Highlighted: Van Persie Returns to Feyenoord Sooner Than Expected

Last summer, Robin van Persie took on his first coaching job in professional football at sc Heerenveen. His tenure had its ups and downs. He left the club in ninth place in the Eredivisie—a respectable position, though the gap to 15th-placed Heracles Almelo was only three points. Heerenveen struggled in recent weeks, collecting just three points from their last five league matches (three draws, two defeats), with tough fixtures against AZ and PSV ahead. Additionally, only three teams have conceded more goals than sc Heerenveen this season (42), as shown in the table below.

Despite Robin van Persie’s attacking philosophy, Heerenveen struggled to convert their play into goals—only five teams scored fewer than their tally of 27. However, his side applied high pressure on opponents, as reflected in the stats: only PSV recorded more High Turnovers (204) than Heerenveen (194) this season, as shown in the table below. A High Turnover is a possession win in open play within 40 meters of the opponent’s goal.

Robin van Persie last sat on the bench as sc Heerenveen’s head coach on February 16 and will make his debut as Feyenoord’s boss on March 1. That means just 12 days separate his final game with Heerenveen and his first with Feyenoord. As shown in the table below, only four managers in Eredivisie history have made a quicker transition between two clubs, with Ronald Koeman holding the record at just one day between coaching Vitesse and Ajax in 2001.