Van Persie Leads Heerenveen To 9-1 Defeat To AZ Alkmaar

It was a day to forget for former Arsenal and Manchester United striker Robin Van Persie as his coaching career took a huge hit,following Heerenveen‘s 9-1 loss to AS Alkmaar in the Dutch Eredivisie on Saturday.

The former Netherlands international appointed head coach of Heerenveen earlier this summer.

Van Persie’s Heerenveen have only won one of their four games this season and sit 12th on the 18-team Eredivisie standings.

Heerenveen finished 11th in the Eredivisie last season before deciding to appoint him as head coach.

In May 2020, one year after his retirement, Van Persie became an assistant-coach to Dick Advocaat at his former club Feyenoord, where he would help train the club’s strikers in an unofficial role.

In May 2021, Feyenoord announced that Van Persie would officially join the club from the start of the 2021–22 season in a supporting role as a field coach, while also becoming the co-head coach at the club’s under-16 team.

For the 2023–24 season, he was promoted to co-head coach of the club’s under-18 team, as well as the U-19 team in the 2023–24 UEFA Youth League.
Feyenoord under-18 won the 2023 Mladen Ramljak Memorial Tournament with him as trainer.

Then on 17 May 2024, Dutch side Heerenveen appointed Van Persie as head coach by signing a two-year contract.