Jörg Albertz

Football player infobox
playername= Jörg Albertz


fullname = Jörg Albertz
dateofbirth = birth date and age|1971|1|29
cityofbirth = Mönchengladbach
countryofbirth = West Germany
height = height|m=1.87
position = Midfielder (retired)
currentclub =
youthyears =
youthclubs =
years = 1990–1993
1993–1996
1996–2001
2001–2003
2003–2004
2004–2005
2005–2007
2008
clubs = Fortuna Düsseldorf
Hamburg
Rangers
Hamburg
Shanghai Shenhua
Greuther Fürth
Fortuna Düsseldorf
Clyde
caps(goals) = 058 00(4)
099 0(22)
137 0(51)
028 00(6)
047 0(13)
013 00(3)
047 00(7)
007 00(2)
nationalyears = 1996–1998
nationalteam = Germany
nationalcaps(goals) = 003 00(0)
pcupdate = 10 May 2008

Jörg Albertz (born January 29, 1971 in Mönchengladbach) is a retired German professional footballer. Between 1996 and 1998 he played three international games for the German national football team.

Career

As both a youth player and apprentice he 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, and he earned himself the nickname "The Hammer" for his powerful long range shots.cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/r/rangers/2779291.stm|title=Albertz heads east|publisher=BBC Sport website|date=February 19, 2003] Two seasons later he became the club captain.

In 1996 Albertz signed for Scottish Premier League club Rangers for £4m, and he helped them to their ninth championship title in a row and scored a famous free-kick against rivals Celtic in January 1997. Albertz became a huge favourite with the Rangers fans; however, 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. At Rangers, Albertz became a Scottish championship winner in 1997, 1999, and 2000, before returning to Hamburger SV in 2001, later citing Advocaat as the main reason for his departure from Ibrox. Despite the hype of his return, he was unable to live up to the hopes that people had on his shoulders, and before the beginning of season 2002/03 he transferred to Shanghai Shenhua, a team from China.

Having had a moderately successful spell in China, Albertz moved back to Germany in 2004, his re-initiation into the German game coming with Greuther Fürth. 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 Clyde manager and former Rangers team-mate John Brown.cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/c/clyde/7288642.stm|title=Albertz keen to join up at Clyde|publisher=BBC Sport website|date=2008-03-11] Albertz signed for Clyde on 14 March 2008. [ [http://www.clydefc.co.uk/latestnews.cfm?id=2652 It's Hammer Time] ] He made his debut the following day, scoring a trademark free kick in a 1-1 draw with Stirling Albion. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/scot_div_1/7296716.stm Stirling Albion 1-1 Clyde - BBC Sport] ] 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. [ [http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/scot_div_1/7312339.stm St Johnstone 1-2 Clyde - BBC Sport] ] After helping Clyde stay in the Scottish First Division via the playoffs, Albertz went into retirement once again, after making 8 appearances for the club, scoring twice.

ee also

*Clyde F.C. season 2007-08

Honors

*Scottish League Championships (3):
**1997, 1999, 2000

*Scottish Cup (2):
**1999, 2000
*Scottish League Cup (2):
**1997, 1999

References

External links

*soccerbase|id=9404|name=Jörg Albertz