Pierre van Hooijdonk

Petrus ("Pierre") Ferdinandus Johannes van Hooijdonk (born on November 29, 1969 in Steenbergen, Noord-Brabant) is a Dutch football player. He currently plays for Feyenoord. His position is striker.

Van Hooijdonk's career took shape at RBC Roosendaal in 1988 where he spent two seasons and scored 33 goals. He then joined NAC Breda at the start of the 1991/1992 season and continued his goal-scoring achievements with 81 goals in 115 appearances, in the meantime assisting the club to promotion to the Eredivisie in 1993. He also moved on to Celtic in 1994 and managed to score 57 goals for the club in 68 appearances, before joining Nottingham Forest at the start of the 1996/1997 season.

Whilst with Nottingham Forest he gained a reputation in England as a truculent performer and even went on strike for a spell when he was unhappy with his position at the club, and the sale of strike partner Kevin Campbell. (He had previously left Celtic over a wage dispute, stating that the reputed £7,000 a week he was being offered might be acceptable for a "homeless person" to live on but not for a man of his talent). This led to an infamous incident where, on his first game upon ending the strike, he scored, but his teammates refused to celebrate alongside him. Despite his problems at the club, then Dutch coach, Guus Hiddink offered him a place in the Dutch roster for 1998 FIFA World Cup in France which he did reasonably well as a substitute in the match against South Korea, getting in the scoresheet in the process and helping his team win 5-0 against an unfancied Korean side.

He returned to Holland at Vitesse Arnhem to rebuild his career after 1998 FIFA World Cup and did much to convince his critics of his goal-scoring abilities when he helped the Arnhem team to a UEFA Cup spot with 25 goals in just one season. Van Hooijdonk then signed for SL Benfica in 2000 and played for one season with 19 goals to his credit. At the end of the 2000/2001 season, he signed for his fourth Dutch club, Feyenoord Rotterdam.

In Holland, while at Feyenoord, he will always be remembered for his exceptional free kick abilities and his integral part in the 2002 UEFA Cup win. He scored two terrific goals in the final and his heroic performances helped Feyernoord beat Freiburg, Rangers, Inter, Dortmund and PSV almost single handedly. Just before the actual final, a group of Feyernoord fans recorded a single about Van Hooijdonk called ' Put your hands up for Pi - Air' which charted in the Dutch music charts and referred to Van Hooijdonk's magnificent free - kicks and great goals.

Never one to settle down, van Hooijdonk joined Fenerbahce SK at the beginning of the 2003/2004 season where he featured in 52 games for the Turkish club and scored 32 goals. In the summer of 2005, he signed again for his former club, NAC, compiling 17 games but scoring only 5 goals. During the winter transfer window of the 2005/ 2006 season, he also signed for another previous club, Feyenoord, who were looking to strengthen their squad and to look for a prolific goal-scorer to complement their own key player, Dirk Kuyt.

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