Jörg Albertz

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.

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. Albertz signed for Clyde on 14 March 2008. He made his debut the following day, scoring a trademark free kick in a 1–1 draw with Stirling Albion. 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. After helping Clyde stay in the Scottish First Division via the playoffs, Albertz went into retirement once again, after making eight appearances for the club, scoring twice.

In 2008, Albertz played for a Rangers select 11 to play Northern Irish side Linfield for the testimonial of Linfield star William Murphy.

Rangers

• Scottish Premier League: 1996–97, 1998–99, 1999–2000
• Scottish Cup: 1998–99, 1999–2000
• Scottish League Cup: 1996–97, 1998–99

Shanghai Shenhua

• Chinese Jia-A League: 2003 (revoked due to match-fixing scandal)

Personal awards

• SPL Player of the Month: May 2001
• Chinese Jia-A League Player of the Year: 2003