Lars Martin Jørgensen (Danish pronunciation:[ˈlɑːsˈmɑːtsʰinˈjɶɐ̯ˀnsn̩]; born 6 October 1975) is a Danish former professionalfootballer who currently works as a scout forAGF. Starting his career as afull-back, he eventually spent most of it inmidfield. In his 20-year playing career, he played for AGF in his homeland, as well as Italian clubsUdinese andFiorentina.

Martin Jørgensen

Jorgensen withFiorentina in 2007
Personal information
Full name	Lars Martin Jørgensen[1]
Date of birth	(1975-10-06)6 October 1975 (age 49)
Place of birth	Ryomgård, Denmark
Height	1.80 m (5 ft 11 in)
Position(s)	Midfielder
Team information
Current team	AGF (scout)
Youth career
1979–1988	IF Midtdjurs
1989–1993	AGF
Senior career*
Years	Team	Apps	(Gls)
1994–1997	AGF	82	(13)
1997–2004	Udinese	185	(30)
2004–2010	Fiorentina	151	(14)
2010–2014	AGF	102	(14)
Total		530	(66)
International career
1991	Denmark U16	2	(0)
1991–1992	Denmark U17	11	(1)
1992–1994	Denmark U19	10	(3)
1994–1997	Denmark U21	31	(9)
1998–2011	Denmark	102	(12)
Managerial career
2014	AGF (assistant)[2]
2015	AGF U14[3]
2015–	AGF (scout)[4]
2015–2016	Denmark (assistant)[5]
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Jørgensen amassed 102 caps and scored 12 goals for theDenmark national team. He has represented Denmark at threeFIFA World Cups and twoEuropean Championships. After Denmark's elimination from the2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa, he announced his international retirement.^[6] His farewell match was played in November 2010.^[7] However, Jørgensen returned to play aEuro 2012 qualifier againstNorway on 6 September 2011.^[8]

He is the older brother of retired Danish football playerMads Jørgensen.

Born inRyomgård onDjursland, he began his club career at the local clubIF Midtdjurs.^[9] Jørgensen moved toAGF as a youngster in 1989,^[10] 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 againstSilkeborg IF,^[11] and was a part of the team that won the 1996Danish Cup trophy.

Jørgensen's contract with AGF had a release clause, permitting him to leave the club on afree transfer in April 1997.^[11] He moved to Italy to play alongside fellow DaneThomas Helveg atUdinese inSerie A. He helped Udinese finish third in the1997–98 season.

After spending seven years at Udinese, Jørgensen moved to league rivalsFiorentina in August 2004, when the club bought half of Jørgensen'stransfer fee rights.^[12] He proved to be a key asset to Fiorentina's offensive play and became beloved by the fans.^[13] As an attacking midfielder, he played close to the two strikers and during the2007–08 season he also served as a right back for the majority of the season.^[14] He had important contributions for Fiorentina during that season, scoring two goals in theUEFA Cup fixture againstIF Elfsborg,^[15] and being a key part of the 3–2 win overJuventus on 2 March 2008.^[16]

Jørgensen's2008–09 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 inFlorence finished he would like to return to Aarhus before retiring.^[17] Despite a difficult season, he signed a contract extension to remain part of Fiorentina until June 2010.^[12] Jørgensen scored a crucial 90th-minute equalizer againstLecce which secured Fiorentina the fourth and finalChampions League slot.^[18]

On 9 December 2009, Jørgensen scored the first goal in Fiorentina's 2–1 win overLiverpool atAnfield, his first career goal in the Champions League, after receiving a through-pass fromAlberto Gilardino on a counterattack.^[19] 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, DanishAGF for an undisclosed fee.^[20] At that point he had six months contract left withLa viola.

On 11 November 2014, Jørgensen announced his decision to retire from football by the end of 2014.^[21]

Jørgensen was a prolific player for the various Danish youth teams. He was named 1996Danishunder-21 Player of the Year, and eventually set a record of 31 games for theDanish under-21 national team, scoring nine goals.

He made his debut for thesenior Denmark national team on 25 March 1998 against Scotland, under national team coachBo Johansson.^[22] He was chosen to represent Denmark at the1998 FIFA World Cup, 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-upBrazil.^[23]

Jørgensen was called up by Johansson to compete for Denmark at the2000 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 coachMorten Olsen, at the2002 FIFA World Cup. 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 the2004 European Championship, Jørgensen played in all Denmark's four matches before elimination.

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.^[24]

One month after his appointment as U14 coach at AGF, he was also hired as the assistant manager of the Danish national team.^[25] 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.

Notes

^{[citation needed]}

Scores and results list Denmark's goal tally first, score column indicates score after each Jørgensen goal.

AGF

• Danish Cup:1995–96

Individual

• Danishunder-21 Player of the Year: 1996

• List of men's footballers with 100 or more international caps

• Martin Jørgensen stopper karrieren‚ bold.dk, 11 November 2014
• Hareide dropper Olsens assistenter‚ bold.dk, 5 February 2016

• Martin Jørgensen's official homepage at theWayback Machine (archived 2 November 2001)
• Martin Jørgensen national team profile at theDanish Football Association(in Danish)
• Martin Jørgensen officialDanish Superliga statistics at danskfodbold.com(in Danish)
• Italian League stats at gazzetta.it