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 14 August 1981, and Iranian Karim Bagheri, who also scored seven goals against Maldives in the 1998 World Cup qualification on 2 June 1997. 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. These matches, although fully recognized by FIFA, were 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 Arbroath’s 36–0 win over Bon Accord in a Scottish Cup tournament.

Archie Thompson began his career as a teenager in Bathurst, breaking into the senior squad in 1995. At the close of the 1996 season, he secured a move to the National Soccer League, signing with the Gippsland Falcons midway through the 1996–97 season. His exceptional pace and skill on the ball were instantly recognisable in a mediocre team, and it wasn’t long before he was snapped up by Carlton, becoming a key goalscorer in an attack-minded squad. The demise of Carlton saw a return to Sydney, where he spent the remainder of the 2000–01 season with Marconi after being signed by mastermind Head of Operations Tony “Bagonk” Trimboli, before ultimately signing with Belgium’s Lierse SK. A fan favourite, Thompson scored 9 goals in his first season with the Belgian First Division club before injury curtailed his progress. In his fourth season in Belgium, he was the club’s leading scorer, with 14 goals in 29 league appearances.

Thompson made his first international appearance for Australia on 28 February 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 9 April 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. Two days later, in the match against American Samoa, Thompson was named as starter with regular attackers 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.

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 12 October 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 Melbourne Victory 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. Australia eventually qualified 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. However, he did not receive any playing time in the tournament, as Australia was eliminated in the second round.

Due to his strong form, he was lured back home to play for Melbourne Victory 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 Melbourne Victory game against Queensland Roar, scoring the only goal as the team’s acting captain. 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 Melbourne Victory for the A-League 2006-07 season.

Thompson starred in the 2007 A-League Grand Final on 18 February 2007, scoring 5 goals and helping Melbourne Victory to a 6–0 thrashing of rivals Adelaide United. 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.

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. National coach Pim Verbeek described Thompson’s performance against Indonesia in February 2009 as “absolutely hopeless”.

In October 2010 his book What Doesn’t Kill You Makes You Stronger was released by Melbourne University Publishing.

Thompson returned to the national team in 2012 and scored in a 3–0 win against Lebanon, his first international goal in 6 years. Three days later, he scored in a 2–1 loss to Jordan. His goal scoring form continued as he scored a last-gasp winner in a 2–1 victory over Iraq in a must-win 2014 World Cup qualifier. Thompson was selected in the squad to take part in East Asian Cup qualification in Hong Kong, and Thompson was crowned top-goalscorer of the 2013 East Asian Cup. On 5 November, he scored against North Korea in a 1–1 draw. Two days later, he scored one of the fastest hat-tricks in history after coming on as a substitute and scoring the three in between the 58th and 65th minutes in a 9–0 win over Guam. This meant that Thompson has scored 28 international goals, one behind the 29 of Damian Mori and 22 behind the Australian record of 50, held by Tim Cahill.

On 30 April 2016, Melbourne Victory announced they hadn’t renewed Thompson’s contract with Thompson departing the club at the end of their 2016 ACL campaign. Thompson spent 11 seasons with the club, scoring 90 goals, 10 of them in finals matches (both numbers being records at the time of his departure from the club).

On 12 September 2016, Thompson was appointed as a club ambassador of Melbourne Victory.

On 6 August 2016, Thompson signed a short-term, two-game deal with National Premier Leagues Victoria team Heidelberg United.

On 20 August 2019, Thompson signed a contract for fifth division Spanish side Racing Murcia. The club has high ambitions as they aim for promotion to La Liga, the top division in Spain, within five years. Thompson made his debut on 2 September 2019 coming on as a substitute in the 64th minute against Abarán CF. In a video documenting the progress of the club uploaded to SBS The World Game, it was announced that Thompson had left the club and returned home to Australia.