Mathias Jørgensen is more commonly known as Zanka.

The nickname came about when, after an away game, his youth coach Johan Lange (now sporting director of Tottenham Hotspur) had crammed lots of people into the car back home.

Zanka told Danish outlet BT: “Johan had seen the movie Cool Runnings and we were coming back from training about 20 minutes from where I was living in Copenhagen.

“I was sat in front of the passenger seat in what seemed like a bobsleigh and he looked down and said ‘Sanka’ [after a character in the film called Sanka Coffie] and it just caught on. By the end of high school, everyone was calling me ‘Zanka’.”

He made his professional debut in 2007 for Copenhagen and at the end of the season earned his first cap for Denmark, featuring in a game against Wales.

The following season Zanka won his first of five Danish Superliga titles and completed a league and cup double by also winning the Danish Cup. He went on to compete in the Europa League and Champions League.

In his last season, Zanka became captain of Copenhagen before moving to Dutch giants PSV Eindhoven.

Zanka won the Dutch Super Cup but struggled for game time in the Netherlands, making only 14 league appearances in the Eredivise.

He made a swift return to Copenhagen in 2014 where he would stay for three seasons, winning two Danish Superliga titles and three Danish Cups and competing in the Champions League, where he scored two goals against Club Brugge over two legs.

After a successful return to Denmark, Zanka wanted to test himself elsewhere. He signed for newly promoted Huddersfield Town in July 2017, with the club and Zanka competing in their first-ever Premier League campaign.

Huddersfield achieved their target of staying in the Premier League, but following the Terriers’ relegation to the Championship the following year, Zanka moved to Turkish giants Fenerbahçe.

He spent two seasons at Fenerbahçe, during which time he was loaned to Fortuna Düsseldorf and had a third stint at Copenhagen, and made 18 league appearances for the Istanbul side before making a return to the Premier League with Brentford, following a successful Euro 2020 campaign with Denmark.

Zanka departed the Bees for Belgian Pro League side Anderlecht in August 2024, having made just shy of 50 appearances in all competitions.

Zanka then signed for Major League Soccer club LA Galaxy in January 2025.