Jan Åge Fjørtoft

Football player infobox
playername = Jan Åge Fjørtoft


fullname = Jan Åge Fjørtoft
nickname = Fjøra
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1967|1|10
cityofbirth = Ålesund
countryofbirth = Norway
height = 1,90m
position = Centre forward (retired)
youthyears = 1982-1985
youthclubs = Gursken I.L. Hødd
years = 1986-1987 1988-1989 1989-1993 1993-1995 1995-1996 1997-1998 1998 1998-2001 2001 2002
clubs = Hamarkameratene Lillestrøm Rapid Vienna Swindon Town Middlesbrough Sheffield United Barnsley Eintracht Frankfurt Stabæk Lillestrøm
Career
caps(goals) = 044 0(17) 033 0(20) 128 0(67) 072 0(28) 041 00(9) 034 0(19) 034 00(9) 052 0(14) 015 00(6) 005 00(0) 454 (189)
nationalyears = 1986-1996
nationalteam = Norway
nationalcaps(goals) = 071 0(20)

Jan Åge Fjørtoft (born January 10, 1967 in Ålesund) is a former Norwegian footballer. A powerful centre forward with netting ability, he played professionally in Norway, Austria, England and Germany. He appeared in 71 international matches (20 goals) for Norway.

Fjørtoft is most famous in England for his goal celebration which saw him stretch out both of his arms and run around the pitch like an aeroplane.

Playing career

After starting in Norway with Hamarkameratene and Lillestrøm S.K. and spending four seasons in the Austrian Bundesliga with SK Rapid Wien, Fjørtoft spent several seasons in England during the 1990s. He joined Swindon Town in the summer of 1993 following their promotion to the Premiership, and was their top scorer during the 1993-94 season, when the team suffered relegation. Fjørtoft continued to score frequently during 1994-95 and helped Swindon reach the League Cup semi-finals, but their league form was disastrous once more and he transferred to Middlesbrough on transfer deadline day. His departure did nothing to help Swindon's league form and they were again relegated in the penultimate game of the season.

Meanwhile, Fjørtoft was a regular player for Middlesbrough as soon as he joined the club, and helped them finish the season as Division One champions. Due to a restructuring of the league, they were the only team to gain automatic promotion to the Premiership in 1995. He was a regular player throughout the 1995-96 campaign and, as the Norwegian partnered Brazilian playmaker Juninho, "Boro" finished in a respectable 12th place. But the arrival of Italian striker Fabrizio Ravanelli pushed him down the pecking order for 1996-97, and he was sold to Division One side Sheffield United soon afterwards.

After the Blades lost to Crystal Palace in 1998's playoff final, he joined newly promoted Barnsley F.C. to have another crack at the Premiership. But he was unable to prevent Barnsley's first - and only to date - season at this level ending in relegation. At the end of 1997-98 he left the club.

Fjørtoft's next stop came in Germany with Eintracht Frankfurt, where he spent three years (November 1998-2001) before returning home to Norway with Stabæk I.F. and winding up with Lillestrøm in 2002, retiring at the age of 35.

International career

Since 1986, Fjørtoft collected 71 caps for Norway, being part of the nation's squad in 1994 FIFA World Cup, where he appeared as a starter against Mexico (1-0) and Italy (0-1).

Retirement

After his retirement, Fjørtoft worked as a football commentator for NRK, but resigned when he took over the director of football role at Lillestrøm. Currently he also works for another television channel, TV3.

External links

*soccerbase|id=2533|name=Jan Åge Fjørtoft