Jeff Hopkins


Jeffrey Hopkins is a former Welsh international football defender and current Melbourne Victory Women head coach, who most notably played club football for Fulham and Reading in the Football League.

Club career

Hopkins started his career as a trainee with Fulham, going on to make over 200 first team appearances for the club. This was followed by a four-year spell at Crystal Palace, including a loan to Plymouth Argyle in 1991–92. He spent a few months at Bristol Rovers in 1992, before spending the remaining five years of his Football League career with Reading.
While at Reading, he was part of the team that narrowly missed out on promotion to the Premier League in the 1994–95 season, losing 4–3 after extra time in the playoff final against Bolton Wanderers.
After a move to Malaysian football with Selangor where he was made captain, Hopkins moved to Australia in October 1999 as a player-coach with Gippsland Falcons in the National Soccer League.

International career

Hopkins made his debut for the Wales national under-21 football team during the 1981/82 season against France. He made a total of 5 under-21 appearances during that season and the next.
He made his debut for the senior Welsh team on 31 May 1983 against Northern Ireland, and he made 16 appearances for Wales over the next seven years, with his final game coming against Costa Rica on 20 May 1990.

Management

As of January 2012 Hopkins was coach of the Brisbane Roar women's team. On 15 June 2012 it was announced he had been appointed as senior first team Assistant manager. On 30 April 2013, at the end of Brisbane Roar's 2012–13 A-League season, the Roar announced that he would become the Brisbane Roar Youth coach for the 2013–14 A-League National Youth League season. On 26 November 2014, following the resignation of Ron Smith, Hopkins moved into the role of assistant coach of Brisbane Roar.
On 17 June 2016, Hopkins was appointed head coach of the Melbourne Victory women's team.