Jorrel Hato (born 7 March 2006) is a Dutch 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 lea ...

who plays as a

centre-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categories: centre-backs, full-backs, sweepers ...

left-back In the sport of association football, a defender is an Glossary of association football terms#O, outfield player whose primary role is to stop attacks during the game and prevent the opposition from scoring. Defenders fall into four main categ ...

for club

Ajax Ajax may refer to: Greek mythology and tragedy * Ajax the Great, a Greek mythological hero, son of King Telamon and Periboea * Ajax the Lesser, a Greek mythological hero, son of Oileus, the king of Locris * Ajax (play), ''Ajax'' (play), by the an ...

and the Netherlands national team.

Early life

Born in Rotterdam, Hato moved from the youth academy of

Sparta Rotterdam Sparta Rotterdam () is a Dutch professional football club based in Rotterdam. Established on 1 April 1888, Sparta Rotterdam is the oldest professional football team in the Netherlands. Sparta currently competes in the Eredivisie, the top flig ...

in 2018.

Club career

Ajax

2022–23: Debut season

In March 2022, Hato signed his first professional contract, keeping him with Ajax until July 2025 despite reported interest from other European clubs. As captain of the Ajax under-19 team in the

UEFA Youth League The UEFA Youth League is an annual club football competition organised by the Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) since 2013. In its current format, it is contested by the under-19 teams of the clubs competing in the UEFA Champions Le ...

, he scored a notable solo goal against

Napoli Naples ( ; ; ) is the regional capital of Campania and the third-largest city of Italy, after Rome and Milan, with a population of 908,082 within the city's administrative limits as of 2025, while its province-level municipality is the thir ...

in October 2022. He made his professional debut for

Jong Ajax Jong Ajax (; ), also referred to as Ajax II or Ajax 2, is a Dutch association football team. It is based in Amsterdam and competes in the Dutch Eerste Divisie. Jong Ajax is the only reserve team to have won a title in Dutch professional foot ...

in the

Eerste Divisie The Eerste Divisie (; ) is the second-highest tier of football in the Netherlands. It is linked with the top-level Eredivisie via promotion/relegation systems. It is also known as the Keuken Kampioen Divisie due to sponsorship reasons, while ...

on 4 November 2022, coming on as a substitute against

FC Dordrecht Football Club Dordrecht, or simply FC Dordrecht () is a professional Dutch association football club based in Dordrecht, a city in the Western Netherlands, located in the province of South Holland. They currently compete in the Eerste Divisie, ...

On 11 January 2023, Hato made his senior competitive debut for Ajax in the

KNVB Cup The KNVB Beker (; ), branded as the TOTO KNVB Beker for sponsorship reasons, is a competition in the Netherlands organised by the Royal Dutch Football Association (KNVB) since 1898. It was based on the format of the English FA Cup. Outside the N ...

against

Den Bosch s-Hertogenbosch (), colloquially known as Den Bosch (), is a List of cities in the Netherlands by province, city and List of municipalities of the Netherlands, municipality in the Netherlands with a population of 160,783. It is the capital of ...

, appearing as a second-half substitute in a 2–0 win. On 5 February 2023, he made his

Eredivisie The Eredivisie (; "Honour Division" or "Premier Division") is a professional association football league in the Netherlands and the highest level of the Dutch football league system. The league was founded in 1956, two years after the start o ...

debut as a substitute against

SC Cambuur SC Cambuur, also known as Cambuur Leeuwarden, or simply Cambuur, () is a Dutch professional Association football, football club from the city of Leeuwarden formed on 19 June 1964. They currently play in the Eerste Divisie, the second tier of Dutc ...

, becoming the third youngest player to debut for Ajax in the league (16 years, 335 days) behind Ryan Gravenberch and

Clarence Seedorf Clarence Clyde Seedorf (; born 1 April 1976) is a Dutch former professional Association football, football manager and player. He is regarded by many as one of the greatest midfielders of all time. He is currently working primarily remotely as ...

. Five days later, on 10 February, he scored his first professional goal while playing for Jong Ajax in an Eerste Divisie match away against FC Den Bosch. Hato quickly gained more first-team opportunities and started the 2023 KNVB Cup final against

PSV Eindhoven Philips Sport Vereniging (; ), abbreviated as PSV and internationally known as PSV Eindhoven (), is a Dutch sports club from Eindhoven, Netherlands. It is best known for its professional association football, football department, which has pla ...

on 30 April 2023. Following his debut season, Hato was awarded the Abdelhak Nouri Trophy as the most talented player from Ajax's youth academy.

2023–present: First-team regular and vice-captain

Hato became an undisputed starter and key player for Ajax at the beginning of the 2023–24 season. Despite the team's struggles, the 17-year-old played almost every minute of the campaign across all competitions, earning praise for his consistent performances and maturity. In October 2023, he was named by English newspaper ''

The Guardian ''The Guardian'' is a British daily newspaper. It was founded in Manchester in 1821 as ''The Manchester Guardian'' and changed its name in 1959, followed by a move to London. Along with its sister paper, ''The Guardian Weekly'', ''The Guardi ...

'' as one of the best players born in 2006 worldwide. He scored his first senior goal for Ajax against

Almere City FC Almere City Football Club is a professional Association football, football club based in Almere, Netherlands. Founded in 2001, the club currently compete in the Eerste Divisie, following relegation from the Eredivisie in 2024–25 Eredivisie, 20 ...

on 12 November 2023. Following the departure of

Davy Klaassen Davy Klaassen (born 21 February 1993) is a Dutch professional Association football, footballer who plays as an midfielder for Eredivisie club AFC Ajax, Ajax and the Netherlands national football team, Netherlands national team. Club career Earl ...

and

Dušan Tadić Dušan Tadić ( sr-Cyrl, Душан Тадић, ; born 20 November 1988) is a Serbian professional Association football, footballer. He played most recently for Turkish club Fenerbahçe S.K. (football), Fenerbahçe. Positionally, he can be deploy ...

, and injuries to

Steven Bergwijn Steven Charles Bergwijn (born 8 October 1997) is a Dutch professional association football, footballer who plays as a Forward (association football)#Winger, left winger or a Forward (association football)#Inside forward, forward for Saudi Pro Le ...

and

Steven Berghuis Steven Berghuis (born 19 December 1991) is a Dutch professional association football, footballer who plays for Eredivisie club AFC Ajax, Ajax and the Netherlands national football team, Netherlands national team. He can play as either a Forward ...

, Hato was appointed as one of the team's vice-captains. On 14 December 2023, he captained Ajax against

AEK Athens A.E.K. (; Athlitikí Énosis Konstantinoupόleos, ''Athletic Union of Constantinople'') is a major Greek multi-sport club based in Nea Filadelfeia, Attica. The club is more commonly known in European competitions as A.E.K. Athens. Establishe ...

in the

Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

, becoming the club's youngest-ever captain in a European match at 17 years and 282 days old. In recognition of his rapid development and importance, Hato signed a new contract extension with Ajax on 12 March 2024, keeping him at the club until June 2028. Hato continued his role as a key defender in the 2024–25 season under new manager

Francesco Farioli Francesco Farioli (; born 10 April 1989) is an Italian professional football coach who last managed the Dutch football club Ajax. Farioli started his coaching career in Turkey with spells at Fatih Karagümrük and Alanyaspor. He then had one se ...

, playing primarily at centre-back but also providing cover at left-back. He contributed offensively as well, scoring twice in the Eredivisie and once in the

UEFA Europa League The UEFA Europa League (UEL), usually known simply as the Europa League, is an annual association football, football club competition organised since 1971 by the UEFA, Union of European Football Associations (UEFA) for eligible European footb ...

by mid-March 2025. At the end of the season, he was named Eredivisie Talent of the Year.

International career

Born in Rotterdam, Hato is of Curaçaoan, Cape Verdean and Dutch descent. In November 2021, he was included in the Dutch under-16 squad. He became captain of the under-16 Dutch team in 2022. After brief spells with the U17 and U21 teams, Hato was called up to the senior

Netherlands , Terminology of the Low Countries, informally Holland, is a country in Northwestern Europe, with Caribbean Netherlands, overseas territories in the Caribbean. It is the largest of the four constituent countries of the Kingdom of the Nether ...

squad for

UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying The UEFA Euro 2024 qualifying tournament was a football competition that was played from March 2023 to March 2024 to determine the 23 UEFA member men's national teams that would join the automatically qualified host team Germany in the UEFA Eur ...

matches against

Republic of Ireland Ireland ( ), also known as the Republic of Ireland (), is a country in Northwestern Europe, north-western Europe consisting of 26 of the 32 Counties of Ireland, counties of the island of Ireland, with a population of about 5.4 million. ...

and

Gibraltar Gibraltar ( , ) is a British Overseas Territories, British Overseas Territory and British overseas cities, city located at the southern tip of the Iberian Peninsula, on the Bay of Gibraltar, near the exit of the Mediterranean Sea into the A ...

in November 2023. He made his debut on 21 November 2023 as a half-time substitute for

Virgil van Dijk Virgil van Dijk (; born 8 July 1991) is a Dutch professional footballer who plays as a centre-back for and captains both club Liverpool and the Netherlands national team. Widely regarded as one of the best defenders of his generation and ...

in the 6–0 win against Gibraltar. Following his debut, Hato continued to be part of the senior setup, earning four more caps during 2024. His sixth cap came as a substitute in the UEFA Nations League Finals quarter-final second leg against

Spain Spain, or the Kingdom of Spain, is a country in Southern Europe, Southern and Western Europe with territories in North Africa. Featuring the Punta de Tarifa, southernmost point of continental Europe, it is the largest country in Southern Eur ...

on 23 March 2025.

Career statistics

Club

International

Honours

Individual * Eredivisie Talent of the Year: 2024–25 * Abdelhak Nouri Trophy:

2022–23 The dash is a punctuation mark consisting of a long horizontal line. It is similar in appearance to the hyphen but is longer and sometimes higher from the baseline. The most common versions are the endash , generally longer than the hyphen ...

Talent of the Month: August 2023

References

External links

Profile
at the Royal Dutch Football Association website (in Dutch) * {{DEFAULTSORT:Hato, Jorrel 2006 births Living people Footballers from Rotterdam Dutch men's footballers Dutch people of Curaçao descent Dutch sportspeople of Cape Verdean descent Men's association football defenders Men's association football central defenders Jong Ajax players AFC Ajax players Eredivisie players Eerste Divisie players Netherlands men's youth international footballers Netherlands men's under-21 international footballers Netherlands men's international footballers 21st-century Dutch sportsmen