Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink

Former

Birthday November 7, 1978

Birth Sign Scorpio

Birthplace Oldenzaal, Netherlands

Age 45 years old

Nationality Netherlands

Height 6ft 3in

Weight 90 kg

#38891 Most Popular

1943

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 winners' medal, after Celtic beat Rangers 2–0 in the final on 15 March.

1978

Johannes Vennegoor of Hesselink (born 7 November 1978) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a striker.

He formerly played for the Netherlands national team.

He played in the Eredivisie for FC Twente and PSV, for the Scottish Premier League's Celtic, Hull City of the English Premier League and Rapid Vienna of the Austrian Football Bundesliga.

2000

Vennegoor of Hesselink earned 19 caps for the Netherlands national team between 2000 and 2009, scoring three goals.

2001

In 2001, he was signed by Eredivisie-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.

2003

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.

2004

British newspaper The Guardian researched Vennegoor of Hesselink's unusual-sounding name in 2004.

2006

He was selected for the 2006 FIFA World Cup and UEFA Euro 2008.

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 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 against Manchester United four days later, scoring the opening goal as United won 3–2.

2007

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 with a second yellow card 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 winners medals as well.

Vennegoor of Hesselink started 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.

He followed that up with a goal against Hearts on 16 February and then a stunning diving header against Barcelona four days later to give Celtic a 1–0 lead in the Champions League Round of 16 first-leg at Celtic Park, although Barcelona won the match 3–2.

On 16 April, Vennegoor of Hesselink scored his first Old Firm 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 against Dundee United at Tannadice Park.

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 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

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.

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.

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.

2009

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 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.

On 3 September 2009, Vennegoor of Hesselink signed a two-year contract with Premier League club Hull City.

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 on 3 October 2009.

2017

It found that in the 17th century, there was a marriage between the Vennegoor and Hesselink farming families of Enschede, and due to the prestige of both surnames, they kept both.

The 'of' in his name means 'or' in Dutch.

Born in Oldenzaal, Vennegoor of Hesselink scored 59 league goals for FC Twente over the course of five seasons.