Brentford defender Mathias Jorgensen has played with the name 'Zanka' on the back of his shirt ever since signing his first professional contract at Copenhagen in 2007.
The Danish international has used the nickname on his back at every club he has played at, taking it with him to PSV, Huddersfield Town, Fenerbahce, Fortuna Dusseldorf and now Brentford.
But Jorgensen's full name is Mathias Jattah-Njie Jorgensen, with the middle part his dad's name and his surname after his mum. So why does Mathias Jorgensen play with Zanka on the back of his shirt? FourFourTwo details the interesting reasoning below.
Why does Brentford defender Mathias Jorgensen have Zanka on the back of his shirt?
Zanka is a reference to 1993 film Cool Runnings character Sanka Coffie, played by Doug E. Doug. The film is loosely based on the true story of the Jamaica bobsled team attempting to make it to the Winter Olympics, with Sanka's optimism and lucky egg a key part of the storyline.
Jorgensen's affiliation with the name actually dates back to his youth team days at Danish side B.93 in 2000, when his coach, Johan Lange, gave him the moniker during one particular moment off the pitch.
“My former youth coach (Johan Lange) had seen the movie 'Cool Runnings' and we were coming back from training about 20 minutes from where I was living in Copenhagen and we had to cram a lot of people in the car,” Jorgensen told BBC Radio Leeds upon signing for Huddersfield in 2017.
“I was sat in front of the passenger seat in what seemed like a bobsleigh and he looked down and said 'Sanka' (one of the films characters) and it just caught on. By the end of high school everyone was calling me 'Zanka' and when I signed my first contract at Copenhagen they asked me what I wanted on my shirt.
“My Mum was saying I could take my dad's name 'Jattah-Njie' or her name Jorgensen and then the Sports director said how about Zanka? It's more recognisable than Jorgensen as a lot of people are named Jorgensen in Scandinavia.”
The name has stuck ever since, too, with the defender starting games for Brentford with just 'Zanka' written on the back of his shirt - without any reference to his proper name.
