Kees Rijvers

Who is Kees Rijvers?

Kees Rijvers is a retired Dutch footballer who was active as a midfielder. Rijvers made his debut at NAC Breda and also played for AS Saint-Étienne, Stade Français and Feijenoord.

As a manager, he took FC Twente and he coached the team six years, with good classifications. After those successful seasons, he moved to PSV Eindhoven. He led the team to win the 1977-78 UEFA Cup. He also won with PSV three Eredivisie titles, at 1975, 1976 and 1978, and the double at 1976. After leaving PSV, he took over the national team and introduced young players like Ronald Koeman, Ruud Gullit and Marco van Basten. Netherlands failed to qualify for Euro 1984 having better goal difference against Spain until the last day of the qualification, but after Spain's 12-1 win over Malta, Netherlands ended second in the group. After that Rijvers was sacked by the KNVB and replaced by Rinus Michels.