Jorg
Albertz (born January 29, 1971 in Mönchengladbach) is a former
German 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.
When the team from the Rhineland were relegated from 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. Two
seasons later he became the club captain.
In 1996 Albertz signed for Scottish Premier League club Rangers
for £4m where 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 Shensua,
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. |
