Stijn Schaars
Schaars in 2009
Personal information
Full name Stephanus Johannes Schaars[1]
Date of birth (1984-01-11) 11 January 1984
Place of birth Gendt, Netherlands
Height 1.82 m (6 ft 0 in)
Position(s) Midfielder
Youth career
VV De Bataven
2000–2003 Vitesse
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
2003–2005 Vitesse 44 (4)
2005–2011 AZ 129 (7)
2011–2013 Sporting CP 37 (3)
2013–2016 PSV 41 (0)
2014–2016 Jong PSV 6 (1)
2016–2019 Heerenveen 58 (4)
Total 315 (19)
International career
2003–2006 Netherlands U21 20 (1)
2006–2016 Netherlands 24 (0)
Medal record
Men's football
Representing  Netherlands
FIFA World Cup
Runner-up2010
UEFA European Under-21 Championship
Winner2006
*Club domestic league appearances and goals

Stephanus Johannes "Stijn" Schaars (Dutch pronunciation: [ˈstɛin ˈsxaːrs]; born 11 January 1984) is a Dutch former professional footballer who played as a midfielder.

Club career

Vitesse

Born in Gendt, Gelderland, Schaars was first discovered by Dutch coach Theo Bos, who went on to manage Schaars' U13 Vitesse youth team.[2]

Following successful development in Vitesse's youth team, he was promoted to the main squad for the final few games of the 2002–03 Eredivisie. He made his debut for the club on 9 March 2003 in a 4–1 away defeat to FC Utrecht. The following season he became a regular in Vitesse's side at the age of 19. In his first full season he played 21 league games. In the 2004–05 Eredivisie, he helped his club reach a credible seventh place in the league contributing four goals in 21 appearances.

AZ

Schaars with AZ in 2011

In the summer of 2005, he was signed by AZ. In his first full season at AZ, he suffered a serious hip injury at the beginning of the 2005–06 Eredivisie season which kept him out for several months. He returned in February 2006 against FC Utrecht in a 2–3 defeat. In the next season he missed most of it due to sustaining a number of serious injuries which also kept him out for the 2007–08 Eredivisie season.

His return came in the 2008–09 Eredivisie season, where he played a pivotal role in midfield along with David Mendes da Silva, Demy de Zeeuw and Maarten Martens to claim AZ's second league title in their history. Following the capture of the league title, he helped AZ claim their very first Johan Cruijff Shield in the 2009 edition of the tournament where AZ defeated Heerenveen. In the 2009–10 season he was named team captain of the side in which he held that position until the end of 2010–11 Eredivisie where he left the club in the summer after six seasons to join Sporting Lisbon of Portugal. During his time with AZ, the Dutch media frequently compared him to English midfielder Steven Gerrard due to his strong presence in midfield, his vision and his technical ability.[3]

Sporting CP

Schaars signed for the Portuguese side Sporting CP on 16 June 2011 on a transfer worth 850,000 euros.[4] He was one of many new players bought by Luís Godinho Lopes under the management of Domingos Paciência who also bought other foreign players like Alberto Rodríguez, André Carrillo, Elias Trindade, Fabián Rinaudo, Oguchi Onyewu and Ricky van Wolfswinkel.

Under the management of Domingos Paciência and later on in the season Ricardo Sá Pinto he was a regular in Sporting's season. He scored his first goal for the club in a 3–2 away win against Rio Ave.[5] The following matchday, Schaars scored his first goal at Estádio José de Alvalade. He opened the scoresheet in Sporting's 3–0 home win against Vitória de Setúbal.[6] Following excellent displays during his first few months with Sporting, he attracted interest from several big European clubs of which included Barcelona and Olympique de Marseille.[7][8] Despite Sporting having a disappointing domestic club finish where they finished behind FC Porto, Benfica and Braga in the 2011–12 Primeira Liga, Schaars played a pivotal role in Sporting's cup competitions. He helped Sporting reach the 2011–12 UEFA Europa League semi final stage where they lost to Athletic Bilbao, 4–3 on aggregate.[9] Schaars was also part of the side that reached the 2012 Taça de Portugal Final where they lost to Académica de Coimbra, 1–0.[10] Following the 2011–12 season, he was linked with a move to Premier League side Fulham.[11]

Following the start of the 2012–13 Primeira Liga, he suffered an injury, for which he received surgery, which led him to miss several league, cup and European games.[12][13] Schaars returned in Sporting's European away game to Videoton FC on 4 October 2012.[14]

PSV

On 13 July 2013, it was announced that Schaars returned to the Eredivisie by making a transfer to PSV. PSV paid €1.6 million for both Schaars and his teammate Santiago Arias.[15]

Heerenveen

After his contract was not renewed at PSV, Schaars joined Heerenveen in July 2016.[16]

International career

Schaars (right) playing for the Netherlands in 2011

His debut for the national team came on 16 August 2006, as he started in a friendly versus Republic of Ireland which the Netherlands won 4–0. Earlier that year he was the captain of the Dutch side that won the UEFA U-21 Championship 2006.

An ankle injury prevented Schaars from taking part in most of the 2006–07 season and he didn't play a single Eredivisie game during the following season. This effectively ruled out his chances of taking part in EURO 2008 with the Netherlands. Schaars was included in the preliminary squad for the 2010 FIFA World Cup in South Africa.[17] On 27 May 2010, Netherlands manager Bert van Marwijk announced that the player would be part of the final squad of 23 participating in the competition.[18]

Following frequent call ups to the Dutch side's qualification campaign to participate at UEFA Euro 2012, he was selected by manager by Van Marwijk to participate in the tournament finals.[19] At Euro 2012, he did not participate in any of the group stage matches where his nation finished bottom of the group following three defeats to Denmark, Germany and Portugal.[20][21][22]

Career statistics

Club

Sources:[23][24]
Club Season League Cup Continental Other Total
DivisionAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoalsAppsGoals
Vitesse2002–03Eredivisie201000–30
2003–0421010–31251
2004–0521400––214
Total 444200031495
AZ2005–06Eredivisie241106020331
2006–07185237100279
2007–08000000–00
2008–0929040––330
2009–10290316010391
2010–112912080–391
Total 12971242713017112
Sporting CP2011–12Primeira Liga26382160–505
2012–131101140–161
Total 3739320000666
PSV2013–14Eredivisie2702090–380
2014–15200000–20
2015–16120201000150
Total 4104010000550
Jong PSV2014–15Eerste Divisie61–61
Heerenveen2016–17Eredivisie201210020242
2017–18293000000293
2018–1990100000100
Total 584310020635
Career totals 315193085718141029

International

Source:[25]
Dutch national team
YearAppsGoals
200660
200950
201020
201120
201240
201330
201410
201610
Total240

Honours

AZ

PSV

Netherlands U21

References

  1. ↑ "FIFA World Cup South Africa 2010: List of Players: Netherlands" (PDF). FIFA. 12 June 2010. p. 20. Archived from the original (PDF) on 18 October 2019.
  2. ↑ "Theo Bos: "Schaars é um líder dentro e fora de campo"" [Theo Bos: «Schaars is a leader in and ou of the pitch]. Record (in Portuguese). 18 June 2011. Archived from the original on 2 September 2011. Retrieved 15 October 2012.
  3. ↑ "Stijn Schaars comparado a Gerrard" [Stijn Schaars compared to Gerrard]. Record (in Portuguese). 17 June 2011. Archived from the original on 9 November 2013. Retrieved 15 October 2012.
  4. ↑ "Stijn Schaars é o novo reforço" [Stijn Schaars is the new reinforcement]. A Bola. abola.pt. 16 June 2011. Retrieved 25 June 2011.
  5. ↑ "Rio Ave 2–3 Sporting". ZeroZero (in Portuguese). 19 September 2011. Retrieved 15 October 2012.
  6. ↑ "Sporting 3–0 V. Setúbal". ZeroZero (in Portuguese). 24 September 2011. Retrieved 15 October 2012.
  7. ↑ "Barcelona segue Schaars" [Barcelona following Schaars]. Record (in Portuguese). 1 December 2011. Archived from the original on 31 August 2012. Retrieved 15 October 2012.
  8. ↑ "Schaars apontado ao Marselha" [Schaars followed by Marseille]. Record (in Portuguese). 5 December 2011. Archived from the original on 3 September 2012. Retrieved 15 October 2012.
  9. ↑ "Athletic leave it late as Llorente sets up final date". UEFA.com. 26 April 2012.
  10. ↑ "J(Amor) de Briosa (1x0)" [Jamor of the Briosa (1x0)]. ZeroZero. 20 May 2012. Retrieved 15 October 2012.
  11. ↑ "Jol quer Schaars no Fulham" [Jol wants Schaars at Fulham]. Record (in Portuguese). 12 June 2012. Archived from the original on 31 August 2012. Retrieved 15 October 2012.
  12. ↑ "Schaars: "Soube imediatamente que algo estava errado"" [Schaars: "I knew immediately that something was wrong"]. Record (in Portuguese). 29 August 2012. Archived from the original on 30 August 2012. Retrieved 15 October 2012.
  13. ↑ "A lesão de Schaars" [Schaars' injury]. Record (in Portuguese). 29 August 2012. Retrieved 15 October 2012.
  14. ↑ "Videoton 3–0 Sporting". ZeroZero (in Portuguese). 4 October 2012. Retrieved 17 October 2012.
  15. ↑ "PSV betaalt Sporting 1,6 miljoen voor Schaars en Arias". Voetbalprimeur (in Dutch). 13 July 2013. Retrieved 13 July 2013.
  16. ↑ sc Heerenveen versterkt zich met Stijn Schaars - Heerenveen (in Dutch)
  17. ↑ "Van Marwijk trims Dutch squad to 27". AFP. 15 May 2010. Retrieved 6 June 2010.
  18. ↑ "Holland coach Bert van Marwijk finalises World Cup squad". The Guardian. Press Association. 27 May 2010. Retrieved 6 June 2010.
  19. ↑ "Bouma and Willems make final Dutch squad". UEFA.com. 26 May 2012.
  20. ↑ "Denmark ride storm to shock Netherlands". UEFA.com. 9 June 2012.
  21. ↑ "Gomez double leaves Dutch in peril". UEFA.com. 13 June 2012.
  22. ↑ "Rampant Ronaldo fires Portugal through". UEFA.com. 17 June 2012.
  23. ↑ "Stijn Schaars Voetbal International profile". Voetbal International.
  24. ↑ "Stijn Schaars » Club matches". worldfootball.net. Retrieved 9 May 2019.
  25. ↑ "Stijn Schaars Voetbal International profile". Voetbal International.
  26. ↑ "Netherlands 3–0 Ukraine: Overview". UEFA. Retrieved 9 July 2023.
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