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Jörg Albertz

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Jörg Albertz
Albertz with Shanghai Shenhua in 2003
Personal information
Date of birth (1971-01-29) 29 January 1971 (age 53)
Place of birth Mönchengladbach, West Germany
Height 1.87 m (6 ft 2 in)
Position(s) Midfielder
Youth career
1975–1978 PSV Mönchengladbach
1978–1989 Borussia Mönchengladbach
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1989–1990 Borussia Mönchengladbach 0 (0)
1990–1993 Fortuna Düsseldorf 58 (4)
1993–1996 Hamburger SV 99 (22)
1996–2001 Rangers 156 (58)
2001–2003 Hamburger SV 28 (6)
2003–2004 Shanghai Shenhua 47 (13)
2004–2005 Greuther Fürth 13 (3)
2005–2007 Fortuna Düsseldorf 51 (7)
2008 Clyde 7 (2)
Total 459 (115)
International career
1996–1998 Germany 3 (0)
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Jörg Albertz (German pronunciation: [ˈjœʁk ˈʔalbɛʁts];[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

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As both a youth player and apprentice, Albertz played for PSV Mönchengladbach and Borussia Mönchengladbach. His first professional contract was signed in 1990 for Fortuna Düsseldorf. 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 Fürth.[8] On the receiving end of many injuries, he switched to Fortuna Düsseldorf 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

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Appearances and goals by club, season and competition[13][14]
Club Season League National cup League cup Continental Other Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Fortuna Düsseldorf 1990–91[15] Bundesliga 12 1 0 0 — — — 12 1
1991–92[15] Bundesliga 11 0 0 0 — — — 11 0
1992–93[15] 2. Bundesliga 35 3 2 1 — — — 37 4
Total 58 4 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 60 5
Hamburger SV 1993–94[15] Bundesliga 31 4 3 0 — — — 34 4
1994–95[15] Bundesliga 34 9 2 0 — — — 36 9
1995–96[15] Bundesliga 34 9 1 0 — — — 35 9
Total 99 22 6 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 105 22
Rangers 1996–97 Scottish Premier Division 32 10 3 0 5 3 7 0 — 47 13
1997–98 Scottish Premier Division 31 10 5 3 1 0 5 2 — 42 15
1998–99 Scottish Premier League 34 11 5 1 4 3 10 4 — 53 19
1999–2000 Scottish Premier League 35 17 5 1 1 0 12 2 — 53 20
2000–01 Scottish Premier League 24 10 1 0 1 1 8 4 — 34 15
Total 156 58 19 5 12 7 42 12 0 0 229 82
Hamburger SV 2001–02[15] Bundesliga 24 4 1 0 — — — 25 4
2002–03[15] Bundesliga 4 2 1 1 — — — 5 3
Total 28 6 2 1 0 0 0 0 0 0 30 7
Shanghai Shenhua 2003 Chinese Jia-A League 27 6 — — — 27 6
2004 Chinese Super League 20 7 — 20 7
Total 47 13 0 0 47 13
Greuther Fürth 2004–05[15] 2. Bundesliga 13 3 0 0 — — — 13 3
Fortuna Düsseldorf 2005–06[15] Regionalliga 23 3 0 0 — — — 23 3
2006–07[15] Regionalliga 28 4 0 0 — — — 28 4
Total 51 7 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 0 51 7
Clyde 2007–08[16] Scottish First Division 7 2 — 1[a] 0 8 2
Career total 459 115 29 7 12 7 42 12 1 0 543 141
  1. ^ Appearance in league play-offs

Honours

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Rangers

Shanghai Shenhua

Individual

References

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  1. ^ Krech, Eva-Maria; Stock, Eberhard; Hirschfeld, Ursula; Anders, Lutz Christian (2009). Deutsches Aussprachewörterbuch [German Pronunciation Dictionary] (in German). Berlin: Walter de Gruyter. pp. 301, 628. ISBN 978-3-11-018202-6.
  2. ^ Arnhold, Matthias (24 August 2017). "Jörg Albertz - International Appearances". RSSSF. Retrieved 24 August 2017.
  3. ^ a b "Albertz heads east". BBC Sport website. 19 February 2003. Retrieved 14 January 2010.
  4. ^ Jorg Albertz confesses what happened after famous Rangers vs PSV winner 'still does his head in', Daily Record, 21 August 2022
  5. ^ Jörg Albertz – The Ibrox Hammer, TheFootyBlog.net, 20 November 2018
  6. ^ "Details of soccer referee investigation released to public". China Daily. 31 March 2011. Retrieved 20 May 2014.
  7. ^ "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.
  8. ^ Arnhold, Matthias (24 August 2017). "Jörg Albertz - Matches and Goals in Bundesliga". RSSSF. Retrieved 24 August 2017.
  9. ^ "Albertz keen to join up at Clyde". BBC Sport website. 11 March 2008. Retrieved 14 January 2010.
  10. ^ "It's Hammer Time".
  11. ^ "Stirling Albion 1–1 Clyde". BBC Sport website. 15 March 2008. Retrieved 14 January 2010.
  12. ^ "St Johnstone 1–2 Clyde". BBC Sport website. 25 March 2008. Retrieved 14 January 2010.
  13. ^ McElroy, Robert; Ferrier, Bob (2005). Rangers The Complete Record. Breedon Books. p. 586. ISBN 1-85983-481-7.
  14. ^ Halliday, Stephen (2002). The Essential History of Rangers. Headline. p. 289. ISBN 0-7553-1145-0.
  15. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k "Jörg Albertz » Club matches". worldfootball.net. Retrieved 13 April 2022.
  16. ^ "Games played by Jörg Albertz in 2007/2008". Soccerbase. Centurycomm.
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