Jerrel "Jimmy" Floyd Hasselbaink ( ; born 27 March 1972) is a professional football manager and former player who is currently an assistant coach for the Suriname national team.
Born in Suriname, he and his family would later move to the Dutch city of Zaandam where he first played football, initially as a goalkeeper, later transitioning to the role of a right winger and finally a forward. He began his senior career with Telstar and AZ Alkmaar before leaving the Netherlands for Portuguese club Campomaiorense in August 1995. He joined Boavista the following year and won the Taça de Portugal with the club in 1997. He was signed by English side Leeds United for a £2 million fee before the 1997–98 season, where he established himself as a prolific goalscorer and went on to win the Premier League Golden Boot award in 1999. He was sold on to Spanish club Atlético Madrid for £10 million the same year, reaching the final of the Copa del Rey despite the club also suffering relegation from La Liga.
Hasselbaink returned to the Premier League with Chelsea for a club record £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 2003–04. 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.
Early life Hasselbaink was born on 27 March 1972 in Paramaribo, Suriname (then part of the Kingdom of the Netherlands), to Frank Ware and Cornelli Hasselbaink; he was the youngest of six children. At the age of five in 1977, Hasselbaink was run over by a moped, which broke his right leg. 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. Hasselbaink grew up in a 14-storey apartment block mainly inhabited by immigrants, and witnessed several suicides by jumping.
In 1979, Hasselbaink began playing youth football for Gestaagt Volharding Overwint (GVO), initially as a goalkeeper. He later played for Zaansche Football club (ZFC) and Zaanlandia as a right winger. He joined a street gang at age 16 and began to carry a knife. He and his gang went to Amsterdam to steal tickets for a Public Enemy concert but were reported, and the police investigation found more stolen goods in Hasselbaink's bedroom, leading to him being sentenced to three months in a youth detention centre. He shared a cell with three other offenders, including a mentally disturbed man who could not speak Dutch, and reflected "Maybe it was the big shock I needed". 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.
Club career Netherlands Hasselbaink began his senior career with Telstar, while still a gang member, and had disciplinary issues at the club due to his persistent lateness. He made his Eerste Divisie debut on 27 October 1990, in a 2–0 defeat at VVV-Venlo. Head coach Niels Overweg dismissed him after he turned up late to a match.
He began training with AZ Alkmaar, where his brother Carlos was playing and impressed enough to win a professional contract. However, Head coach Henk Wullems opted not to renew his contract in 1993, despite Hasselbaink making 46 appearances for the club. He had an unsuccessful trial with FC Eindhoven, and after failing to agree terms with PEC Zwolle he instead spent the 1993–94 season training with HFC Haarlem. He then played amateur football for Neerlandia whilst he looked abroad for a professional contract, spending time in Austria with Admira Wacker.
Portugal Hasselbaink signed for newly promoted Portuguese Primeira Divisão side Campomaiorense in August 1995 after impressing trainer Manuel Fernandes on a trial. 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. 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 2–0 win over Gil Vicente. The small club could not survive in the top flight and were relegated in the 1995–96 season.
Hasselbaink was signed by Boavista for a €300,000 fee in summer 1996. The 1996–97 season was chaotic for the club, as the chairman dismissed two managers, Zoran Filipović and João Alves, before ending the campaign with Rui Casaca. As a result, the "Panthers" only managed a seventh-place finish, but they ended the campaign on a high note by winning the Taça de Portugal. Hasselbaink had a good season individually, finishing as the league's second-highest scorer behind Porto's Mário Jardel. He scored his first professional hat-trick at the club in a 3–1 victory over Marítimo at the Estádio do Bessa; he later scored a hat-trick in a 7–0 win over Gil Vicente, as did teammate Nuno Gomes. Though head coach Casaca left Hasselbaink on the bench due to his arranged transfer to Leeds, Hasselbaink entered the final of the Taça de Portugal as a late substitute for Erwin Sánchez as Boavista held on to a 3–2 win over Benfica.
Leeds United Leeds United manager George Graham signed Hasselbaink in the summer of 1997 for a fee of £2 million. He scored on his Premier League debut in a 1–1 draw with Arsenal at Elland Road on 9 August, though initially he struggled to adapt to the pace of the English game. 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.
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. 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. 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]".
Atlético Madrid On 4 August 1999, Hasselbaink signed a four-year contract with Atlético Madrid for a fee of 3 billion Spanish pesetas (€18 million). His buyout clause was set at 5 billion pesetas (€30 million) and his weekly wage as 10 million pesetas (€60,000). The "Red-and-Whites" lost the first three La Liga games of the 1999–2000 season, but after Hasselbaink scored his first goal for the club to secure a point at Real Zaragoza he continued to score important goals for the club. On 30 October, he scored twice in the Madrid Derby as Atlético beat Real Madrid at the Santiago Bernabéu Stadium for the first time in nine years. He also scored against Barcelona at Camp Nou, in a 2–1 league defeat.
Manager Claudio Ranieri aimed to qualify for the Champions League but resigned in February following poor results. The club's league form did not improve following Ranieri's departure, and his successor Radomir Antić failed to prevent the club from being relegated to the Segunda División; Hasselbaink missed a penalty in a 2–2 draw away to Real Oviedo that secured relegation with two games remaining. With 24 goals, Hasselbaink shared the league's Silver Boot award with Catanha (Málaga CF), scoring only three goals fewer than top-scorer Salva Ballesta (Racing de Santander). Atlético reached the final of the Copa del Rey at the Mestalla Stadium but lost 2–1 to Espanyol; Hasselbaink scored a late consolation goal.
Chelsea Hasselbaink returned to the Premier League in May 2000, when he was signed by Chelsea for a club record fee of £15 million, which matched the then-transfer record for an English club; he signed a four-year contract. He scored on his "Blues" debut, helping them to win the 2000 FA Charity Shield with a 2–0 win over Manchester United at Wembley Stadium. Manager Gianluca Vialli was dismissed in September, and Hasselbaink's former Atlético Madrid boss Claudio Ranieri was appointed as his replacement. 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. Despite this, Hasselbaink scored 23 goals in 35 league appearances in the 2000–01 season, including four goals in a 6–1 win against Coventry City on 21 October; he finished the season as the winner of the Premier League Golden Boot.
At the start of the 2001–02 season, Hasselbaink earned the distinction of scoring the first competitive goal at Southampton's new St Mary's Stadium as Chelsea won 2–0 on 25 August. He was sent off by referee Mark Halsey on 23 January in a 5–1 loss away to Tottenham Hotspur in the League Cup semi-finals, having been mistaken for Mario Melchiot, who had put his hand to Teddy Sheringham's face; his three-match suspension was transferred to Melchiot instead. On 13 March, he scored a hat-trick as Chelsea defeated Tottenham 4–0. He formed both a good friendship and a productive partnership with Icelandic striker Eiður Guðjohnsen, scoring 29 goals in all competitions whilst Guðjohnsen scored 23 goals in a season which also saw Chelsea reach the FA Cup final. Hasselbaink was a doubt for the final due to a hamstring injury, and was substituted on 68 minutes at the Millennium Stadium as Chelsea lost 2–0 to rivals Arsenal. His total of 23 league goals was one fewer than Golden Boot winner Thierry Henry.
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. During his recovery, he appeared as a pundit for ITV's coverage of the 2002 FIFA World Cup. Ranieri initiated a squad rotation system for the 2002–03 season but focused the team around Gianfranco Zola, which limited Hasselbaink's playing time. Barcelona manager Louis van Gaal agreed an £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. 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.