Matthew Piper (born September 29, 1981 in Leicester, England) is a football winger, who is currently without a club after being released by Sunderland A.F.C..

Piper rose to fame with hometown club Leicester City in the 01/02 season, scoring the last ever competitive goal at Leicester's former ground Filbert Street. He also had a successful loan spell that year with Mansfield Town.

Sunderland signed Piper from Leicester in August 2002, for a fee of £3,500,000. Despite initially impressing, Piper's time at Sunderland was mostly an unhappy one, suffering a number of serious injuries, resulting in no fewer than 10 operations in 3 years. It was later found that Piper had a rare and previously undiagnosed condition in his knee, causing Piper to miss most of the 03/04 and 04/05 seasons due to injury and rehabilitation.

Following Sunderland's promotion to the Premiership in 2005, Piper was included in Sunderland's squad for the pre-season tour of USA and Canada, playing in two friendlies against American opposition. Although Piper was said to be fit, Sunderland manager Mick McCarthy was reluctant to rush Piper back into the first team, making just one start in the Carling Cup against Cheltenham Town. This was to be Piper's final appearance for Sunderland, with Piper having his contracted terminated by mutual consent in January 2006 following an unsuccessful trial with Coventry City. Piper leaves Sunderland having made just 29 appearances (including 15 starts) in three and a half years, hoping to get his career back on track and put past injuries behind him.

1981 births | Living people | English footballers | Leicester City F.C. players | Mansfield Town F.C. players | Sunderland A.F.C. players