Johannes Vennegoor of Hesselink (; born 7 November 1978) is a Dutch former professional

footballer A football player or footballer is a sportsperson who plays one of the different types of football. The main types of football are association football, American football, Canadian football, Australian rules football, Gaelic football, rugby ...

. He formerly played for the Netherlands national team as a striker. He played for clubs such as the Dutch

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; ''"Honour Division"'' or ''"Premier Division"'') is the highest level of professional football in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is c ...

FC Twente Football Club Twente () is a Dutch professional football club from the city of Enschede, sometimes known internationally as Twente Enschede. The club was formed in 1965 by the merger of 1926 Dutch champions Sportclub Enschede with Enschedese ...

and PSV, the Scottish Premier League's Celtic,

Hull City Hull City Association Football Club is a professional football club based in Hull, East Riding of Yorkshire, England, that compete in the . They have played home games at the MKM Stadium since moving from Boothferry Park in 2002. The club's t ...

of the English

Premier League The Premier League (legal name: The Football Association Premier League Limited) is the highest level of the men's English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Fo ...

and

Rapid Vienna Rapids are sections of a river where the river bed has a relatively steep gradient, causing an increase in water velocity and turbulence. Rapids are hydrological features between a ''run'' (a smoothly flowing part of a stream) and a ''cascade'' ...

Austria Austria, , bar, Östareich officially the Republic of Austria, is a country in the southern part of Central Europe, lying in the Eastern Alps. It is a federation of nine states, one of which is the capital, Vienna, the most populous ...

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany. At the top of the German football league system, the Bundesliga is Germany's primary footba ...

Name

British newspaper ''

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'' researched his unusual-sounding name and found that he was thus named because:

...way back in the 17th century, two farming families in the Enschede area of Holland intermarried. Both the Vennegoor and Hesselink names carried equal social weight, and so – rather than choose between them – they chose to use both. 'Of' in Dutch actually translates to 'or', which would mean that a strict translation of his name would read Jan Vennegoor or Hesselink.

Club career

Twente and PSV

Born in

Oldenzaal Oldenzaal (; Tweants: ''Oldnzel'') is a municipality and a city in the eastern province of Overijssel in the Netherlands. It is part of the region of Twente and is close to the German border. It received city rights in 1249. Historically, the city ...

, Vennegoor of Hesselink scored 59 league goals for

over the course of five seasons. In 2001, he was signed by

-rivals PSV. Vennegoor of Hesselink scored 22 times for PSV during his first season with the club. His second and third seasons at PSV proved less fruitful, with eight and twelve goals, respectively. At the end of the 2003–04 season, he was told he could leave the club, but stayed on and scored 19 goals in 28 matches during the 2004–05 season. He also earned a recall to the national team in March 2005 after an absence of almost five years.

Celtic

2006–07

On 24 August 2006, Vennegoor of Hesselink left PSV and signed a three-year deal with Scottish Premier League champions Celtic, with the option of a further year, for a fee of around £3.4 million. He made his debut on 26 August against Hibernian and scored the winning goal after coming on as a substitute. In his next game against

Aberdeen Aberdeen (; sco, Aiberdeen ; gd, Obar Dheathain ; la, Aberdonia) is a city in North East Scotland, and is the third most populous city in the country. Aberdeen is one of Scotland's 32 local government council areas (as Aberdeen City), and ...

on 9 September, he scored the winner from outside the box in a 1–0 win. He then scored his first European goal for Celtic in the

UEFA Champions League The UEFA Champions League (abbreviated as UCL, or sometimes, UEFA CL) is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) and contested by top-division European clubs, deciding the competi ...

against Manchester United four days later, scoring the opening goal as United won 3–2. Injuries subsequently curtailed his appearances but he found his form late on, scoring his first hat-trick for ''the Bhoys'' against St Mirren on 20 January 2007 and a last minute winner against Inverness the following week, before being

sent off In sports, an ejection (also known as dismissal, sending-off, disqualification, or early shower) is the removal of a participant from a contest due to a violation of the sport's rules. The exact violations that lead to an ejection vary depending ...

with a second

yellow card Yellow card may refer to: * Yellow card (sport), shown in many sports after a rules infraction or, by analogy, a serious warning in other areas * Yellowcard, an American alternative rock band * Yellow Card Scheme, a United Kingdom initiative conce ...

after leaving the field of play to celebrate with the Celtic fans. He ended the season with 18 goals to his name and SPL and

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,the new season well, scoring five goals in his first six league matches. After shaking off injury, he started to find some form and by January his performances improved immensely, delivering a Man of the Match performance and scoring against in a 5–1 thrashing of Kilmarnock in the

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,Hearts on 16 February and then a stunning diving header against

Barcelona Barcelona ( , , ) is a city on the coast of northeastern Spain. It is the capital and largest city of the autonomous community of Catalonia, as well as the second most populous municipality of Spain. With a population of 1.6 million within ci ...

four days later to give Celtic a 1–0 lead in the Champions League Round of 16 first-leg at

Celtic Park Celtic Park is the home stadium of Celtic Football Club, in the Parkhead area of Glasgow, Scotland. With a capacity of 60,832, it is the largest football stadium in Scotland, and the eighth-largest stadium in the United Kingdom. It is al ...

, although Barcelona won the match 3–2. On 16 April, Vennegoor of Hesselink scored his first

Old Firm The Old Firm is the collective name for the Scottish football clubs Celtic and Rangers, which are both based in Glasgow. The two clubs are by far the most successful and popular in Scotland, and the rivalry between them has become deeply em ...

goal against Rangers at Celtic Park in injury-time to give Celtic a 2–1 win. Many saw that goal as the major turning point in Celtic's incredible comeback to win the league. On 22 May, the last day of the season, he scored what proved to be the league-winning goal with a powerful header off a

corner kick A corner kick is the method of restarting play in a game of association football when the ball goes out of play over the goal line, without a goal being scored and having last been touched by a member of the defending team. The kick is take ...

against

Dundee United Dundee United Football Club is a Scottish professional football club based in the city of Dundee. The club name is usually abbreviated to Dundee United. Formed in 1909, originally as Dundee Hibernian, the club changed to the present name in 1 ...

Tannadice Park Tannadice Park ( gd, Pàirc Thanachais), usually referred to as Tannadice, is a football stadium in Dundee, Scotland. It is the home ground of Dundee United F.C., who have played at Tannadice since the club was founded as Dundee Hibernian in 1 ...

. It was Vennegoor of Hesselink's 20th goal of the season and rounded off another successful year for both player and club, as the big striker and teammate

Scott McDonald Scott Douglas McDonald (born 21 August 1983) is an Australian former professional footballer and is the current head coach for National Premier Leagues club Gold Coast Knights. Originally a striker, McDonald could also play as an attacking m ...

struck up an extremely productive partnership, leading most strike pairings in the UK for almost the entire season, a total of 40 scored by the pair combined in the league alone and 51 in total.

2008–09

The 2008–09 season started slowly for Vennegoor of Hesselink. On 31 August, just three minutes after coming on as a substitute, he was sent off against Rangers at Celtic Park for kicking out at Rangers'

Kirk Broadfoot Kirk John Broadfoot (born 8 August 1984) is a Scottish footballer who plays as a defender for Lowland League club Open Goal Broomhill. Broadfoot started his senior career with St Mirren and he helped the club gain promotion to the Scottish Pr ...

. Rangers won the match 4–2. He scored his first goals of the season against Aberdeen in a 3–2 win at Celtic Park on 27 September, with his second being a last-minute winner. Vennegoor of Hesselink then went on a long goal drought (mainly due to the fact that he was out injured for over three months) until 4 April 2009, when he scored the final goal of Celtic's 4–0 win against

Hamilton Academical Hamilton Academical Football Club, often known as Hamilton Accies, or The Accies, is a Scottish football club from Hamilton, South Lanarkshire who currently compete in the Scottish Championship, having been relegated from the 2020–21 Scotti ...

with a simple tap-in. He scored again four days later in another 4–0 victory with another simple tap-in, this time the second against Falkirk. The big striker made it three goals in three games on 11 April when he scored the opening goal against Hearts at Tynecastle with less than 25 seconds on the clock. The game ended 1–1 with Bruno Aguiar scoring the equaliser for Hearts. It was then four in four when he scored a 43rd-minute opener in a 2–0 win at home to Aberdeen on 18 April. He ended the season with a

League Cup In several sports, most prominently association football, a league cup or secondary cup generally signifies a cup competition for which entry is restricted only to teams in a particular league. The first national association football tournament t ...

winners' medal, after Celtic beat Rangers 2–0 in

the final Final, Finals or The Final may refer to: *Final (competition), the last or championship round of a sporting competition, match, game, or other contest which decides a winner for an event ** Another term for playoffs, describing a sequence of cont ...

on 15 March. Although Celtic did not lose any games in which Vennegoor of Hesselink scored in the 2008–09 season, he was released at the end of his contract in July 2009.

Hull City

On 3 September 2009, Vennegoor of Hesselink signed a two-year contract with

club

. He made his debut for the club against Sunderland on 12 September when he came on as a substitute for Craig Fagan. He scored his first goal for the club with the opening goal in the 2–1 home win against

Wigan Athletic Wigan Athletic Football Club () is an English professional association football club based in Wigan, Greater Manchester, England. The team competes in the Championship, the second tier of the English football league system. Founded in 1932, ...

on 3 October 2009. He also gained another winner with a last minute strike against Stoke after coming on as a substitute. His contract with Hull City expired at the end of the 2009–10 season, and as of 1 July 2010 was confirmed as a free agent by officials at Hull City, along with fellow former Dutch national team player, George Boateng.

Rapid Vienna

On 30 August 2010, Vennegoor of Hesselink joined

as a free agent on a two-year deal after his contract expired with Hull City. Vennegoor of Hesselink said on the club's official website "I received several interesting offers from European clubs. However, Rapid's offer gave me and my family the best feeling. This club and this city made it an easy decision for me to join Rapid. I'm looking forward to the next chapter in my career". On 21 October 2010, he scored the first goal to help his side to a 2–0 away win against

Bulgaria Bulgaria (; bg, България, Bǎlgariya), officially the Republic of Bulgaria,, ) is a country in Southeast Europe. It is situated on the eastern flank of the Balkans, and is bordered by Romania to the north, Serbia and North Macedo ...

n outfit

CSKA Sofia CSKA Sofia ( bg, ЦСКА София) is a Bulgarian professional association football club based in Sofia and currently competing in the country's premier football competition, the First League. ''CSKA'' is an abbreviation for ''Central Sport ...

in a

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (abbreviated as UEL, or sometimes, UEFA EL), formerly the UEFA Cup, is an annual football club competition organised since 1971 by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European football clubs. ...

match, snapping a two-game losing streak for the team from

Vienna en, Viennese , iso_code = AT-9 , registration_plate = W , postal_code_type = Postal code , postal_code = , timezone = CET , utc_offset = +1 , timezone_DST ...

in the tournament in question. Vennegoor of Hesselink did not play many games in the 2010–11 season, due to several injuries. After a muscle rupture in May, his season was therefore over. In June, Vennegoor of Hesselink and

mutually agreed to terminate his contract.

Return to PSV

After his departure from

, Vennegoor of Hesselink trained with the

youth team. On 4 October 2011, it was announced that Vennegoor of Hesselink had joined PSV to train with the first team squad. Early November, it was rumoured that Vennegoor of Hesselink would return to the PSV squad on a second spell. On 3 November 2011, it was confirmed that he had signed with PSV until the end of the season.

Retirement

On 15 May 2012, Vennegoor of Hesselink announced his retirement from professional football.

International career

Vennegoor of Hesselink made his international debut for the

Netherlands ) , anthem = ( en, "William of Nassau") , image_map = , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of the Netherlands , established_title = Before independence , established_date = Spanish Netherl ...

on 11 October 2000 in

Rotterdam Rotterdam ( , , , lit. ''The Dam on the River Rotte'') is the second largest city and municipality in the Netherlands. It is in the province of South Holland, part of the North Sea mouth of the Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta, via the ''"Ne ...

in the Netherlands' 2–0 World Cup qualifier defeat against

Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...

, but did not score his first international goal until almost seven years later, in a friendly match against

Thailand Thailand ( ), historically known as Siam () and officially the Kingdom of Thailand, is a country in Southeast Asia, located at the centre of the Indochinese Peninsula, spanning , with a population of almost 70 million. The country is b ...

on 6 June 2007. Despite his fabulous form in his first season at PSV, Vennegoor of Hesselink could not guide the Netherlands to

2002 World Cup The 2002 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Korea Japan 2002, was the 17th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial football world championship for men's national teams organized by FIFA. It was held from 31 May to 30 June 2002 at sites in South Korea an ...

due to being behind forwards

Pierre van Hooijdonk Pierre van Hooijdonk (; born 29 November 1969) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a striker. He had spells with clubs across Europe where he was a prolific goal scorer. Van Hooijdonk was capped 46 times for the Dutch nation ...

and

Ruud van Nistelrooy Rutgerus Johannes Martinus van Nistelrooij (anglicised to Van Nistelrooy; born 1 July 1976) is a Dutch professional football coach and former player. He is currently the coach of PSV Eindhoven. A former footballer, Van Nistelrooy is often consi ...

in the pecking order. Vennegoor of Hesselink could not replicate his domestic form for PSV in subsequent seasons, and missed out on

UEFA Euro 2004 The 2004 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as Euro 2004, was the 12th edition of the UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football competition contested by the men's national teams of UEFA member associations. The ...

. However, he was included in the Dutch squad to play at the

2006 World Cup The 2006 FIFA World Cup, also branded as Germany 2006, was the 18th FIFA World Cup, the quadrennial international football world championship tournament. It was held from 9 June to 9 July 2006 in Germany, which had won the right to host the ...

, where he made a late appearance as a substitute in the second-round game against

, and at

UEFA Euro 2008 The 2008 UEFA European Football Championship, commonly referred to as UEFA Euro 2008 or simply Euro 2008, was the 13th UEFA European Championship, a quadrennial football tournament contested by the member nations of UEFA (the Union of European ...

, where he appeared against

Romania Romania ( ; ro, România ) is a country located at the crossroads of Central, Eastern, and Southeastern Europe. It borders Bulgaria to the south, Ukraine to the north, Hungary to the west, Serbia to the southwest, Moldova to the east, and ...

Career statistics

Club

International

:''Scores and results list Netherlands goal tally first''

Honours

Twente * KNVB Cup: 2000–01 PSV *

: 2002–03, 2004–05, 2005–06 *KNVB Cup: 2004–05, 2011–12 Celtic * Scottish Premier League: 2006–07, 2007–08 *

Scottish Cup The Scottish Football Association Challenge Cup,2006–07 *

Scottish League Cup The Scottish League Cup (also known as the Viaplay Cup for sponsorship reasons) is a football competition open to all Scottish Professional Football League (SPFL) clubs. First held in 1946–47, it is the oldest national League Cup in existen ...

: 2008–09

References

External links

*
Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink profile
Carling * {{DEFAULTSORT:Vennegoor of Hesselink, Jan 1978 births Living people People from Oldenzaal Footballers from Overijssel Dutch footballers Netherlands international footballers Association football forwards FC Twente players PSV Eindhoven players Celtic F.C. players Hull City A.F.C. players SK Rapid Wien players Eredivisie players Scottish Premier League players Premier League players Austrian Football Bundesliga players 2006 FIFA World Cup players UEFA Euro 2008 players Dutch expatriate footballers Expatriate footballers in Scotland Expatriate footballers in England Dutch expatriate sportspeople in England Dutch expatriate sportspeople in Scotland