Lars Martin Jørgensen (; born 6 October 1975) is a Danish former professional
footballer
A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby lea ...
who currently works as a scout for
AGF. Starting his career as a
full-back, he eventually spent most of it in
midfield. In his 20-year playing career, he played for AGF in his homeland, as well as Italian clubs
Udinese and
Fiorentina
ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Florence, Tuscany. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while ...
.
Jørgensen amassed 102 caps and scored 12 goals for the
Denmark national team. He has represented Denmark at three
FIFA World Cup
The FIFA World Cup, often called the World Cup, is an international association football competition among the senior List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams of the members of the FIFA, Fédération Internatio ...
s and two
European Championships. After Denmark's elimination from the
2010 FIFA World Cup
The 2010 FIFA World Cup was the 19th FIFA World Cup, the world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national Association football, football teams. It took place in South Africa from 11 June to 11 July 2010. ...
in South Africa, he announced his international retirement. His farewell match was played in November 2010. However, Jørgensen returned to play a
Euro 2012 qualifier against
Norway
Norway, officially the Kingdom of Norway, is a Nordic countries, Nordic country located on the Scandinavian Peninsula in Northern Europe. The remote Arctic island of Jan Mayen and the archipelago of Svalbard also form part of the Kingdom of ...
on 6 September 2011.
He is the older brother of retired Danish football player
Mads Jørgensen.
Club career
Born in
Ryomgård on
Djursland, he began his club career at the local club
IF Midtdjurs. Jørgensen moved to
AGF as a youngster in 1989, where his footballing talent was recognized as he was chosen to represent various Danish youth national teams from 1991 onward. He made his senior debut for AGF on 8 May 1994 in a match against
Silkeborg IF,
and was a part of the team that won the 1996
Danish Cup
The Danish Cup (; often referred to as Pokalen) is the official "single-elimination tournament, knockout" cup competition in Danish football, run by the Danish Football Association. The cup has been contested annually since 1955.
The winner will ...
trophy.
Jørgensen's contract with AGF had a release clause, permitting him to leave the club on a
free transfer in April 1997.
He moved to Italy to play alongside fellow Dane
Thomas Helveg at
Udinese in
Serie A
The Serie A (), officially known as Serie A Enilive in Italy and Serie A Made in Italy abroad for sponsorship reasons, is a professional association football league in Italy and the highest tier of the Italian football league system. Establish ...
. He helped Udinese finish third in the
1997–98 season.
After spending seven years at Udinese, Jørgensen moved to league rivals
Fiorentina
ACF Fiorentina, commonly referred to as Fiorentina (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Florence, Tuscany. The original team was founded by a merger in August 1926, while ...
in August 2004, when the club bought half of Jørgensen's
transfer fee
In professional football, a transfer is the action taken whenever a player under contract moves between clubs. It refers to the transferring of a player's registration from one association football club to another. In general, the players can onl ...
rights.
He proved to be a key asset to Fiorentina's offensive play and became beloved by the fans. As an attacking midfielder, he played close to the two strikers and during the
2007–08 season he also served as a right back for the majority of the season. He had important contributions for Fiorentina during that season, scoring two goals in the
UEFA Cup
The asterisk ( ), from Late Latin , from Ancient Greek , , "little star", is a Typography, typographical symbol. It is so called because it resembles a conventional image of a star (heraldry), heraldic star.
Computer scientists and Mathematici ...
fixture against
IF Elfsborg
Idrottsföreningen Elfsborg, more commonly known as IF Elfsborg or simply Elfsborg (), is a professional association football, football club based in Borås, Sweden, and is affiliated to the Västergötlands Fotbollförbund. They play in the Alls ...
, and being a key part of the 3–2 win over
Juventus
Juventus Football Club (; from , ), commonly known as Juventus or colloquially as Juve (), is an Italian professional Association football, football List of football clubs in Italy, club based in Turin, Piedmont, who compete in Serie A, the ...
on 2 March 2008.
Jørgensen's
2008–09 season was plagued by an early onset of muscular injuries that left him out of the team until February 2009. He stated that once his time in
Florence
Florence ( ; ) is the capital city of the Italy, Italian region of Tuscany. It is also the most populated city in Tuscany, with 362,353 inhabitants, and 989,460 in Metropolitan City of Florence, its metropolitan province as of 2025.
Florence ...
finished he would like to return to Aarhus before retiring. Despite a difficult season, he signed a contract extension to remain part of Fiorentina until June 2010.
Jørgensen scored a crucial 90th-minute equalizer against
Lecce
Lecce (; ) is a city in southern Italy and capital of the province of Lecce. It is on the Salentine Peninsula, at the heel of the Italian Peninsula, and is over two thousand years old.
Because of its rich Baroque architecture, Lecce is n ...
which secured Fiorentina the fourth and final
Champions League slot.
On 9 December 2009, Jørgensen scored the first goal in Fiorentina's 2–1 win over
Liverpool
Liverpool is a port City status in the United Kingdom, city and metropolitan borough in Merseyside, England. It is situated on the eastern side of the River Mersey, Mersey Estuary, near the Irish Sea, north-west of London. With a population ...
at
Anfield
Anfield is a Association football, football stadium in the area of Anfield (suburb), Anfield, Liverpool, England, which has been the home of Liverpool F.C. since its formation in 1892. The stadium has a seating capacity of 61,276, making it the ...
, his first career goal in the Champions League, after receiving a through-pass from
Alberto Gilardino on a counterattack. Fiorentina claimed top spot in the group with this win, having already eliminated Liverpool a fortnight prior.
On the second last day of the transfer window, 31 January 2010, Jørgensen returned to his childhood club, Danish
AGF for an undisclosed fee. At that point he had six months contract left with ''La viola''.
On 11 November 2014, Jørgensen announced his decision to retire from football by the end of 2014.
International career
Jørgensen was a prolific player for the various Danish youth teams. He was named 1996
Danish ''under-21 Player of the Year'', and eventually set a record of 31 games for the
Danish under-21 national team, scoring nine goals.
He made his debut for the
senior Denmark national team on 25 March 1998 against Scotland, under national team coach
Bo Johansson. He was chosen to represent Denmark at the
1998 FIFA World Cup
The 1998 FIFA World Cup was the 16th FIFA World Cup, the Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams. The finals tournament was held in France from 10 June to 1 ...
, where he got his international breakthrough. He took part in all five Denmark matches at the tournament and scored the opening goal in the 3–2 quarter-final defeat to eventual runners-up
Brazil
Brazil, officially the Federative Republic of Brazil, is the largest country in South America. It is the world's List of countries and dependencies by area, fifth-largest country by area and the List of countries and dependencies by population ...
.
Jørgensen was called up by Johansson to compete for Denmark at the
2000 European Championship, despite being injured. The tournament was no success for Jørgensen, who played a single game as Denmark were eliminated in the preliminary group stage. He made his second World Cup appearance, under new coach
Morten Olsen
Morten Per Olsen (; born 14 August 1949) is a Danish former Association football, football manager and former player. He was the head coach of the Denmark national football team, Denmark national team for 15 years from 2000 until 2015, guiding ...
, at the
2002 FIFA World Cup
The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea/Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial Association football, football world championship for List of men's national association football teams, men's national teams organized by ...
. He played in Denmark's three group stage matches, before suffering an injury which kept him from playing the second round where Denmark were eliminated. At the
2004 European Championship, Jørgensen played in all Denmark's four matches before elimination.
Coaching career
In late 2014, Jørgensen was hired as assistant manager at AGF, a position he held for six months. He continued as player without any coaching role until the year following, where he retired as a player. He then became coach of the U14 team in January 2015.
One month after his appointment as U14 coach at AGF, he was also hired as the assistant manager of the Danish national team.
In the summer of 2015, however, his role at AGF changed from U14 coach to scout, while he continued as assistant manager in the national team. He left the post as assistant manager in January 2016.
Career statistics
Club
;Notes
International
:''Scores and results list Denmark's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Jørgensen goal.''
Honours
AGF
*
Danish Cup
The Danish Cup (; often referred to as Pokalen) is the official "single-elimination tournament, knockout" cup competition in Danish football, run by the Danish Football Association. The cup has been contested annually since 1955.
The winner will ...
:
1995–96
Individual
*
Danish ''under-21 Player of the Year'': 1996
See also
*
List of men's footballers with 100 or more international caps
In association football, a cap is traditionally awarded in international football to a player making an official appearance for their national team. This article lists all men's football players who have played in 100 or more official internat ...
References
Martin Jørgensen stopper karrieren�� bold.dk, 11 November 2014
Hareide dropper Olsens assistenter�� bold.dk, 5 February 2016
External links
*
*
Martin Jørgensenofficial
Danish Superliga
The Danish Superliga (, ) is a professional association football league in Denmark and the highest level of the Danish football league system. The league is currently contested by 12 teams each year, with 2 teams relegated. It is the current ...
statistics at danskfodbold.com
Italian League statsat gazzetta.it
{{DEFAULTSORT:Jorgensen, Martin
1975 births
Living people
Footballers from Aarhus
Danish men's footballers
Men's association football midfielders
Denmark men's youth international footballers
Denmark men's under-21 international footballers
Denmark men's international footballers
UEFA Euro 2000 players
UEFA Euro 2004 players
1998 FIFA World Cup players
2002 FIFA World Cup players
2010 FIFA World Cup players
FIFA Men's Century Club
Danish Superliga players
Danish 1st Division players
Serie A players
IF Midtdjurs players
Aarhus Gymnastikforening players
Udinese Calcio players
ACF Fiorentina players
People from Syddjurs Municipality
Danish expatriate men's footballers
Danish expatriate sportspeople in Italy
Expatriate men's footballers in Italy