With the city of Rotterdam still rebuilding after the war the club was unable to compete for trophies. Feijenoord's chairman Cor Kieboom organised a meeting on 30 June 1954 in Utrecht together with the chairman of the other Rotterdam teams, Jos Coler (Sparta) and Henk van Zon (Excelsior). At the meeting several chairmen of other clubs showed up as well as a delegation of the KNVB to discuss the start of professional football in the Netherlands. Despite the presence of several sceptics, Kieboon pushed the idea of professionalism through, resulting in the first Eredivisie season in 1954/1955. Feijenoord was one of the clubs participating in the inaugural Eredivisie and have never been relegated. One of the most memorable matches in these first years of professional football was the clash between Feijenoord and De Volewijckers at 2 April 1956, which Feijenoord won 11–4 with nine goals by Henk Schouten. He even scored a tenth time, but this goal was disallowed. The first memorable Klassieker from a Feijenoord point of view took place at 11 November 1956 when Daan den Bleijker scored four times to give Feijenoord a 7–3 win over their arch rivals. On 27 November 1957 46,000 supporters travelled to De Kuip for the first match at night in the stadium. In a match against Bolton Wanderers FC, which was lost 3–0 Feijenoord introduced their newly built floodlight system.