Chipperfield began playing soccer at the age of six with Bellambi. In 1993, he started his senior career, winning the Illawarra First Division grand final with Tarrawanna in his only year at the club. He joined Fernhill in the
Illawarra Premier League in 1994. After two seasons at Fernhill, Chipperfield joined
Illawarra Lions for one season in the
NSW Super League.
Wollongong Wolves Chipperfield began his professional career at
Wollongong Wolves in 1996 and was a vital member of the team that won the
National Soccer League twice in a row, in 2000 and 2001, and the
Oceania Club Championship in 2001. He scored the winning goal in the final of the
Oceania Club Championship, as Wollongong Wolves defeated
Tafea of
Vanuatu 1–0. He twice won the
Johnny Warren Medal for the most outstanding player in the Australian domestic season and gained interest from European clubs. He had an unsuccessful trial at English First Division side
Bolton Wanderers in the winter of 2000. In early June 2001, Perth Glory announced that Chipperfield would be joining them for the 2001–02 NSL season, however he signed for FC Basel before his Wollongong Wolves contract expired at the end of the month.
FC Basel In the summer of 2001 Chipperfield joined
Swiss Super League club
FC Basel. He helped Basel win the
league title (their first in 22 years) and the
Swiss Cup in his first season in Switzerland. The following season, he was an important member of the team as Basel reached the Second Group Stage of the
2002–03 UEFA Champions League, notching up wins against
MŠK Žilina,
Celtic,
Spartak Moscow,
Deportivo de La Coruña and
Juventus on the way. In 2003, he won his second gold medal in the Swiss Cup. In the
2004 and
2005 seasons he won his second and third League Championship titles with the club. In the summer of 2006, Chipperfield was subject to an unsuccessful bid by
Charlton Athletic to obtain his services, but Basel soon announced that he had signed a three-year contract extension. At the end of this season Chipperfield played in the Cup Final in the
Stade de Suisse and he received his third Cup Medal as Basel beat
FC Luzern 1–0. Chipperfield won the national
Double for the second time in 2008, it was his fourth Cup title and his fourth
League title. As Basel qualified for the
UEFA Champions League, after a six-year absence,
in 2008, Chipperfield was one of only three survivors of the squad that competed in the competition in 2003, the other two being
Ivan Ergić and
Benjamin Huggel. On 13 September 2008, he came on as a substitute for
Orhan Mustafi during Basel's 2–0 defeat of FC Luzern at
St. Jakob-Park, to make his 200th league appearance for Basel. He also scored the second goal of the match. In January 2009, he was set to sign for
Hertha BSC of the
German Bundesliga, but the move fell through on the advice of medical staff. At the end of the
2009–10 season and
2009–10 Cup campaign Chipperfield achieved his third Double with the club. In April 2011 the club announced a further one-year contract extension. To that date he had played 367 competition games for the club, scoring 83 goals. At the end of the
2010–11 season Chipperfield won his sixth League Championship title. In the
2011–12 FC Basel season Chipperfield suffered injuries and therefore only played five games in the
League season 2011–12 and three in the
Swiss Cup 2011–12, scoring his only goal of the season in the first round away tie against
FC Eschenbach on 17 September. Chipperfields last game was in the 1:1 away draw on 11 December 2011 against
Neuchâtel Xamax. At the end of the 2011–12 season he won his fourth
Double, the
League Championship title and the
Swiss Cup with Basel. On 18 May 2012 FC Basel announced on their homepage that the contract with Chipperfield would not be extended. At the end of their
2011–12 season Chipperfield retired from his professional career and moved to local amateur club FC Aesch as player-coach. Between the years 2001 and 2012 Chipperfield played a total of 486 games for the club scoring 106 times. 270 of these games were in the domestic league, 37 in the Cup, 78 in the European competitions and 101 were friendly games. He scored 69 goals in the domestic league, 8 in the cup, 8 in the European competitions and the other 21 were netted during the test games. He is the Basel all-time record holder of titles with the club, with seven
Swiss Nationalliga A/Super League and six
Swiss Cup honours.
FC Aesch On 1 June 2012 it was announced he had signed a short-term contract to play for Illawarra Premier League club Tarrawanna Blueys FC. Nevertheless, after a few weeks a move to the Swiss club FC Aesch was revealed by various media and confirmed. ==International career==