Friday, June 2, 2023 at 9:11 PM• Jeroen van Poppel • Last update: 21:14

Robin van Persie will have a new team under his wing in the Feyenoord Academy from next season. The Rotterdammers announce the entire coaching staff of the upper years of the training. Van Persie will be the coach of Feyenoord Under 18 together with Brian Pinas. The duo will also be in charge of the Under 19 team, which will play in the Youth League.

Van Persie also retains his role as striker trainer with the first team. The record top scorer of the Dutch national team joins the technical staff of head coach Arne Slot for one day a week. Van Persie is preparing for a future as head coach and regularly takes a look behind the scenes at established names in the profession. For example, the former striker turned up at Manchester United this season to watch with Erik ten Hag.

The Van Persie/Pinas duo was responsible for the Under 16 at Feyenoord this season. The two trainers will receive support in the Under 18 next year from the experienced Nico Romeijn, who has been active for the KNVB for some time and has worked for the American Football Association for a number of years. Romeijn will also be working as a Specialist Development Coach at Varkenoord. In this role he will contribute to the development of the coaches.

Henk Brugge will be added to the coaching staff of Feyenoord Under 21 from the new season, which also consists of head coach Melvin Boel and assistant coach Ulrich van Gobbel. In addition, the 45-year-old Emmeloorder, in the role of Specialist Transition Coach, will act as a point of contact for the Academy players who regularly train alternately at Feyenoord 1 and Under 21.

The coaching staff of the Feyenoord Academy for the 2023/24 season:
Feyenoord U21: Melvin Boel/Ulrich van Gobbel/Henk Brugge
Feyenoord O18/O19: Robin van Persie/Brian Pinas/Nico Romeijn
Feyenoord U17: Davey van den Berg/Arnold Scholten
Feyenoord U16: Erik van der Ven/Ashley van den Dungen
Feyenoord U15: David Toxopeus/Errol Refos
Feyenoord U14: Miguel Dingjan/Samuel Scheimann
Feyenoord U13: Martijn den Haan/Jeffrey East