Jörg Albertz

Jörg Albertz (born 29 January 1971) is a German former professional footballer who played as a midfielder. Between 1996 and 1998, he played three international games for the Germany national team.

Career
As both a youth player and apprentice, Albertz 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. Two seasons later he became the club captain.

In 1996, Albertz signed for Rangers for £4 million, and he scored a famous free-kick against rivals Celtic in January 1997 to help them on the way to their ninth consecutive Scottish league championship title. Albertz became a favourite with the Rangers fans and earned himself the nickname "The Hammer" for his powerful long range shots. He scored two more important goals against Celtic, both of a similar nature involving individual runs from midfield, in April 1998 as Rangers closed in on another title and the Scottish Cup, but missed out on both trophies. 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. Despite this, he won further championship medals in 1999 and 2000, as well as the Scottish Cup – also in 1999 and 2000 – and the early-season Scottish League Cup in 1996 and 1998.

He returned to Hamburg in 2001. Despite the hype of his return, he was unable to live up to the hopes that the supporters placed on his shoulders. Before the beginning of season 2002–03 he transferred to Chinese club Shanghai Shenhua. He initially gained success with them when he won the 2003 league title. In 2003 the Chinese Football Association revoked the league title after it was discovered the Shenhua General manager Lou Shifang had bribed officials to give favourable decisions to Shenhua in games that season.

Having had a moderately successful spell in China, Albertz moved back to his homeland 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 their manager and his former Rangers teammate John Brown. He registered to play on 14 March, and 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.

Honours
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)

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