Jörg Albertz

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Personal information
Jörg Albertz
Full name	Jörg Albertz
Date of birth	January 29, 1971 (age 36)
Place of birth	Mönchengladbach, Germany
Height	6'2"
Nickname	The Hammer
Playing position	Midfield
Senior clubs¹
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1990-1995 1995-1996 1996-2001 2001-2003 2003-2004 2004-2005 2005-	Fortuna Düsseldorf SV Hamburg Rangers SV Hamburg Shanghai Shenhua Greuther Fürth Fortuna Düsseldorf	34 (9) 122 (51) 26 (26)
National team²
1996-1998	Germany	3 (0)
¹ Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of October 28, 2006. ² National team caps and goals correct as of October 28, 2006. * Appearances (Goals)

Jörg Albertz (born January 29, 1971 in Mönchengladbach) is a 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 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. 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 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.