After tonight, Jorrel Hato is one of the youngest debutants ever in the Dutch team. The very young Ajax player was allowed to play his first minutes in the Netherlands in the European Championship qualifier against Gibraltar by national coach Ronald Koeman. The Dutch team won the match against the dwarf state 6-0, partly thanks to a hat trick from Calvin Stengs.
Hato came on for Virgil van Dijk at the start of the second half. The Dutch team was already leading 3-0 at that moment. The central defender is exactly 17 years and 259 days old today. This puts Hato in fifth place among youngest debutants ever.
Jan van Breda Kolff (17 years and 44 days), who made his debut in 1911, still tops the list. We find Matthijs de Ligt in fourth place. The former Ajax player was only 17 years and 225 days old in 2017 when he played for the Netherlands for the first time.
Stormy development
Just over a year ago, Hato made his debut in professional football. He did this on behalf of Jong Ajax on November 4, 2022 in the away match against FC Dordrecht. Two months later, Hato was allowed to make an appearance in the first team of Ajax. He came on as a substitute in the 0-2 cup match against FC Den Bosch. At the beginning of this season, Hato was given a starting place for the Amsterdam team by Maurice Steijn. Hato also usually has a starting position with John van ‘t Schip, the successor to the dismissed Steijn.
National coach Ronald Koeman saw many central defenders drop out during this international match. Matthijs de Ligt, Micky van de Ven, Lutsharel Geertruida and Sven Botman, among others, had withdrawn due to an injury, as a result of which Koeman decided to call up Hato.
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The Netherlands, which had already qualified for the European Championship, could play football freely against Gibraltar. Before halftime, the Netherlands had already scored three times. Calvin Stengs broke the ban on behalf of the Dutch team. It was also his first international goal for the footballer from Nieuw-Vennep. Mats Wieffer and Teun Koopmeiners (Castricum) were the other scorers before half time.
After tea, many new players came into the field, because Koeman had already indicated that he wanted to see as many players as possible at work. The Netherlands also managed to find the net three times in the second half. Stengs scored two more goals and scored a hat trick. The final goal came from the boot of Cody Gakpo.
Netherlands setup: Bridge; Teze, De Vrij, Van Dijk (Hato/46), Hartman (Simons/63); Veerman (Reijnders/46), Wieffer, Koopmeiners; Stengs, Malen (Gakpo/77), Weghorst (Dallinga/46)