Jan Åge Fjørtoft

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Jan Åge Fjørtoft (born January 10, 1967) is a former Norwegian footballer. A striker who scored many goals, he played professionally in Norway, Austria, England and Germany. He played 71 international matches and scored 20 goals for Norway.

[edit] Playing career

Fjørtoft spent several seasons in England during the 1990s. He joined Swindon Town in the summer of 1993 following their promotion to the Premiership. He was their top scorer during the 1993-94 season, when the team suffered relegation. Fjørtoft continued to score frequently during 1994-95 and helped Swindon reach the League Cup semi finals, but their league form was disastrous once more and he transferred to Middlesbrough on transfer deadline day. His departure did nothing to help Swindon's league form and they were again relegated in the penultimate game of the season.

Meanwhile, Fjørtoft was a regular player for Middlesbrough as soon as he joined the club, and helped them finish the season as Division One champions. Due to a restructuring of the league, they were the only team to gain automatic promotion to the Premiership in 1995. He was a regular player throughout the 1995-96 campaign, and partnering the Brazilian Juninho they finished in a respectable 12th place. But the arrival of Italian striker Fabrizio Ravanelli pushing him down the pecking order for the 1996-97 season, and he was sold to Division One side Sheffield United soon afterwards. After the Blades lost to Crystal Palace in that season's playoff final, he joined newly promoted Barnsley to have another crack at the Premiership. But he was unable to prevent Barnsley's first - and only to date - season at this level ending in relegation and at the end of the 1997-98 season he left the club.

Fjørtoft's next stop came in Germany with Eintracht Frankfurt, where he spent three years before returning home to Norway with Stabæk and winding up with Lillestrøm in 2002 before retiring at the age of 36.

Fjørtoft is most famous in England for his goal celebration which saw him stretch out both of his arms and run around the pitch like an aeroplane.

[edit] Retirement

After his retirement he worked as a football commentator for NRK, but resigned when he took over the director of football role at Lillestrøm. Currently he also works for another television channel, TV3.

[edit] Playing career

• Gursken 1976-82
• Hødd 1982-86
• Hamarkameratene 1986-87
• Lillestrøm 1988-89
• Rapid Wien 1989-93
• Swindon Town 1993-95
• Middlesbrough 1995-96
• Sheffield United 1996-97
• Barnsley 1998
• Eintracht Frankfurt 1998-2001
• Stabæk 2001
• Lillestrøm 2002

v • d • e Norway squad - 1994 FIFA World Cup 1 Thorstvedt • 2 Halle • 3 Johnsen • 4 Bratseth • 5 Bjørnebye • 6 J. Flo • 7 Mykland • 8 Leonhardsen • 9 Fjørtoft • 10 Rekdal • 11 Jakobsen • 12 Grodås • 13 By Rise • 14 Nilsen • 15 Løken • 16 Sørloth • 17 Eggen • 18 Håland • 19 Strand • 20 Berg • 21 Rushfeldt • 22 Bohinen • Coach: Olsen