_(cropped).jpg) Jørgensen playing forRSC Anderlecht in 2024 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Mathias Jattah-Njie Jørgensen[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1990-04-23)23 April 1990 (age 35)[2] | ||
| Place of birth | Copenhagen, Denmark[2] | ||
| Height | 1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)[2] | ||
| Position(s) | Centre-back,right-back | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | LA Galaxy | ||
| Number | 5 | ||
| 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) |
| 2021–2024 | Brentford | 40 | (2) |
| 2024–2025 | Anderlecht | 17 | (0) |
| 2025– | LA Galaxy | 6 | (0) |
| International career | |||
| 2006 | Denmark U16 | 1 | (0) |
| 2006–2007 | Denmark U17 | 3 | (0) |
| 2007 | Denmark U18 | 1 | (0) |
| 2008–2012 | Denmark U21 | 15 | (1) |
| 2008–2024 | Denmark | 37 | (2) |
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals as of 20:28, 9 April 2025 (UTC) | |||
Mathias Jattah-Njie Jørgensen (Danish pronunciation:[mæˈtsʰiˀæsˈjɶɐ̯ˀn̩sn̩]; born 23 April 1990), commonly known by hismononymous nicknameZanka (Danish pronunciation:[ˈsɑŋkʰæ]), is a Danish professionalfootballer who plays as acentre-back orright-back forMajor League Soccer clubLA Galaxy.
Jørgensen began his career at boyhood clubFC Copenhagen, playing regularly in fiveSuperliga seasons, before a move toPSV Eindhoven in 2012, where he spent two seasons in the Eredivisie before returning to Denmark after finding his chances limited. He joinedPremier League clubHuddersfield Town in July 2017 for a fee of £3.5 million, where he played until their relegation in 2019. Afterwards, he played forFenerbahçe, before returning to the Premier League in 2021 where he signed withBrentford.
Formerly an international at under-16,under-17, under-18 andunder-21 level, Jørgensen made his senior international debut forDenmark aged 18 in November 2008.
Born to a Danish mother and a Gambian father, Jørgensen moved toFC Copenhagen from neighbouring clubB.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 visitedArsenal 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 acup match againstFC Fredericia. He substitutedOscar Wendt five minutes before full-time, in the match FCK won 3–1.[7] Three days later he got hisSuperliga debut, this time replacingHjalte Nørregaard about 15 minutes before full-time.[8]
Only eight days after his first team debut, Jørgensen was thrown on pitch in theextra time of theUEFA Cup first round second leg atParken Stadium againstRC Lens, after captainMichael Gravgaard had received a red card. He was substituted forMarcus Allbäck and played in the central defence together withBrede Hangeland, and they prevented any more goals for Lens, despite being down a man.[9]
On 19 November 2008, he made his debut for theDenmark national football team in a friendly againstWales.[10] AfterRoland Nilsson became manager forCopenhagen he became captain for "The Lions". 22 February 2012 it was announced that Jørgensen would join Dutch clubPSV Eindhoven on a free transfer during the summer transfer window.[11]
Jørgensen was featured in an unofficialpre-season tournament, The Polish Masters, in July 2012 and scored his first goal for PSV in their game againstS.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.
On 7 July 2014, Jørgensen returned to his former team FC Copenhagen for a fee of around 600,000 Euros.[12]
_(cropped).jpg)
On 7 July 2017, Huddersfield Town confirmed the signing of Jørgensen from FC Copenhagen for £3.5 million on a three-year contract.[13][14][15] Jørgensen made 65 total appearances for the Terriers in his two seasons with the club as they suffered relegation to theChampionship after the2018–19 season.[16]
On 10 August 2019, Huddersfield Town confirmed that the defender had joined Fenerbahçe on a permanent deal.[17][18] The terms of the transfer were undisclosed.[16]
On 31 January 2020, Jørgensen joinedFortuna Düsseldorf on loan until the end of the 2019–20 season.[19][20]
On 5 October 2020, Jørgensen again returned to F.C. Copenhagen on loan until the end of the 2020–21 season.[21]
On 9 September 2021, Jørgensen joined Premier League clubBrentford on a one-year contract.[22][23] During an injury-hit2021–22 season,[24] made 10 appearances and scored one goal.[25]
After his contract expired in June 2022, it was announced by the club that, whilst he would depart as an official squad member, he would be allowed to train with them in order to complete his rehabilitation on an adductor injury and enable him to find a new club.[26][24][27] In July 2022, he joined the club's pre-seasontraining camp inGermany, and on 22 August 2022 signed a new one-year contract with an option for an extra year, fulfilling both.[28][29]
On 15 August 2024, Jørgensen joinedBelgian Pro League clubAnderlecht on a one-year deal.[30]
On 17 August 2024, he made his debut forAnderlecht, immediately being placed into the starting XI in a 3-1 away win in aBelgian Pro League match againstKV Mechelen, providing his first assist for the club.
On 15 January 2025, Jørgensen signed withMajor League Soccer clubLA Galaxy on a two-year contract.[31][32]
In May 2018 he was named in Denmark's preliminary 35-mansquad for the2018 FIFA World Cup in Russia.[33] In theround of 16 againstCroatia, he scored the opening goal in the first minute of the match. In the 116th minute, he commit a professional foul in the penalty area to prevent Croatia from scoring a late winning goal, and was subsequently yellow carded. His tackle temporarily paid off as Danish goalkeeperKasper Schmeichel savedLuka Modrić'spenalty kick, maintaining the 1–1 draw and forcing the match into apenalty shootout. However, Denmark would go on to lose the shootout 3–2.
In May 2021, he was named in Denmark's 26-man squad for theUEFA Euro 2020, where Denmark reached the semi-finals, and was selected again forUEFA Euro 2024, where Denmark went out in the last 16.
Jørgensen previously dated Hungarian modelEnikő Mihalik.[34]
Jørgensen wrote an article against homophobia in football for the Danish Football Player’s Association in 2016.[35] In February 2017, following the monetary settlement that the players association had with the Denmark 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.[35][36]
Jørgensen married Nanna Ottosen in April 2022 inChelsea, London. They have a son, born 31 October 2021.[37]
Jørgensen received his nickname "Zanka" from the filmCool Runnings, in which the character played byDoug E. Doug is named Sanka.[38] The nickname was coined by Johan Lange in 2000, while both Lange and Jørgensen were playing forB.93.[39] 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.[40]
| Club | Season | League | National cup | League cup | Continental | Total | ||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| Division | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | Apps | Goals | ||
| Copenhagen | 2007–08[41] | Danish Superliga | 12 | 1 | 0 | 0 | — | 0 | 0 | 12 | 1 | |
| 2008–09[42] | 20 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 10 | 0 | 30 | 0 | |||
| 2009–10[42] | 24 | 4 | 0 | 0 | — | 9 | 1 | 33 | 5 | |||
| 2010–11[42] | 25 | 1 | 1 | 1 | — | 11 | 0 | 37 | 1 | |||
| 2011–12[42] | 11 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 4 | 0 | 17 | 0 | |||
| Total | 92 | 6 | 3 | 1 | — | 34 | 0 | 129 | 7 | |||
| PSV Eindhoven | 2012–13[42] | Eredivisie | 5 | 2 | 3 | 1 | — | 2 | 1 | 10 | 4 | |
| 2013–14[42] | 9 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 5 | 0 | 14 | 0 | |||
| Total | 14 | 2 | 3 | 1 | — | 7 | 1 | 24 | 4 | |||
| Jong PSV | 2013–14[42] | Eerste Divisie | 7 | 1 | — | — | — | 7 | 1 | |||
| Copenhagen | 2014–15[42] | Danish Superliga | 29 | 1 | 4 | 0 | — | 9 | 1 | 42 | 2 | |
| 2015–16[42] | 31 | 3 | 5 | 1 | — | 3 | 0 | 39 | 4 | |||
| 2016–17[42] | 33 | 0 | 3 | 0 | — | 15 | 2 | 51 | 2 | |||
| Total | 93 | 4 | 12 | 1 | — | 27 | 3 | 132 | 8 | |||
| Huddersfield Town | 2017–18[43] | Premier League | 38 | 0 | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 40 | 0 | |
| 2018–19[44] | 24 | 3 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 25 | 3 | |||
| Total | 62 | 3 | 3 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | 65 | 3 | |||
| Fenerbahçe | 2019–20[42] | Süper Lig | 16 | 2 | 3 | 1 | — | — | 19 | 3 | ||
| 2020–21[42] | 2 | 0 | 0 | 0 | — | — | 2 | 0 | ||||
| Total | 18 | 2 | 3 | 1 | — | — | 21 | 3 | ||||
| Fortuna Düsseldorf (loan) | 2019–20[42] | Bundesliga | 9 | 0 | 2 | 1 | — | — | 11 | 1 | ||
| Copenhagen (loan) | 2020–21[42] | Danish Superliga | 26 | 1 | 1 | 0 | — | — | 27 | 1 | ||
| Brentford | 2021–22[25] | Premier League | 8 | 1 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 10 | 1 | |
| 2022–23[45] | 18 | 0 | 0 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 20 | 0 | |||
| 2023–24[46] | 14 | 1 | 2 | 0 | 2 | 0 | — | 18 | 1 | |||
| Total | 40 | 2 | 2 | 0 | 6 | 0 | — | 48 | 2 | |||
| Anderlecht | 2024–25[47] | Belgian Pro League | 17 | 0 | 2 | 1 | — | 7[a] | 0 | 26 | 1 | |
| LA Galaxy | 2025 | Major League Soccer | 6 | 0 | — | — | 3[b] | 0 | 9 | 0 | ||
| Career total | 384 | 21 | 31 | 6 | 6 | 0 | 78 | 5 | 499 | 32 | ||
| 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 | |
| 2023 | 1 | 0 | |
| 2024 | 1 | 0 | |
| Total | 37 | 2 | |
| No. | Date | Venue | Cap | Opponent | Score | Result | Competition |
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | 1 July 2018 | Nizhny Novgorod Stadium, Nizhny Novgorod, Russia | 15 |  Croatia | 1–0 | 1–1(2–3p) | 2018 FIFA World Cup |
| 2 | 26 March 2019 | St. Jakob-Park, Basel, Switzerland | 22 |  Switzerland | 1–3 | 3–3 | UEFA Euro 2020 qualification |
FC Copenhagen
Individual
Denmark squads | |||||||||||||||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| |||||||||||||||||||
