Dutch association football player and manager (born 1972)
"Hasselbaink" redirects here. For his nephew, the footballer born 1990, see Nigel Hasselbaink. For his older brother, the footballer born 1968, see Carlos Hasselbaink.
Hasselbaink returned to the Premier League with Chelsea for a club record Β£15 million fee in May 2000, where he once again led the league in scoring during his first season, earning him a second Premier League Golden Boot. He also played in the 2002 FA Cup Final and helped Chelsea to a career-high and then club-record second-place Premier League finish in 2003β04. He moved to Middlesbrough on a free transfer in July 2004 and played in the final of the UEFA Cup in 2006. After being released at the end of the previous season, he signed with Charlton Athletic in July 2006 before joining Cardiff City in August 2007. He played on the losing side in the 2008 FA Cup Final before retiring from play at the end of the season. He also scored nine goals in 23 matches during a four-year international career for the Netherlands national team, appearing at the 1998 FIFA World Cup.
In May 2013, he was appointed manager of Royal Antwerp in the Belgian Second Division, where he stayed for one season. In November 2014, he was hired by Burton Albion in England, and in his first season, he led them to their first-ever promotion to League One as champions of League Two. In December 2015, he was appointed manager of Queens Park Rangers in the Championship. He lasted 11 months in the job until he was dismissed in November 2016. From September 2017 to April 2018, he managed League One club Northampton Town. On New Year's Day 2021, he returned to Burton Albion as manager for a second spell, remaining until he resigned in September 2022.
Club career
Netherlands
Hasselbaink was born on 27 March 1972 in Paramaribo, Suriname (then part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands),[2] to Frank Ware and Cornelli Hasselbaink; he was the youngest of six children.[4] At the age of three in 1975, Hasselbaink was run over by a moped, which broke his right leg.[5] In October 1978, his mother took him and three siblings to live in Zaandam, Netherlands; his father remained in Suriname and rarely contacted the family.[6] The next year Hasselbaink began playing youth football for Gestaagt Volharding Overwint (GVO), initially as a goalkeeper.[7] He later played for Zaansche Football club (ZFC) and Zaanlandia as a right winger.[8] He joined a street gang as a teenager and spent three months in a youth detention facility for stealing.[9] After his release, he joined the youth team at DWS, but he was dismissed from the club for stealing the watch of a first-team player.[10] He began his senior career with Telstar, while still a gang member, and had disciplinary issues at the club due to his persistent lateness.[11] He made his Eerste Divisie debut on 27 October 1990, in a 2β0 defeat at VVV-Venlo.[12] Head coach Niels Overweg dismissed him after he turned up late to a match.[12]
He began training with AZ Alkmaar, where his brother Carlos was playing and impressed enough to win a professional contract.[12] However, Head coach Henk Wullems opted not to renew his contract in 1993, despite Hasselbaink making 46 appearances for the club.[13] He had an unsuccessful trial with FC Eindhoven, and after failing to agree terms with PEC Zwolle he instead spent the 1993β94 season training with HFC Haarlem.[14] He then played amateur football for Neerlandia whilst he looked abroad for a professional contract, spending time in Austria with Admira Wacker.[15]
Portugal
Hasselbaink signed for newly promoted Portuguese Primeira DivisΓ£o side Campomaiorense in August 1995 after impressing trainer Manuel Fernandes on a trial.[16] The chairman wanted to keep his signing a secret and so told the press that he had signed a player called "Jimmy", but after his signing was revealed the name stuck and he was known as Jimmy rather than Jerrel for the rest of his career.[17] He failed to score in his first four games and missed a penalty in his fifth game after insisting on taking the penalty ahead of regular taker Stanimir Stoilov, however, he made amends for the miss later in the game by scoring both goals in a 2β0 win over Gil Vicente.[18] The small club could not survive in the top flight and were relegated in the 1995β96 season.[18]
Hasselbaink was signed by Boavista for a β¬300,000 fee in summer 1996.[18] The 1996β97 season was chaotic for the club, as the chairman dismissed two managers, Zoran FilipoviΔ and JoΓ£o Alves, before ending the campaign with Rui Casaca.[19] As a result, the "Panthers" only managed a seventh-place finish, but they ended the campaign on a high note by winning the TaΓ§a de Portugal. Hasselbaink had a good season individually, finishing as the league's second-highest scorer behind Porto's MΓ‘rio Jardel.[20] He scored his first professional hat-trick at the club in a 3β1 victory over MarΓtimo at the EstΓ‘dio do Bessa; he later scored a hat-trick in a 7β0 win over Gil Vicente, as did teammate Nuno Gomes.[21] Though head coach Casaca left Hasselbaink on the bench due to his arranged transfer to Leeds, Hasselbaink entered the final of the TaΓ§a de Portugal as a late substitute for Erwin SΓ‘nchez as Boavista held on to a 3β2 win over Benfica.[21]
Leeds United
Leeds United manager George Graham signed Hasselbaink in the summer of 1997 for a fee of Β£2 million.[22] He scored on his Premier League debut in a 1β1 draw with Arsenal at Elland Road on 9 August, though initially he struggled to adapt to the pace of the English game.[23] He scored only five league goals before Christmas but ended the campaign with 26 goals in all competitions following a strong second half of the season.[24]
The following season, Hasselbaink's 18 goals in 36 appearances made him joint-winner (with Michael Owen and Dwight Yorke) of the Premier League Golden Boot as Leeds finished fourth in the league under the stewardship of new manager David O'Leary, thus winning the "Whites" a place in the UEFA Cup.[25] However, he and his agent were dissatisfied with the contract offered by the club, and though he still had two years to run on his existing deal he was sold on.[26] O'Leary claimed: "What he is looking for I don't think any club in the country could afford and I don't think there is anyone on that kind of money over here [in England]".[27]
Hasselbaink returned to the Premier League in May 2000, when he was signed by Chelsea for a club record fee of Β£15 million, which matched the then-transfer record for an English club; he signed a four-year contract.[34] He scored on his "Blues" debut, helping them to win the 2000 FA Charity Shield with a 2β0 win over Manchester United at Wembley Stadium.[35] Manager Gianluca Vialli was dismissed in September, and Hasselbaink's former Madrid boss Claudio Ranieri was appointed as his replacement.[36] Hasselbaink later stated he was "dismayed" at Vialli's dismissal and that the players hated Ranieri and fitness coach Roberto Sassi's running-focused training methods.[37] Despite this, Hasselbaink scored 23 goals in 35 league appearances in the 2000β01 season, including four goals in a 6β1 win against Coventry City on 21 October;[38] he finished the season as the winner of the Premier League Golden Boot.
In the summer of 2002, the cause of his hamstring injury was discovered, and he underwent an operation to relieve a blockage in the arteries of his right leg, which had been severely restricting circulation.[44] During his recovery, he appeared as a pundit for ITV's coverage of the 2002 FIFA World Cup.[44] Ranieri initiated a squad rotation system for the 2002β03 season but focused the team around Gianfranco Zola, which limited Hasselbaink's playing time.[45]Barcelona manager Louis van Gaal agreed an Β£8 million transfer for Hasselbaink in the January transfer window after months of negotiations but was dismissed before the transfer went through and the deal subsequently collapsed.[46][47][48][49] Though the attack was focused on Zola throughout the season, Hasselbaink managed to score 15 goals in 44 games, only one goal fewer than Zola.[50]
In the 2003β04 season, he scored 17 goals in all competitions, which, despite the arrival of new strikers Adrian Mutu and HernΓ‘n Crespo, made him top-scorer at the club for the third time in four years. On 27 March, his 32nd birthday, Hasselbaink came on as a 60th-minute substitute for Geremi and scored a hat-trick as Chelsea came from behind to beat Wolverhampton Wanderers 5β2 at Stamford Bridge.[51] Chelsea finished the season in second place and reached the semi-finals of the Champions League; Hasselbaink played in both legs of the semi-final defeat to Monaco, as Chelsea lost 5β3 on aggregate.[52][53]
Middlesbrough
In July 2004, Hasselbaink turned down approaches from Fulham, Celtic and Rangers and instead joined Middlesbrough on a two-year contract after a free transfer.[54][55] Due to several other internationals being signed by the club at the time, he predicted that Middlesbrough could qualify for the Champions League.[56] On 14 August, he scored on his debut for the club in a 2β2 draw with Newcastle United at the Riverside Stadium.[57] In the 2004β05 season he finished as the club's top-scorer with 13 goals in 36 Premier League games, including a hat-trick in a 4β0 win over Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park on 16 October.[58] A seventh-place league finish was enough for the club to qualify for the following year's UEFA Cup.
After a potential move to Celtic of the Scottish Premier League broke down,[61] Hasselbaink joined his fourth Premier League team, Charlton Athletic, on a free transfer in July 2006.[62] Soon after joining the club, he was charged by the FA with improper conduct and/or bringing the game into disrepute for his claiming Chelsea paid players a bonus after the 2004 Champions League win over Arsenal; a Premier League inquiry into what would have been illegal bonus payments found no evidence to support the claims, which were denied by Chelsea.[63] He scored his first goal for the "Addicks" against his old team Chelsea in a 2β1 defeat at Stamford Bridge on 9 September.[64] After seven games without a goal, Hasselbaink scored against yet another of his former clubs, Middlesbrough, on 13 January, a game which Middlesbrough went on to win 3β1.[65] He was released by Charlton at the end of the 2006β07 season having scored only four goals in 29 games, with half of his goal tally coming against League One side Chesterfield in the League Cup.[66]
Cardiff City
Hasselbaink was on the verge of joining Championship side Leicester City in August 2007, but the club later withdrew their offer.[67] Instead Cardiff City chairman Peter Ridsdale, who worked with Hasselbaink at Leeds United, brought him to Cardiff on a one-year deal, putting him in a veteran strike partnership with Robbie Fowler.[68] Manager Dave Jones said that Hasselbaink initially took time to settle and become match fit but despite being a demanding player his professionalism was ultimately a positive influence.[69] On 19 September, Hasselbaink scored his first goal for Cardiff with a 20-yard low drive in the 2β1 league defeat to Watford at Ninian Park.[70] He was nominated for the Player of the Round in the Fifth Round of the FA Cup after scoring an impressive goal against Wolverhampton Wanderers.[71] He remained as a regular starter for the "Bluebirds" throughout the 2007β08 season, and made appearances in five of the six matches Cardiff played to reach the FA Cup final. In the final Cardiff lost 1β0 to Portsmouth; Hasselbaink played 70 minutes before being substituted for Steve Thompson.[72] As the season finished he entered talks to extend his stay at Cardiff; however, he left the club in July 2008 following a dispute over pay.[73]
International career
Hasselbaink came to the attention of Netherlands manager Guus Hiddink whilst playing in England for Leeds United and made his international debut on 27 May 1998 in a 0β0 draw in a friendly with Cameroon at the GelreDome in Arnhem; he came on as a 61st-minute substitute for Marc Overmars. On 1 June, he scored his first goal in a 5β1 friendly victory over Paraguay, and a few days later scored his second goal in another 5β1 friendly victory over Nigeria.[74] He was part of the Dutch squad for the 1998 FIFA World Cup in France, as back-up to established international strikers Patrick Kluivert, Dennis Bergkamp and Pierre van Hooijdonk and wingers Boudewijn Zenden and Marc Overmars.[74] With other strikers not fully fit, Hasselbaink started the opening game against Belgium at the Stade de France, but missed a scoring opportunity in the 0β0 draw and was taken off for Bergkamp after 65 minutes.[75] Kluivert was sent off in the match, but Bergkamp was played as the only striker in the next game against South Korea, and van Hooijdonk was taken off the bench to replace him.[76] In the third group game against Mexico at the Stade Geoffroy-Guichard Hasselbaink came on for Bergkamp after 78 minutes, which was to be his last appearance at the tournament as Kluivert returned from suspension to leave Hasselbaink as Hiddink's fourth choice forward; Netherlands ended the tournament in fourth place.[76]
Louis van Gaal rated Hasselbaink more highly than Rijkaard, meaning more chances at international level when van Gaal took over as manager in July 2000. Hasselbaink scored against Spain in a 2β1 win at the Estadio de La Cartuja on 15 November 2000 but both he and Spanish captain Fernando Hierro were sent off for fighting late in the game.[80] On 24 March 2001, he scored in a 5β0 win over Andorra at the Mini Estadi, and four days later converted a penalty in a draw with Portugal at the EstΓ‘dio das Antas.[81] On 25 April he scored in his third successive World Cup qualifying game, in a 4β0 win over Cyprus at the Philips Stadion. He later played against Estonia (twice), England, the Republic of Ireland and Denmark; he scored a penalty past Denmark in a 1β1 draw at Parken Stadium.[82] Netherlands did not qualify for the 2002 FIFA World Cup as they finished four points behind Portugal and Ireland.
Dick Advocaat replaced van Gaal as national team manager in January 2002, and Hasselbaink remained in contention. On 21 August, he came on as a substitute in a 1β0 win over Norway at the Ullevaal Stadion, and on 7 September he scored in a 3β0 victory over Belarus, the opening game for Euro 2004 qualifying; this was his last appearance for Netherlands.[83] Hasselbaink did not make the squad for the Euro 2004 finals but was on the stand-by list for the tournament.[84]
Style of play
Hasselbaink was a quick sprinter and had a powerful shot. He was able to shoot with his left foot despite being primarily right-footed.[85] Tom Sheen, sports reporter for The Independent and a Chelsea supporter, wrote that "[Hasselbaink] possessed one of the best strikes ever seen at Stamford Bridge, was an expert free-kick taker, great with both feet and decent in the air".[86]
In May 2013, Hasselbaink was announced as the new manager of newly relegated Belgian Second Division club Royal Antwerp.[90] He stated that the club was "a two or three year project" and he aimed to win promotion by playing attacking football with younger players on a reduced budget.[91][92] He made a number of signings for the club, including former England under-19 international John Bostock.[93] He led the club to a seventh-place finish in the 2013β14 season, before turning down a new deal at the club in May 2014.[94]
Burton Albion
On 13 November 2014, Hasselbaink was appointed manager at League Two side Burton Albion.[95] He signed a two-and-a-half-year contract, stating that he was attracted to Burton by the club's stability.[96] Four days after his appointment he took charge of his first game at Burton, a 3β1 win at Wycombe Wanderers which moved the club into fourth in the table.[97] He was nominated for the League Two Manager of the Month award in January for going unbeaten in the month and leading the club to victories over promotion rivals Shrewsbury Town and Bury;[98] however Chris Wilder of Northampton Town won the award.[99] On 18 April, Burton won 2β1 away at Morecambe to earn promotion to League One for the first time in their history.[100] Two weeks later, Burton came from 2β1 down, with ten men following the dismissal of goalkeeper Jon McLaughlin, to defeat Cambridge United 3β2 at the Abbey Stadium and win the League Two title.[101] He was named as League One Manager of the Month for September 2015 after overseeing three wins in five games for the division's newcomers.[102] At the time of his departure Burton were top of League One.[103]
Queens Park Rangers
On 4 December 2015, Hasselbaink was appointed as manager of Championship club Queens Park Rangers; he signed on a rolling contract, alongside his assistant David Oldfield.[104] Eight days later, he took charge of them for the first time, in a goalless draw against Burnley at Loftus Road.[105] After the game, he commented that his team were low on confidence, and needed to be given room to express themselves and "play with freedom".[106] Despite the sale of leading scorer Charlie Austin earlier the same day, Hasselbaink earned his first win in charge of the "Hoops" on 16 January 2016, a 3β0 victory at Rotherham United.[107] He guided them to a 12th-place finish, and spoke of his expectations of a busy summer in the transfer market.[108] He was dismissed on 5 November 2016, with QPR in 17th place.[109]
Northampton Town
On 4 September 2017, Hasselbaink was appointed manager of League One club Northampton Town on a three-year deal, replacing Justin Edinburgh who had been sacked after four losses from the start of the season.[110] His first game was against Doncaster Rovers five days later, a home tie which ended in a 1β0 victory for Northampton Town.[111] He was sacked on 2 April 2018 after a loss to Peterborough United made it nine games without a win and had the "Cobblers" in the relegation zone with five games remaining of the 2017β18 season.[112]
Return to Burton Albion
On New Year's Day 2021, Hasselbaink was appointed manager of Burton Albion for the second time in his career.[113] He made seven permanent and five loan signings, mostly younger players in addition to 33-year old veteran defender Michael Mancienne.[114] Burton finished 16th at the end of the 2021β22 season and he admitted that there was "quite a lot of work to be done" behind the scenes.[115] He held talks with Barnsley in the summer but chose to remain with Burton.[116] He resigned as Burton Albion manager on 5 September 2022 with his team sitting bottom of the table with one point out of seven games, claiming that he had "taken the club as far as I can with the limited resources available".[117]
England national team
In March 2023, Hasselbaink was hired as a coach for the England national team, in a move that reunited him with former Middlesbrough teammate Gareth Southgate.[118] In August 2024, following Southgate's departure in the aftermath of England's UEFA Euro 2024 final defeat, Hasselbaink also departed his role as assistant head coach.[119]
Hasselbaink is one of the few black football managers in England. After being hired by QPR, he was asked by Talksport if he felt that he had added responsibilities as a black manager, to which he answered:
No responsibility whatsoever. I'm a big believer that I got this job because I did well at my previous club and that I am the right man for it β that's why the club has given me the opportunity. I am black, that's not going to change. I am proud to be black and that's also not going to change. Thatβs how it is.[122]
On 28 September 2016, Hasselbaink was named and shown in The Daily Telegraph's sting operation involving exposing football management personalities engaging in improper conduct. Hasselbaink negotiated a deal to work with a fictitious Far Eastern firm looking to become involved in the transfer of footballers. Additionally, Hasselbaink, despite the conflict of interest, was open to the idea of signing players represented by the firm.[124] Queens Park Rangers launched an internal investigation and went on to release a statement fully backing Hasselbaink and stated that The Daily Telegraph failed to provide sufficient evidence regarding their sting operation.[125]
Career statistics
Club
Appearances and goals by club, season and competition
