German footballer
Jorg Albertz
(
German pronunciation:
[?jœ?k
??alb??ts]
;
[1]
born 29 January 1971) is a German former professional
footballer
who played as a
midfielder
. Between 1996 and 1998, he played three international games for the
Germany national team
.
[2]
Career
[
edit
]
As both a youth player and apprentice, Albertz played for PSV Monchengladbach and
Borussia Monchengladbach
. His first professional contract was signed in 1990 for
Fortuna Dusseldorf
. When the team from the Rhineland were relegated to the second tier of the Bundesliga, Albertz moved to
Hamburger SV
where he soon became the public hero of the team. Two seasons later he became the club captain.
In 1996, Albertz signed for
Rangers
for £4 million, and he scored a famous free-kick against rivals
Celtic
in January 1997 to help them on the way to their
ninth consecutive Scottish league championship title
. Albertz became a favourite with the Rangers fans and earned himself the nickname "The Hammer" for his powerful long range shots.
[3]
He scored two more important goals against Celtic, both of a similar nature involving individual runs from midfield, in April 1998 as Rangers closed in on another title and the
Scottish Cup
, but missed out on both trophies. After the departure of manager
Walter Smith
in June 1998, he was frequently left out of the starting line-up by the incoming
Dick Advocaat
.
[4]
Despite this, he won further championship medals in 1999 and 2000, as well as the Scottish Cup ? also in
1999
and
2000
? and the early-season
Scottish League Cup
in
1996
and
1998
.
[5]
He returned to Hamburg in 2001. Despite the hype of his return, he was unable to live up to the hopes that the supporters placed on his shoulders. Before the beginning of season 2002?03 he transferred to Chinese club
Shanghai Shenhua
.
[3]
He initially gained success with them when he won the
2003 league title
. In 2003 the
Chinese Football Association
revoked the league title after it was discovered the Shenhua General manager Lou Shifang had bribed officials to give favourable decisions to Shenhua in games that season.
[6]
[7]
Having had a moderately successful spell in China, Albertz moved back to his homeland in 2004, his re-initiation into the German game coming with
Greuther Furth
.
[8]
On the receiving end of many injuries, he switched to
Fortuna Dusseldorf
once again, where he retired at the end of the 2006?07 season.
On 11 March 2008, Albertz confirmed he was training with
Clyde
with a view to a short-term move, to help out their manager and his former Rangers teammate
John Brown
.
[9]
He registered to play on 14 March,
[10]
and made his debut the following day, scoring a trademark free kick in a 1?1 draw with
Stirling Albion
.
[11]
He scored Clyde's winning goal with another free kick in an important 2?1 victory over
St Johnstone
on 25 March, to lift Clyde out of the relegation play-off zone.
[12]
After helping Clyde stay in the
Scottish First Division
via the playoffs, Albertz went into retirement once again, after making eight appearances for the club, scoring twice.
Career statistics
[
edit
]
- ^
Appearance in league play-offs
Honours
[
edit
]
Rangers
Shanghai Shenhua
Individual
References
[
edit
]
- ^
Krech, Eva-Maria; Stock, Eberhard; Hirschfeld, Ursula; Anders, Lutz Christian (2009).
Deutsches Ausspracheworterbuch
[
German Pronunciation Dictionary
] (in German). Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. pp.
301
, 628.
ISBN
978-3-11-018202-6
.
- ^
Arnhold, Matthias (24 August 2017).
"Jorg Albertz - International Appearances"
.
RSSSF
. Retrieved
24 August
2017
.
- ^
a
b
"Albertz heads east"
.
BBC Sport
website. 19 February 2003
. Retrieved
14 January
2010
.
- ^
Jorg Albertz confesses what happened after famous Rangers vs PSV winner 'still does his head in'
, Daily Record, 21 August 2022
- ^
Jorg Albertz ? The Ibrox Hammer
, TheFootyBlog.net, 20 November 2018
- ^
"Details of soccer referee investigation released to public"
.
China Daily
. 31 March 2011
. Retrieved
20 May
2014
.
- ^
"China Strips Shenhua of 2003 League Title, Bans 33 People for Life"
. english.cri.cn. 18 February 2013. Archived from
the original
on 20 February 2013
. Retrieved
20 May
2014
.
- ^
Arnhold, Matthias (24 August 2017).
"Jorg Albertz - Matches and Goals in Bundesliga"
.
RSSSF
. Retrieved
24 August
2017
.
- ^
"Albertz keen to join up at Clyde"
. BBC Sport website. 11 March 2008
. Retrieved
14 January
2010
.
- ^
"It's Hammer Time"
.
- ^
"Stirling Albion 1?1 Clyde"
. BBC Sport website. 15 March 2008
. Retrieved
14 January
2010
.
- ^
"St Johnstone 1?2 Clyde"
. BBC Sport website. 25 March 2008
. Retrieved
14 January
2010
.
- ^
McElroy, Robert; Ferrier, Bob (2005).
Rangers The Complete Record
. Breedon Books. p. 586.
ISBN
1-85983-481-7
.
- ^
Halliday, Stephen (2002).
The Essential History of Rangers
. Headline. p. 289.
ISBN
0-7553-1145-0
.
- ^
a
b
c
d
e
f
g
h
i
j
k
"Jorg Albertz ≫ Club matches"
.
worldfootball.net
. Retrieved
13 April
2022
.
- ^
"Games played by Jorg Albertz in 2007/2008"
.
Soccerbase
. Centurycomm.
External links
[
edit
]