Former international and trainer Kees Rijvers has passed away. Rijvers, born in Breda, was a trainer for PSV and the Dutch national team, among others. He was 97 years old. His family made this known.
“I played best when it was raining.” This statement illustrates the idiosyncrasy of the former football player, former coach (including PSV) and former national coach Kees Rijvers. He himself understood that it was a rather strange observation and that is why he usually added some explanation: “It is strange, but true. In any case, I liked playing on a smooth field, that’s when I had the most self-confidence.”
Kees Rijvers, son of a Breda shoemaker and trained as an electrician, played in 33 international matches for the Dutch national team from the age of twenty. At that time, the midfielder was part of the ‘golden trio’ in the national team, together with Abe Lenstra and Faas Wilkes. He ended his playing career in the Premier League at NAC with a won match against Ajax.
Rijvers then started working as a trainer, first at FC Twente and from 1972 at PSV. The Eindhoven club won a national title three times under his leadership. As national coach, after 1981 he brought successful players such as the brothers Koeman and Vanenburg to the Dutch national team. Thanks to him, the golden generation of Van Basten/Gullit had every opportunity to shine.
Saint Etienne
Kees Rijvers started at the Breda club Groen-Wit, then played at NAC and made his entrance into the professional football world at the French professional club AS Saint-Etienne. France would hold him dear to his heart forever. That love was mutual – Rijvers remained active as a scout for PSV and had lived on the island of Île d’Oléron on the French west coast for almost thirty years.
In 2004 he received the oeuvre prize for his work as a football coach at the national football coaches’ conference in Tilburg.
In 2016, Omroep Brabant made this report about Kees Rijvers: