Jaap Stam

Jaap Stam
Personal information
Full name	Jakob Stam
Date of birth	July 17, 1972 (1972-07-17) (age 37)
Place of birth	Kampen, Netherlands
Height	1.91 m (6 ft 3 in)
Playing position	Defender
Youth clubs
0000–1992	DOS Kampen
Senior clubs1
Years	Club	App (Gls)*
1992–1993 1993–1995 1995 1996–1998 1998–2001 2001–2004 2004–2006 2006–2007	FC Zwolle Cambuur Leeuwarden Willem II PSV Manchester United Lazio A.C. Milan Ajax Total	032 0(1) 066 0(3) 019 0(1) 076 (12) 079 0(1) 070 0(3) 042 0(1) 031 0(1) 415 (23)
National team2
1996–2004	Netherlands	067 0(3)
1 Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only and correct as of 22:54, 9 February 2008 (UTC). 2 National team caps and goals correct as of 22:54, 9 February 2008 (UTC). * Appearances (Goals)

Jakob "Jaap" Stam (born July 17, 1972 in Kampen) is a retired Dutch football player who was twice voted best defender in the 1999 and 2000 UEFA Champions League. ^[1] He currently works as a scout for his former club Manchester United F.C., responsible for scouting in South America.^[2][3]

Club career

Early career

Stam started his career with local amateur football club DOS Kampen. On August 15, 1992, Stam made his professional debut for FC Zwolle in a 1-1 draw against SC Heracles in the Eerste Divisie. He became a first team regular right away and moved to Eredivisie side Cambuur Leeuwarden for the following season, but relegated in his first season which brought him back into the Eerste Divisie. Two seasons at Cambuur earned him a transfer to Eredivisie side Willem II. At Willem II he impressed at the Eredivisie level straight away, which meant his final breakthrough. A shock 1-0 home victory over Ajax led to Stam's transfer to PSV Eindhoven in the same season in which they eventually won the KNVB Cup, his first professional trophy.

PSV

Stam was a key player for PSV in the 1996-97 season, as the team won the Eredivisie Championship and the Johan Cruijff-schaal (the Dutch Super Cup); Stam won the VVCS Footballer of the Year award.

In 1998, Stam became the then most expensive Dutch football player in history and the most expensive defender in history, when Manchester United bought him for £10.6 million.

Manchester United

Stam spent three seasons at Manchester United, during which time United won three Premierships, one FA Cup, the Intercontinental Cup and the UEFA Champions League.

During the 2001-02 season, Stam was controversially sold to S.S. Lazio in Italy, after Manchester United manager Sir Alex Ferguson was reportedly furious with allegations Stam had made in his autobiography Head to Head about himself and the club. Laurent Blanc was signed as his replacement.

However, in May 2008, Alex Ferguson revealed that, following surgery, Stam seemed to have lost "a yard of pace" and (having checked with then-assistant manager, Steve McClaren) his transfer to Lazio was completed.

Lazio

During his time with Lazio, Stam was found guilty of having the banned steroid nandrolone in his system following a Serie A game, and received a 5-month ban, which was eventually reduced by a month after appeals.

In his last season at the club, he won the Coppa d'Italia with Lazio.

AC Milan

Stam joined AC Milan after Euro 2004. On January 30, 2006, it was announced that he would return to the Eredivisie and play for Ajax, where he signed a two-year contract. This came as a surprise to many, as it was expected he would return to either his former club PSV Eindhoven, or SC Heerenveen.

Ajax

Stam was immediately named team captain upon his arrival in Amsterdam. In his first season, he won both the Johan Cruijff-schaal and the KNVB Cup, and another Johan Cruijff-schaal was added at the start of the 2007-08 season.

On October 29, 2007, he announced his immediate retirement from professional football.^[4]

Post career

As of October 2008, Stam had returned to Manchester United as a scout for the club, responsible for most of South America.^[2][3][5]

International career

Stam made his debut for The Netherlands on April 24, 1996, in the 1-0 defeat to Germany. He was also an important player in the Dutch team that finished fourth in the 1998 FIFA World Cup

During the Euro 2000, he reached another semi finals with the Dutch team, hosted in his home country and Belgium. Stam missed an important penalty kick in the penalty shootout in the semi-finals, which led to defeat against Italy.

Stam reached his third semi finals in an international competition with his nation during Euro 2004 in Portugal and retired from international football after the tournament. The reason for his international retirement was that he wanted to focus on his new team AC Milan and his family.

In total he played 67 matches for the Netherlands, scoring 3 goals.

Honours

PSV Eindhoven

• KNVB Cup: 1997
• Johan Cruijff-schaal: 1996, 1997, 1998
• Eredivisie: 1997-98

Manchester United

• UEFA Champions League: 1998-99
• Premier League: 1998-99, 1999-00, 2000-01
• FA Cup: 1998-99
• Intercontinental Cup: 1999

Lazio

• Coppa Italia: 2004
• Italian Super Cup: 2004

Ajax

• Johan Cruijff-schaal: 2006, 2007
• KNVB Cup: 2007

Individual

• Dutch Footballer of the Year: 1997
• Dutch Golden Shoe: 1997
• UEFA Champions League Best Defender: 1998-99, 1999-00

Career statistics

^{[6] [7]}

References

External links

• FootballDatabase provides Jaap Stam's profile and stats
• Official Ajax profile
• Voetbal International profile
• Jaap Stam profile and stats at Wereld van Oranje (Dutch)

• World Footballer of the Year 1999 12th
• Voetbal International website and 2007/2008 presentation magazine

Jaap Stam - Navigation boxes and awards Netherlands squad – UEFA Euro 1996 1 Van der Sar • 2 Reiziger • 3 Blind • 4 Seedorf • 5 Stam • 6 R. de Boer • 7 Taument • 8 Davids • 9 Kluivert • 10 Bergkamp • 11 Hoekstra • 12 Winter • 13 Numan • 14 Richard Witschge • 15 Bogarde • 16 De Goey • 17 Cruyff • 18 De Kock • 19 Mulder • 20 Cocu • 21 Hesp • 22 Veldman • Coach: Hiddink Netherlands squad – 1998 FIFA World Cup Fourth Place 1 van der Sar • 2 Reiziger • 3 Stam • 4 F. de Boer • 5 Numan • 6 Jonk • 7 R. de Boer • 8 Bergkamp • 9 Kluivert • 10 Seedorf • 11 Cocu • 12 Zenden • 13 Ooijer • 14 Overmars • 15 Bogarde • 16 Davids • 17 van Hooijdonk • 18 de Goey • 19 van Bronckhorst • 20 Winter • 21 Hasselbaink • 22 Hesp • Coach: Hiddink Netherlands squad – UEFA Euro 2000 semi-finalists 1 Van der Sar • 2 Reiziger • 3 Stam • 4 F. de Boer • 5 Zenden • 6 Seedorf • 7 Cocu • 8 Davids • 9 Kluivert • 10 Bergkamp • 11 Overmars • 12 Van Bronckhorst • 13 Konterman • 14 Van Vossen • 15 Bosvelt • 16 R. de Boer • 17 Van Hooijdonk • 18 De Goey • 19 Numan • 20 Winter • 21 Makaay • 22 Westerveld • Coach: Rijkaard Netherlands squad – UEFA Euro 2004 semi-finalists 1 van der Sar • 2 Reiziger • 3 Stam • 4 Bouma • 5 van Bronckhorst • 6 Cocu • 7 van der Meyde • 8 Davids • 9 Kluivert • 10 van Nistelrooy • 11 van der Vaart • 12 Makaay • 13 Westerveld • 14 Sneijder • 15 F. de Boer • 16 Overmars • 17 van Hooijdonk • 18 Heitinga • 19 Robben • 20 Seedorf • 21 Bosvelt • 22 Zenden • 23 Waterreus • Coach: Advocaat Awards and achievements Preceded by Ronald de Boer Dutch Footballer of the Year 1997 Succeeded by Ruud van Nistelrooy Preceded by Danny Blind Dutch Golden Shoe Winner 1997 Succeeded by Edwin van der Sar Preceded by Fernando Hierro UEFA Champions League Best Defender 1998-1999 1999-2000 Succeeded by Roberto Ayala