The club confirmed on Sunday that Van Persie was fired as Feyenoord manager after an up-and-down season with the Rotterdam giants.
Van Persie, 42, led Feyenoord to a second-place finish, which qualified the team for next season's UEFA Champions League, but went through bad spells during the 2025-26 season, including a run of just 3 wins in 14 games across all competitions between October and January.
Organisational reshuffle
The Dutch icon's departure comes just a week after technical director Devy Rigaux stepped in at Feyenoord. Along with Rigaux, former AZ director Robert Eenhoorn will join the club as the general manager in July. The two take over from Dennis te Kloese, who left Feyenoord for Monterrey after the 2025-26 season.
Rigaux, a former Club Brugge executive, explained the decision to fire Van Persie in a club statement.
"Robin van Persie has given his all for the club over the past year and a half," Rigaux said.
"He certainly deserves credit for seeing out a difficult season and ultimately finishing in second place. That secured Champions League football, which is, of course, very important.
"We have carried out a thorough internal analysis. This included looking at the development of our performances and the downward trend in points, both in Europe and in the Eredivisie. The conclusion was that we would be better off starting the next season with a new head coach."
Up-and-down tenure
After retiring as a Feyenoord player in 2019, Van Persie started his managerial career in the Feyenoord academy before landing his first senior job with sc Heerenveen in 2024. The Premier League icon got off to a rocky start in Frisia, with rumblings that Van Persie was stubborn and muddled dominating the narrative of his short time at the club.
Robin van Persie joined Feyenoord from sc Heerenveen in February 2025, when he took over from the fired Brian Priske. After signing a contract until 2027, Van Persie got off to a hot start with Feyenoord, winning 8 of his first 10 league games in charge and securing a third-place finish.
Van Persie's Feyenoord were on fire to start the 2025-26 season, winning 25 points from their first 9 games in the Eredivisie. Failure on the European front - Van Persie and Feyenoord lost 6 of their 8 UEFA Europa League games - continued domestically, where Feyenoord lost all sight of league leaders PSV and were eliminated from the Dutch Cup in the second round after a 3-2 home defeat to Heerenveen.
Feyenoord recovered in form, but couldn't win the fans' trust as calls for Van Persie's dismissal gained pace. Van Persie eventually finished second in the Eredivisie, a record 19 points behind PSV, despite disappointing on-field performances from his team. Overall, Feyenoord won 22 of their 45 games across all competitions.
Van Persie leaves Feyenoord with 30 wins and 19 draws from 58 games as manager.