Ex-Premier League star sentenced to seven years in prison for part in €41.5m cocaine smuggling operation

The 41-year-old has been charged with plotting to smuggle more than two tons of cocaine into the Netherlands. The Dutch Public Prosecution Service claims that Stam is a major player in that multi-million-pound operation.

There were calls for Stam to be jailed for 13 years, but the judge at Breda courthouse acquitted him of two more serious charges. He has been convicted of trafficking 724 kilos of cocaine, as well as large quantities of MDMA and nitrous oxide.

Stam and his accomplices stand accused of smuggling drugs from South America, with a money-laundering racket valued at £2.2m. Stam admits to being involved in a plot to bring 20 kilos of cocaine into the German city of Frankfurt from Brazil. He claimed that his payment for that was “an amount worth one kilo” and that he regrets his involvement with any criminal ringleaders.

Stam is said to have become involved with serious crime following his retirement from professional football in 2016. He was on the books at NAC Breda at that point, having returned to his roots following spells with Wigan and Standard Liege.

He formed part of Steve McClaren’s Eredivisie title-winning squad at FC Twente in 2010, before spending three years with Wigan between 2010 and 2013. He missed the Latics’ FA Cup triumph in 2011 with a broken leg and has been informed that - alongside his custodial sentence - he must repay €1.7m of profits that were raised through illegal activity.