Editing Jaap Stam (section)

==Club career==
===Early career===
Born in [[Kampen, Overijssel|Kampen]],<ref name=Hugman/> [[Overijssel]], Stam started his career with local amateur football club [[DOS Kampen]]. On 15 August 1992, Stam made his professional debut for [[PEC Zwolle|FC Zwolle]] in a 1–1 draw against [[Heracles Almelo|SC Heracles]] in the [[Eerste Divisie]]. He moved to [[Eredivisie]] club [[SC Cambuur|Cambuur Leeuwarden]] for the following season, but was relegated in his first season. Two seasons at Cambuur earned him a transfer to Eredivisie club [[Willem II (football club)|Willem II]]. At Willem II, he immediately impressed at the Eredivisie level, which meant his final breakthrough.

Stam transferred to [[PSV Eindhoven]] where he won the [[KNVB Cup]] in 1995–96, his first professional trophy. He won the [[1996–97 Eredivisie]], as well as the [[Johan Cruyff Shield]]. Individually, Stam won the VVCS Footballer of the Year award.

===Manchester United===
In April 1998, Stam became the then [[World football transfer record|most expensive]] defender in history when [[Manchester United F.C.|Manchester United]] bought him on a five-year contract for [[Pound sterling|£]]10.6&nbsp;million. PSV initially valued him at £15 million, but accepted the lower offer after Stam waived his right to 15% of the fee.<ref>{{cite news |title=Stam the man as Reds fork out record £10m |url=https://www.independent.ie/sport/stam-the-man-as-reds-fork-out-record-10m-26191468.html |access-date=10 August 2021 |work=[[The Irish Independent]] |date=27 April 1998}}</ref>

Stam spent three seasons at Manchester United, during which time United won three [[Premier League]] titles, one [[FA Cup]], the [[Intercontinental Cup (1960–2004)|Intercontinental Cup]] and the [[UEFA Champions League]]. He scored his only goal for the club in a 6–2 away victory against [[Leicester City F.C.|Leicester City]].<ref>{{cite news |first=Ken |last=Jones |title=O'Neill faces up to Premiership's harsh reality |url=https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football-oneill-faces-up-to-premierships-harsh-reality-1074789.html |work=[[The Independent]] |location=London |date=16 January 1999 |access-date=4 November 2009 }}</ref>

In the [[1999 UEFA Champions League final]], Stam's centre-back partner [[Ronny Johnsen]] conceded a free kick on the edge of the penalty area when he brought down [[Bayern Munich]]'s [[Carsten Jancker]] in the first few minutes. [[Mario Basler]] scored the free kick and Bayern held the lead for 85 minutes before United scored two goals in added time to win the tournament.<ref>{{cite news |title=United crowned kings of Europe |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sport/football/353842.stm |access-date=26 May 2024 |publisher=BBC Sport |date=26 May 1999}}</ref>

Early in the [[2001–02 in English football|2001–02]] season, Stam was controversially sold to [[SS Lazio|Lazio]] in Italy after Manchester United manager [[Alex Ferguson|Sir Alex Ferguson]] was reportedly upset by allegations Stam had made in his autobiography ''Head to Head'' about the club. Stam made numerous statements in the book about his views on opposing players, and alleged that Ferguson's approach to buy him was done without the permission of PSV.<ref>{{cite news |url=http://observer.guardian.co.uk/osm/story/0,,543938,00.html |work=The Guardian |location=London |title=Interview: Jaap Stam |access-date=5 May 2010 }}</ref> Later, [[Simon Kuper]] reported that contrary to initial belief, Ferguson had noticed that Stam's tackling numbers were declining and simply assumed the defender was past his playing peak.<ref name="Soccernomics">{{cite book |title=Soccernomics: Why England Loses, Why Spain, Germany, and Brazil Win, and Why the U.S., Japan, Australia, Turkey—And Even Iraq—Are Destined to Become the Kings of the World's Most Popular Sport |last=Kuper |first=Simon |author-link=Simon Kuper |author2=Szymanski, Stefan |year=2012 |publisher=[[Nation Books]] |location=New York, NY |isbn=978-1-56858-701-1 |page=[https://archive.org/details/soccernomicswhye0000kupe/page/148/mode/2up 148] |url-access=registration |url=https://archive.org/details/soccernomicswhye0000kupe/page/148/mode/2up }}</ref> [[Laurent Blanc]] was signed as his replacement.<ref>{{cite news |title=Man Utd seal Blanc deal |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/teams/m/man_utd/1516683.stm |access-date=26 May 2024 |publisher=BBC Sport |date=30 August 2001}}</ref>

In 2007, however, Ferguson described the decision to sell Stam as an error: "At the time he had just come back from an achilles injury and we thought he had just lost a little bit. We got the offer from Lazio, £16.5m for a centre back who was 29. It was an offer I couldn't refuse. But in playing terms it was a mistake. He is still playing for Ajax at a really good level."<ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.independent.co.uk/sport/football/news-and-comment/ferguson-will-never-talk-to-the-bbc-again-401487.html|title=Ferguson will never talk to the BBC again|date=6 September 2007|access-date=29 November 2011|work=The Independent|location=London|first=Nick|last=Harris}}</ref> On the financial report, Manchester United announced the fee was £15.3&nbsp;million;<ref>{{cite web |url=http://production.investis.com/manutd/findata/reports/anrep01/chstat.pdf |title=Homepage |access-date=6 July 2011 |archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20120323012430/http://production.investis.com/manutd/findata/reports/anrep01/chstat.pdf |archive-date=23 March 2012}}</ref> Lazio declared the fee was £16&nbsp;million.<ref>{{cite press release|url=http://www.sslazio.it/news/visualizza_news.asp?idnews=502&titolo=2|archive-url=https://web.archive.org/web/20020112215436/http://www.sslazio.it/news/visualizza_news.asp?idnews=502&titolo=2|archive-date=12 January 2002|title=Stam alla Lazio|date=26 August 2001|access-date=24 September 2017|publication-place=Rome|publisher=SS Lazio|language=it}}</ref>

===Lazio===
During his time with Lazio, Stam was found guilty of having the banned steroid [[nandrolone]] in his system following a [[Serie A]] game,<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/1660605.stm|title=Stam suspension upheld|date=17 November 2001|access-date=9 October 2009|publisher=BBC}}</ref> and received a five-month ban, which was eventually reduced by a month after appeals.<ref>{{cite news|url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport2/hi/football/europe/1853735.stm|title=Stam cleared to return|date=4 March 2002|access-date=9 October 2009|publisher=BBC}}</ref> He was the second Lazio player suspended in 2001, after [[Fernando Couto]]. 
In his last season at the club, he won the [[Coppa Italia]].

===AC Milan===
Stam joined [[AC Milan]] after [[UEFA Euro 2004]]. He reached his second Champions League final with the ''Rossoneri'' in [[2005 UEFA Champions League Final|2005]], but was a runner-up after his team was defeated by [[Liverpool F.C.|Liverpool]] in a [[Penalty shoot-out (association football)|penalty shoot-out]].<ref>{{cite news |title=AC Milan 3–3 Liverpool (aet) |publisher=BBC Sport |date=25 May 2005 |url=http://news.bbc.co.uk/sport1/hi/football/europe/4573159.stm |access-date=15 April 2007 }}</ref>

===Ajax===
On 30 January 2006, it was announced that he would return to the Eredivisie and play for Ajax, where he signed a two-year contract for a €2.5&nbsp;million transfer fee. Stam was named team captain upon his arrival at the club.<ref>{{Cite web|url=https://english.ajax.nl/streams/ajax-now/jaap-stam-captains-ajax.htm|title=Jaap Stam captains Ajax|website=Ajax English|language=en-US|access-date=2020-03-15}}</ref> In his first season, he won both the Johan Cruyff Shield and the KNVB Cup; another Johan Cruyff Shield was added to his trophies at the start of the [[2007–08 AFC Ajax season|2007–08 season]].

On 29 October 2007, Stam announced his retirement from professional football with immediate effect after playing six league games for Ajax in the [[2007–08 Eredivisie|2007–08 league]] season. His final game was in a 0–0 draw against [[N.E.C. (football club)|NEC]] on 20 October 2007.