Ronald Koeman receives Eredivisie Lifetime Achievement award: “A wonderful recognition”

The former player for clubs including FC Groningen, Ajax, PSV, FC Barcelona and Feyenoord looked back on his impressive career during the ceremony together with Toine van Peperstraten and Guus Hiddink.
Special attention was given to his time as both a player and a coach. The programme also featured anecdotes from his brother Erwin Koeman, his son Ronald Koeman Jr., and video messages from John van ’t Schip, Hans Gillhaus, Berry van Aerle, Frank Arnesen, Hans van Breukelen, Shota Arveladze, Graziano Pellè and Frenkie de Jong.

Ronald Koeman was honoured to receive the Eredivisie Lifetime Achievement Award: “Trophies you win on the pitch are, of course, the most beautiful of all. That’s what you play for or coach for. A lifetime achievement award is special in a different way. I’m very proud of it. It’s a truly wonderful recognition of your achievements over the years. Every personal award is a form of appreciation, and it always touches you, no matter what role you are in.”

Koeman received the award from Guus Hiddink. Under Hiddink’s management, Koeman won multiple league titles and the European Cup I as a PSV player. He also took his first steps as a coach under Hiddink, joining the Dutch national team staff as assistant coach in 1998.

“We have a shared history,” Koeman said. “When Martin van Geel (technical manager of Eredivisie CV) called me about the Lifetime Achievement Award and asked me to think about a presenter, I didn’t have to think for long. There are two people who have meant a great deal to me in football. One was Johan Cruyff: as a player, but also in the way he was as a coach. The second was Guus. In my first years at PSV, Guus was a young coach, and we had a squad full of big personalities. That’s not easy, but the way Guus handled that was already an example for me back then. He’s someone I hold in high regard, both as a person and as one of my former coaches, and from whom I’ve been able to learn a great deal.”

The newly crowned winner of the Lifetime Achievement Award also took a moment to reflect on his family.
“I want to thank you all. Football has given us so much – to me and to our family – and we are very proud of that. But, as was mentioned earlier, we have also been through difficult moments together as a family. This is another incentive to keep going in this way. I’ve won my fair share of trophies throughout my career, and this is something I’m very proud of. But in truth, my dear wife Bartina deserves the biggest prize,” said Ronald Koeman.

The Eredivisie Lifetime Achievement Award honours individuals who have made an exceptional contribution to Dutch football. Previous recipients include Arjen Robben, Wim Jansen (posthumously), and Louis van Gaal, while Edwin van der Sar received the award in 2024. Ronald Koeman is now the fifth name in this illustrious list.

Koeman’s name appears countless times in the history of the VriendenLoterij Eredivisie. He made his debut in 1980 for FC Groningen and went on to play for the traditional ‘Top Three’. As a coach, he also led all of the Top Three clubs as well as Vitesse and AZ. In total, he played 342 Eredivisie matches and coached in 336. His résumé also features several major foreign clubs. He was part of the legendary FC Barcelona ‘Dream Team’, later returning there as manager, and won the 1988 European Championship with the Netherlands.

With PSV, under the guidance of coach Guus Hiddink, Koeman won the European Cup I after a penalty shoot-out against Benfica in Stuttgart, confidently converting his spot-kick. To this day, Koeman holds the record for the most penalties scored in Dutch football: 44.