Robin van Persie is to stay on as Feyenoord coach after coming through an emergency meeting at De Kuip to discuss the club’s recent poor run of results.

Feyenoord stand 19 points behind PSV in the Eredivisie and could concede the league title next weekend if they lose at home to Excelsior and the defending champions beat NEC Nijmegen.

The team were humbled 3-0 in Eindhoven at the start of February and were well beaten a week ago by Twente Enschede, who have hauled themselves into contention for the Champions League places. They dropped points again in their most recent outing, a 3-3 draw at relegation-threatened NAC Breda.

But AD.nl reported that the board decided to retain Van Persie after holding an all-day meeting on Monday to discuss the team’s prospects.

The decision was based on the fact that Feyenoord are still three points ahead of NEC in second place, which would secure a place in the Champions League group stages, and there was no guarantee any other coach would do better.

Ajax, who are two points further behind along with Twente, sacked their interim coach Fred Grim following their weekend defeat at Groningen. The Amsterdam club dismissed John Heitinga in November after losing their opening four Champions League group matches.

Feyenoord have fared little better in Europe under Van Persie: they were eliminated from the Europa League after losing six of their eight matches, with their only points coming from home wins against Panathinaikos and Sturm Graz.

The former Feyenoord, Arsenal and Manchester United striker was appointed head coach just a year ago, replacing Danish boss Brian Priske. He had previously been in charge of Heerenveen, his first senior coaching job, since the start of the 2024/25 season.