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Jelle Van Damme (born 10 October 1983 in Lokeren) is a Belgian footballer currently on the books of Anderlecht. He can play as a central defender or a left back. Van Damme also plays with Belgium.

[edit] Club career

He started his career at Beveren, before he made a short move to neighbour club Lokeren where he played in the youth teams. He then signed to Germinal Beerschot, a Jupiler League team linked with Ajax Amsterdam. The Dutch team offered him a try-out which started in February 2002. In the summer of 2002 Van Damme moved permanently to the Amsterdam club where he showed promise in the Dutch Cup. In the 2002-03 season, he played in the UEFA Champions League and started as a regular player in the squad but he broke his toe in November 2002. The next season he helped Ajax qualifying for the Champions League Group Stage but he had few chances to play in the first team, which led him to sign for Southampton in the FA Premier League in the summer of 2004. In England, he only played 6 matches for the whole season which saw the relegation of Southampton to the Coca Cola Championship.

Van Damme subsequently moved on a loan basis to Werder Bremen in Germany though Anderlecht showed interest in the player at that moment. After only 8 matches and a goal in the Bundesliga in 2005-06, Van Damme moved to the Brussels squad, which was officialised on 6 June 2006.

[edit] Claims of racism

Van Damme was sued by Standard Liege center back Oguchi Onyewu for allegedly calling Onyewu a "dirty ape" during the Belgian league play-off match between Anderlecht and Standard Liege.^[1]

[edit] International career

He made his debut in the national team on 29 March 2003 in a match against Croatia.

[edit] Honours

Ajax

• Eredivisie: 2004

Anderlecht

• Belgian League: 2007
• Belgian Cup: 2008
• Belgian Super Cup: 2006

[edit] References

[edit] External links

• Jelle Van Damme (incomplete) career stats at Soccerbase
• (French) Anderlecht official website - Van Damme moves to Anderlecht
• (French) L'équipe official website - Van Damme stats
• (French) UEFA official website - Van Damme portrayed