friendly against Paraguay. He came on late in the game, replacing Tony Popović (who was one of four senior Australian players retiring from international duty). With his first touch, after contact was made by Albirroja striker Oscar Cardozo, Beauchamp headed the ball into his own net.

On 16 July 2007, in something of a redemption for the above incident, Beauchamp scored the opening goal in Australia's must-win match in the group stage (Group A) of the 2007 Asian Cup against Thailand. Australia's form leading up to the game had been indifferent and the side faced embarrassing elimination from the tournament if they did not win the match. After Beauchamp's opener (a header home from a Luke Wilkshire free kick), Australia went on to win comfortably 4-0.

[edit] Honours

With 1. FC Nuremberg:

• DFB-Pokal: 2006-2007

Personal Honours:

• Central Coast Mariners Mariners Medal: 2005-2006

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• AaB profile (Danish)
• FFA - Socceroo profile
• Oz Football profile

v • d • e Australia squad – 2006 FIFA World Cup 1 Schwarzer • 2 Neill • 3 Moore • 4 Cahill • 5 Čulina • 6 Popovic • 7 Emerton • 8 Skoko • 9 Viduka • 10 Kewell • 11 Lazaridis • 12 Čović • 13 Grella • 14 Chipperfield • 15 Aloisi • 16 Beauchamp • 17 Thompson • 18 Kalac • 19 Kennedy • 20 Wilkshire • 21 Sterjovski • 22 Milligan • 23 Bresciano • Coach: Hiddink

v • d • e Australia squad – 2007 AFC Asian Cup 1 Schwarzer • 2 Neill • 3 Kisnorbo • 4 Cahill • 5 Čulina • 6 Beauchamp • 7 Emerton • 8 Wilkshire • 9 Viduka • 10 Kewell • 11 Thompson • 12 Jones • 13 Grella • 14 Holman • 15 Aloisi • 16 Thwaite • 17 Valeri • 18 Petkovic • 19 Carle • 20 Carney • 21 Sterjovski • 22 Milligan • 23 Bresciano • Coach: Arnold