Jörg Albertz

Jörg Albertz

Albertz with Shanghai Shenhua in 2003
Personal information
Full name	Jörg Albertz
Date of birth	(1971-01-29) 29 January 1971 (age 46)
Place of birth	Mönchengladbach, West Germany
Height	1.87 m (6 ft 1 1⁄2 in)
Playing position	Midfielder
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
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)
National team
1996–1998	Germany	3	(0)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only.

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

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, where he earned himself the nickname The Hammer for his powerful long range shots. 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 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 where he initially gained success with them when he won the 2003 league title with the club. Unfortunately in 2003 the Chinese Football Association would revoke the league title after it was discovered the Shenhua General manager Lou Shifang had bribed officials to be bias to Shenhua in games that season.