Jaap Stam

Where is Jaap Stam now?

A rock at the back, former Manchester United defender Jaap Stam retired from playing in 2007 after a swansong season back in his native Holland with Ajax.

Starting his professional career in 1992 with Dutch side FC Zwolle, he went onto make 553 first-team appearances over a 16-year period for eight sides including Man United where he won three Premier League titles, the FA Cup and the UEFA Champions League and PSV where he won the Eredivisie and the KNVB Cup.

Adored by the Man United fans for his non-nonsense displays on the pitch, they even created a song for him, ‘Jip Jaap Stam is a big Dutchman, get past him if you f*****g can. Try a little trick and he’ll make you look a d***, Jip Jaap, Jaap Stam.’

He was controversially sold to Lazio in 2001 at the peak of his career after comments he made in his autobiography about manager Alex Ferguson tapping him up whilst he was still a registered player at PSV Eindhoven.

On the international scene he was a regular player for the Netherlands winning 67 caps and representing them at the 1998 FIFA World Cup finals as well as the 2000 and 2004 UEFA European Championships.

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Upon retiring from playing Stam started scouting for Manchester United in South America as well as working at his former club PEC Zwolle in an assistant manager role.

Just before the 2013-14 season commenced, he was appointed as assistant coach and defensive trainer for AFC Ajax’s first team on a three-year contract before working as assistant coach of their reserves side.

In 2016 he returned to England to manage Championship side Reading where he guided them to the Championship play-off final in his first season but unfortunately losing out to Huddersfield Town.

Off the back of Reading’s success on the pitch he signed a new two-year contract keeping him at the club until 2019 but after a terrible run of form during the middle of the 2017/18 season which left his side near the bottom of the table, he was sacked in March 2018.

He wasn’t out of football for too long and returned to his native Netherlands as manager of PEC Zwolle in December 2018 but after just a few months into the job, Dutch giants Feyenoord announced that he would replace former international team-mate Giovanni van Bronckhorst as their new manager at the end of the 2018-19 season.

Unfortunately it didn’t work out for Stam at the Dutch giants and he resigned from his post after just seven months.

He made a return to football in May 2020 when he joined Major League Soccer side FC Cincinnati as head coach but was sacked in September 2021 after a run of six defeats in seven games left his side second-from-bottom in the table.

Follow on Twitter @JaapStam6

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#One2Eleven (4-3-3 Formation)

Jaap Stam was a guest on Sky Sports programme The Fantasy Football Club in September 2015 where he picked the eleven best players he had ever played with in their #One2Eleven section of the show.

Jaap Stam One2Eleven

GK – Edwin van der Sar – a tough one between Edwin and Peter Schmeichel but I have chosed van der Sar as he is not only strong but very good with his feet.

RB – Cafu – this was an easy pick for me. Cafu would take the initiative and go and attack and then come back and defend just as quick.

CB – Jaap Stam – of course I am going to pick myself. Everyone is aware of my qualities and what I can do.

CB – Alessandro Nesta – we formed a very good partnership in defence whilst at AC Milan. When you play with experienced players at the highest level you don’t have to say what the other one has to do.

LB – Paolo Maldini – a great person who was really good with the young players. A really nice person to work with.

CM – Roy Keane – everyone team needs a player like this and Keane was so important for the team. He used to play it simple and just make it look easy.

RM – Clarence Seedorf – very strong on the ball and great stamina. Great at one-two’s whilst in possession and could score great goals too.

LM – Paul Scholes – one of the most underestimated players in the world and could’ve played for Barcelona.

RF – Dennis Bergkamp – a world-class player who was very important for Dutch football because he played the way we wanted to see it played.

CF – Ronaldo – played with him at PSV Eindhoven when he was very young but you could see that he was going to be a world-class player.

LF – Ryan Giggs – could get past players so easily and score great goals too. His crosses were always spot on too.


Jaap Stam: Premier League Statistics

NationalityDutch
PositionDefender
Appearances79
Goals1
Yellow Cards11
Red Cards0
Premier League Teams Played forManchester United

Statistics courtesy of www.premierleague.com

Last Updated on 28 September 2021 by Admin