After Louis van Gaal turned down an offer to manage Feyenoord, the club sought out legendary former Barcelona defender Ronald Koeman, who had played for Feyenoord during the late nineteen nineties. With his eventual hiring as Feyenoord manager, Koeman became the first to ever serve as both player and head coach at all teams of the so-called "traditional big three" of Dutch football: (AFC Ajax, PSV Eindhoven and Feyenoord itself) Moreover, he played and managed these teams in the same order.