Career
Turnbull played with Marconi Stallions in the National Soccer League between 1997 and 2004. In 2000, he briefly trained with AS Roma, however was never signed by the Italian club After leaving Marconi, Turnbull signed with Belgian team Standard Liège, however he was unable to break into the first team
After leaving Belgium he signed with Bristol City for three years in England but had to return to Australia due to work visa issues.
In March 2006 Turnbull was signed by A-League team New Zealand Knights. He left at the end of the 2006-2007 season after playing six matches for the Auckland team
He later played for the Brisbane Strikers in National Physical Laboratory Queensland and in the Future Farmers of America Cup. On 24 April 2015, Melbourne Victory announced that they had signed Michael Turnbull leading into the A-League finals series.
Turnbull played three matches for Australia U20 at the 1999 and 2001 Fédération internationale de football association World Youth Championships.
At the 1999 tournament he played one match, a 4–0 loss against Ireland. Turnbull featured as one of the bachelors on Network Ten"s The Bachelorette Australia in 2015. He made it to the final two to compete for the love of Sam Frost.
He lost to Sasha in the finale.
He was criticised early in the show for discussing his soccer career and claiming that he had played for Australia national soccer team Since retiring as a football player, Michael has worked in real estate.