Mathias Jørgensen

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This article is about the Danish defender. For the Danish striker, see Mathias Jørgensen (footballer, born 2000).

Mathias Jørgensen
Chelsea 1 Huddersfield 1 (Mathias Jørgensen) (cropped).jpg
Jørgensen playing for Huddersfield Town in 2018
Personal information
Full name Mathias Jattah-Njie Jørgensen[1]
Date of birth (1990-04-23) 23 April 1990 (age 31)[2]
Place of birth Copenhagen, Denmark[2]
Height 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)[2]
Position(s) Centre back
Club information
Current team
 Brentford
Number 22
Youth career
1994–2007 B.93
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2007–2012 Copenhagen 92 (6)
2012–2014 PSV Eindhoven 14 (2)
2013–2014 Jong PSV 7 (1)
2014–2017 Copenhagen 93 (4)
2017–2019 Huddersfield Town 62 (3)
2019–2021 Fenerbahçe 18 (2)
2020 → Fortuna Düsseldorf (loan) 9 (0)
2020–2021 → Copenhagen (loan) 26 (1)
2021– Brentford 0 (0)
National team‡
2006 Denmark U16 1 (0)
2006–2007 Denmark U17 3 (0)
2007 Denmark U18 1 (0)
2008–2012 Denmark U21 15 (1)
2008– Denmark 35 (2)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 21:00, 24 May 2021 (UTC)
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 21:01, 17 June 2021 (UTC)

Mathias Jattah-Njie Jørgensen (Danish pronunciation: [ˈjɶɐ̯ˀn̩sn̩]; born 23 April 1990) is a Danish professional footballer of Gambian descent who plays as a centre back for Premier League club Brentford and the Denmark national team.

He began his career at boyhood club FC Copenhagen, playing regularly in five Superliga seasons, before a move to PSV Eindhoven in 2012, where he spent two seasons in the Eredivisie before returning to Denmark after finding his chances limited. He joined Huddersfield Town in July 2017 for a fee of £3.5 million.

Formerly an international at under-16, under-17, under-18 and under-21 level, Jørgensen made his senior international debut for Denmark aged 18 in November 2008.

Club career[]

FC Copenhagen[]

Born to a Danish mother and a Gambian father, Jørgensen moved to FC Copenhagen from neighbouring club B.93, where he had played in first-team matches even at the young age of 16. He signed a three-year contract with FCK on 26 June 2007.[3] Before signing with the Danish champions, he had visited Arsenal for a one-week trial.[4]

On 21 July 2007, Jørgensen strained the inner ligament in the left knee in a reserve team match – less than a month after he moved to the club.[5] On 9 September, he played again for the reserve team.[6] His first team debut came on 26 September 2007 in a cup match against FC Fredericia. He substituted Oscar Wendt five minutes before full-time, in the match FCK won 3–1.[7] Three days later he got his Superliga debut, this time replacing Hjalte Nørregaard about 15 minutes before full-time.[8]

Only eight days after his first team debut, Jørgensen was thrown on pitch in the extra time of the UEFA Cup first round second leg at Parken Stadium against RC Lens, after captain Michael Gravgaard had received a red card. He was substituted for Marcus Allbäck and played in the central defence together with Brede Hangeland, and they prevented any more goals for Lens, when they were 10 against 11.[9]

On 19 November 2008, he made his debut for the Danish national football team in a friendly against Wales.[10]

After Roland Nilsson became manager for Copenhagen he became captain for "The Lions". 22 February 2012 it was announced that Jørgensen would join Dutch club PSV Eindhoven on a free transfer during the summer transfer window.[11]

PSV[]

Jørgensen was featured in an unofficial pre-season tournament, The Polish Masters, in July 2012 and scored his first goal for PSV in their game against S.L. Benfica on 22 July. However, he struggled to break into PSV's first XI and only played 14 matches for the club over the course of two years.

Return to FC Copenhagen[]

On 7 July 2014, Jørgensen returned to his former team FC Copenhagen for a fee of around 600,000 Euros.[12]

Huddersfield Town[]

On 7 July 2017, Huddersfield Town confirmed the signing of Jørgensen from FC Copenhagen for £3.5 million on a three-year contract.[13] Jørgensen made 65 total appearances for the Terriers in his two seasons with the club as they suffered relegation to the Championship after the 2018–19 season.[14]

Fenerbahçe[]

On 10 August 2019, Huddersfield Town confirmed that the defender had joined Fenerbahçe on a permanent deal. The terms of the transfer were undisclosed.[14]

On 31 January 2020, Jørgensen joined Fortuna Düsseldorf on loan until the end of the 2019–20 season.[15]

On 5 October 2020, Jørgensen again returned to F.C. Copenhagen on loan until the end of the 2020–21 season.[16]

Brentford[]

On 9 September 2021, Jørgensen joined Premier League side Brentford on a one-year contract.[17]

International career[]

In May 2018 he was named in Denmark's preliminary 35-man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.[18]

In May 2021, he was named in Denmark's preliminary 26-man squad for the UEFA Euro 2020.

Personal life[]

Jørgensen dated Hungarian model Enikő Mihalik.[19]

Jørgensen wrote an article against homophobia in football for the Danish Football Player’s Association in 2016.[20] In February 2017, following the monetary settlement that the players association had with the Danish national team, Jørgensen donated the 667,000 Danish kroner ($94,380) to help fund a new pro-LGBT+ campaign called “Fodbold for alle’ or ‘Football for all’ and visited schools to talk about the problem of homophobia.[20][21]

Nickname[]

Jørgensen received his nickname "Zanka" from the film Cool Runnings, in which the character played by Doug E. Doug is named Sanka.[22] The nickname was coined by Johan Lange in 2000, while both Lange and Jørgensen were playing for B.93.[23] Lange would go on to be one of the assistant managers during Jørgensen's first spell at FC Copenhagen, and he would later serve as the technical director when Jørgensen returned to the club in 2014.[24]

Career statistics[]

Club[]

As of match played 24 May 2021[25]
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
Club Season League National Cup League Cup Europe Total
Division Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals Apps Goals
Copenhagen 2007–08 Danish Superliga 12 1 0 0 — 0 0 12 1
2008–09 20 0 0 0 — 10 0 30 0
2009–10 24 4 0 0 — 9 1 33 5
2010–11 25 1 1 1 — 11 0 37 1
2011–12 11 0 2 0 — 4 0 17 0
Total 92 6 3 1 — 34 0 129 7
PSV Eindhoven 2012–13 Eredivisie 5 2 3 1 — 2 1 10 4
2013–14 9 0 0 0 — 5 0 14 0
Total 14 2 3 1 — 7 1 24 4
Jong PSV 2013–14 Eerste Divisie 7 1 — — — 7 1
Copenhagen 2014–15 Danish Superliga 29 1 4 0 — 9 1 42 2
2015–16 31 3 5 1 — 3 0 39 4
2016–17 33 0 3 0 — 15 2 51 2
Total 93 4 12 1 — 27 3 132 8
Huddersfield Town 2017–18 Premier League 38 0 2 0 0 0 — 40 0
2018–19 24 3 1 0 0 0 — 25 3
Total 62 3 3 0 0 0 — 65 3
Fenerbahçe 2019–20 Süper Lig 16 2 3 1 — — 19 3
2020–21 2 0 0 0 — — 2 0
Total 18 2 3 1 — — 21 3
Fortuna Düsseldorf (loan) 2019–20 Bundesliga 9 0 2 1 — — 11 1
Copenhagen (loan) 2020–21 Danish Superliga 26 1 1 0 — — 27 1
Career total 321 19 27 5 0 0 68 5 416 29

International[]

As of match played on 2 June 2021[26][27]
Appearances and goals by national team and year
National team Year Apps Goals
Denmark 2008 1 0
2010 2 0
2011 3 0
2016 3 0
2017 2 0
2018 9 1
2019 8 1
2020 6 0
2021 1 0
Total 35 2
Scores and results list Denmark's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Jørgensen goal.
List of international goals scored by Mathias Jørgensen
No. Date Venue Cap Opponent Score Result Competition
1 1 July 2018 Nizhny Novgorod Stadium, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia 15  Croatia 1–0 1–1 (2–3 p) 2018 FIFA World Cup
2 26 March 2019 St. Jakob-Park, Basel, Switzerland 22   Switzerland 1–3 3–3 UEFA Euro 2020 qualification

Honours[]

FC Copenhagen

Individual

  • Players' Talent of the Year: 2008[28]
  • Arla Talent of the Year: 2008[29]
  • Arla U-19 National Team Talent of the Year: 2008[30]
  • F.C. Copenhagen Player of the Year: 2017[31]

References[]

  1. ^ "2021/22 Premier League squads confirmed". Premier League. 10 September 2021. Retrieved 12 September 2021.
  2. ^ Jump up to: a b c "Jørgensen: Mathias Jattah-Njie Jørgensen: Player". BDFutbol. Retrieved 2 May 2018.
  3. ^ "Stortalent til F.C. København" (in Danish). F.C. Copenhagen. 26 June 2007. Retrieved 26 June 2007.
  4. ^ "Lørdagstræning i PARKEN" (in Danish). TV 2 Sport. 25 November 2008. Retrieved 20 February 2010.
  5. ^ "Lørdagstræning i PARKEN" (in Danish). F.C. Copenhagen. 18 August 2007. Archived from the original on 26 September 2012. Retrieved 29 September 2007.
  6. ^ "Christiansen: – Bedre dag for dag" (in Danish). F.C. Copenhagen. 11 September 2007. Archived from the original on 26 September 2012. Retrieved 29 September 2007.
  7. ^ "26.09. FC Fredericia – F.C. København (Kampreferat)" (in Danish). F.C. Copenhagen. 26 September 2007. Archived from the original on 3 September 2009. Retrieved 29 September 2007.
  8. ^ "29.09. F.C. København – Lyngby Boldklub (Kampreferat)" (in Danish). F.C. Copenhagen. 29 September 2007. Archived from the original on 1 September 2009. Retrieved 29 September 2007.
  9. ^ "04.10. F.C. København – RC Lens (Kampreferat)" (in Danish). F.C. Copenhagen. 4 October 2007. Archived from the original on 3 September 2009. Retrieved 6 October 2007.
  10. ^ "Bellamy matchvinder i Brøndby" (in Danish). . 19 November 2008. Retrieved 20 February 2010.
  11. ^ "Jørgensen agrees to swap København for PSV". uefa.com. 23 February 2012. Retrieved 14 May 2012.
  12. ^ "Officielt: FCK henter Zanka hjem". Retrieved 7 June 2014.
  13. ^ "TRANSFER: MATHIAS JØRGENSEN JOINS TOWN". Huddersfield Town A.F.C. Retrieved 7 July 2017.
  14. ^ Jump up to: a b "Defender departs Huddersfield Town permanently". Huddersfield Town A.F.C. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  15. ^ "Foetuna leiht Zanka aus" (in German). Fortuna Düsseldorf. 31 January 2020. Retrieved 31 January 2020.
  16. ^ "ZANKA RETURNS TO F.C. COPENHAGEN ON DEADLINE DAY". F.C. Copenhagen. 5 October 2020. Retrieved 5 October 2020.
  17. ^ "Brentford sign Danish international Zanka". Brentford F.C. 9 September 2021. Retrieved 9 September 2021.
  18. ^ "Revealed: Every World Cup 2018 squad - Final 23-man lists - Goal.com".
  19. ^ "Mihalik Enikő megtalálta az igazit". 15 July 2014.
  20. ^ Jump up to: a b "Danish internationals dig deep to fund anti-homophobia campaign". Reuters. 22 February 2017. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  21. ^ "These pro-LGBT+ football posters have been popping up all over Copenhagen". SBS. 4 September 2017. Retrieved 10 August 2019.
  22. ^ "Fra A til Z som Zanka" (in Danish). . 10 February 2010. Retrieved 20 February 2010.
  23. ^ "Manden bag Zanka" (in Danish). tipsbladet.dk. Retrieved 20 August 2017.
  24. ^ "Johan Lange" (in Danish). . Retrieved 20 August 2017.
  25. ^ "M. JØRGENSEN". Soccerway. Retrieved 31 March 2018.
  26. ^ "Mathias "Zanka" Jørgensen". Danish Football Association. Archived from the original on 4 August 2020. Retrieved 17 June 2021.
  27. ^ Mathias Jørgensen at National-Football-Teams.com
  28. ^ "Årets Talent 2008" (in Danish). Spillerforeningen. 11 November 2008. Archived from the original on 1 September 2009. Retrieved 16 November 2008.
  29. ^ Nielsen, Pia Schou (17 November 2008). "Martin Laursen Årets Spiller" (in Danish). Danish Football Association. Retrieved 18 November 2008.
  30. ^ Berendt, Lars (5 December 2008). "Lumb og Eriksen nyeste Arla Landsholdstalenter" (in Danish). Danish Football Association. Retrieved 5 December 2008.
  31. ^ "Årets Spiller 2016/2017: Mathias Zanka". F.C. København. 30 May 2017. Retrieved 10 August 2019.

External links[]

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