Jan Aage Fjörtoft
Photo: Jarle Vines
Personal information
Full name	Jan Aage Fjörtoft
Date of birth	10 January 1967 (1967-01-10) (age 42)
Place of birth	Ålesund, Norway
Height	1.90 m (6 ft 3 in)
Playing position	Centre forward (retired)
Youth career
1982–1985	Gursken .L Hødd
Senior career1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1986–1987 1988–1989 1989–1993 1993–1995 1995–1996 1997–1998 1998 1998–2001 2001 2002	Hamarkameratene Lillestrøm Rapid Vienna Swindon Town Middlesbrough Sheffield United Barnsley Eintracht Frankfurt Stabæk Lillestrøm Career	044 0(17) 033 0(20) 128 0(67) 072 0(28) 041 00(9) 034 0(19) 034 00(9) 052 0(14) 015 00(6) 005 00(0) 454 (189)
National team
1986–1996	Norway	071 0(20)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only. * Appearances (Goals)

Jan Aage Fjörtoft (born 10 January 1967 in Ålesund) is a former Norwegian footballer. A powerful centre forward with netting ability (scoring 307 goals in 620 official games), he played professionally in Norway, Austria, England and Germany. He appeared in 71 international matches (15 as the captain)and scoring 20 goals for Norway.

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

[edit] Playing career

After starting in Norway with Hamarkameratene and Lillestrøm S.K. and spending four seasons in the Austrian Bundesliga with [[SK Rapid Wien - where he became only the second foreigner to be Player of the Year in 1990, Fjörtoft spent several seasons in England during the 1990s. He joined Swindon Town in the summer of 1993 following their promotion to the Premiership, and was their top scorer during the 1993-94 season, when the team suffered relegation. Fjörtoft 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 second game of the season.

Meanwhile, Fjörtoft 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, as the Norwegian partnered Brazilian playmaker Juninho, Boro finished in a respectable 12th place. But the arrival of Italian striker Fabrizio Ravanelli pushed him down the pecking order for 1996-97, and he was sold to Division One side Sheffield United soon afterwards.

After the Blades lost to Crystal Palace in 1998's playoff final, he played at United for most of the new season, but at the end he joined newly promoted Barnsley F.C. to have another crack at the Premiership for the 11 games left of the season. But he was unable to prevent Barnsley's first - and only to date - season at this level ending in relegation, although scoring 6 goals in 11 Premiership - games. At the end of 1997-98 he left the club.

Fjörtoft's next stop came in Germany with Eintracht Frankfurt, where he spent three years (November 1998-2001. Becoming a cult- hero in Germany after he in spectacular fashion saved the club in two of the most exciting relegation battles ever in German football. He returned home to Norway with Stabæk I.F. and winding up with Lillestrøm in 2002, retiring at the age of 35.

[edit] International career

Since 1986, Fjörtoft collected 71 caps for Norway, being part of the nation's squad in 1994 FIFA World Cup, where he appeared as a starter against Mexico (1-0) and Italy (0-1).

[edit] Retirement

After his retirement, Fjörtoft worked as a football commentator for NRK, but resigned when he took over the director of football role at Lillestrøm (LSK). After 4 and a half years as the Director of Football, he quit his job at LSK at the end of the 2008 season.

Since 2004 he has worked at Viasat as an anchor for the Champions League, the English FA cup, national games and the newly formed European League. He also works internationally as a strategic consultant for various organizations and companies.

[edit] External links

• Jan Aage Fjörtoft career stats at Soccerbase

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