Michael Jansen is a Dutch

Netherlands

The Netherlands is a constituent country of the Kingdom of the Netherlands, located mainly in North-West Europe and with several islands in the Caribbean. Mainland Netherlands borders the North Sea to the north and west, Belgium to the south, and Germany to the east, and shares maritime borders...

 footballer who currently plays for Go Ahead Eagles

Go Ahead Eagles

The Go Ahead Eagles are a football club from Deventer, Netherlands, currently playing in the Eerste Divisie. The club's home stadium is De Adelaarshorst. To date, the club has won the national championship four times...

.

Vitesse and cardiac arrhythmias

Born in Nijmegen, Jansen is a defender and made his debut in professional football with Vitesse in the 2002–03 season. He was considered a big talent and his development was reportedly closely watched by Ajax Amsterdam

Ajax Amsterdam

Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax , also referred to as AFC Ajax, Ajax Amsterdam or simply Ajax , is a professional football club from Amsterdam, Netherlands...

 among others. On May 15, 2005 in a match versus Ajax

Ajax Amsterdam

Amsterdamsche Football Club Ajax , also referred to as AFC Ajax, Ajax Amsterdam or simply Ajax , is a professional football club from Amsterdam, Netherlands...

, Jansen lost consciousness after suffering cardiac arrhythmia. He recovered but has to live with an ICD

Implantable cardioverter-defibrillator

An implantable cardioverter-defibrillator is a small battery-powered electrical impulse generator which is implanted in patients who are at risk of sudden cardiac death due to ventricular fibrillation and ventricular tachycardia. The device is programmed to detect cardiac arrhythmia and correct it...

 under his skin. He would not play any match for Vitesse after regaining fitness, but was still considered a squad member.

Life after Vitesse

In January 2008, Vitesse and Jansen parted their ways, and on January 18, 2008, Jansen signed a 6 month contract with Feyenoord

Feyenoord Rotterdam

Feyenoord is a Dutch professional football club located in Rotterdam. Along with Ajax and PSV Eindhoven, Feyenoord is one of the "big three" clubs in the Netherlands. These three clubs and Utrecht and Roda JC are the only clubs never to have been relegated from the Dutch first division...

, with an option for another 3 years. Feyenoord has loaned out the player to fellow Eredivisie

Eredivisie

The Eredivisie is the highest football league in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956 two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is currently ranked the ninth best league in Europe by UEFA....

 side De Graafschap

De Graafschap

De Graafschap is a professional football club from Doetinchem, Netherlands. It was formed on 1 February 1954 and they play their home games at the "De Vijverberg" stadium. Their current home ground stands on where the old pitch used to be located and was opened on 12 August 2000...

, to let him get use to professional football again. In Summer 2008, ambitious Jupiler League-side, SC Cambuur-Leeuwarden, signed Jansen. After one year, FC Groningen noticed that Jansen played well enough to return to the Eredivisie

Eredivisie

The Eredivisie is the highest football league in the Netherlands. The league was founded in 1956 two years after the start of professional football in the Netherlands. It is currently ranked the ninth best league in Europe by UEFA....

. In January 2010 Groningen decided to loan him to Go Ahead Eagles

Go Ahead Eagles

The Go Ahead Eagles are a football club from Deventer, Netherlands, currently playing in the Eerste Divisie. The club's home stadium is De Adelaarshorst. To date, the club has won the national championship four times...

to get him more playing time since he had not been able to earn himself a place in Groningen's starting IX.

External links

• Career stats – Voetbal International