Mathias Jørgensen

Mathias Jattah-Njie Jørgensen (Danish pronunciation: [ˈjɶɐ̯ˀɐnsn̩]; born 23 April 1990), commonly known as Zanka, is a Danish professional footballer who plays as a centre back for Copenhagen on loan from Fenerbahçe, and the Denmark national team.

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

Mathias Jørgensen
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[1]
Place of birth Copenhagen, Denmark[1]
Height 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)[1]
Position(s) Centre back
Club information
Current team
 Copenhagen
(on loan from Fenerbahçe)
Number 25
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– Fenerbahçe 18 (2)
2020 → Fortuna Düsseldorf (loan) 9 (0)
2020– → Copenhagen (loan) 5 (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 33 (2)
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 27 September 2020
‡ National team caps and goals correct as of 23:42, 14 October 2020 (UTC)

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.[2] Before signing with the Danish champions, he had visited Arsenal for a one-week trial.[3]

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.[4] On 9 September, he played again for the reserve team.[5] 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.[6] Three days later he got his Superliga debut, this time replacing Hjalte Nørregaard about 15 minutes before full-time.[7]

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.[8]

On 19 November 2008, he made his debut for the Danish national football team in a friendly against Wales.[9]

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.[10]

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.[11]

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.[12] 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.[13]

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.[13]

On 31 January 2020, Jørgensen joined Fortuna Düsseldorf on loan until the end of the 2019–20 season.[14]

On 5 October 2020, Jørgensen again returned to F.C. Copenhagen on loan until the end of the 2020–21 season.[15]

International career

In May 2018 he was named in Denmark's preliminary 35-man squad for the 2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.[16]

Personal life

Jørgensen dated Hungarian model Enikő Mihalik.[17]

Zanka wrote an article against homophobia in football for the Danish Football Player’s Association in 2016.[18] In February 2017, following the monetary settlement that the players association had with the Danish national team, Zanka donated the 667,000 Danish crowns ($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.[18][19]

Nickname

Jørgensen received his nickname "Zanka" from the film Cool Runnings, in which the character played by Doug E. Doug is named Sanka.[20] The nickname was coined by Johan Lange in 2000, while both Lange and Jørgensen were playing for B.93.[21] 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.[22]

Career statistics

Club
As of match played 27 June 2020[23]
Club Season League Cup League Cup Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Copenhagen 2007–08 Danish Superliga 12100—00121
2008–09 20000—100300
2009–10 24400—91335
2010–11 25111—110371
2011–12 11020—40170
Total 92631—3401297
PSV Eindhoven 2012–13 Eredivisie 5231—21104
2013–14 9000—50140
Total 14231—71244
Jong PSV 2013–14 Eerste Divisie 71———71
Copenhagen 2014–15 Danish Superliga 29140—91422
2015–16 31351—30394
2016–17 33030—152512
Total 934121—2731328
Huddersfield Town 2017–18 Premier League 3802000—400
2018–19 2431000—253
Total 6233000—653
Fenerbahçe 2019–20 Süper Lig 16231——193
Fortuna Düsseldorf 2019–20 Bundesliga 9021——111
Career total 293182650068538728

International
As of match played 14 October 2020[24]
National teamYearAppsGoals
Denmark
200810
200900
201020
201130
201200
201300
201400
201500
201630
201720
201891
201981
202060
Total342

International goals
Scores and results list Denmark's goal tally first.
GoalDateVenueCapOpponentScoreResultCompetition
11 July 2018Nizhny Novgorod Stadium, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia15 Croatia1–01–1 (2–3 p)2018 FIFA World Cup
226 March 2019St. Jakob-Park, Basel, Switzerland22  Switzerland1–33–3UEFA Euro 2020 qualification

Honours

FC Copenhagen

Individual

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