At the request of Guus Hiddink, Neeskens, along with Frank Rijkaard and Ronald Koeman, acted as assistant coach for the Dutch national team during the qualifiers and finals of the 1998 FIFA World Cup. When Hiddink stepped down as national coach after the 1998 FIFA World Cup, he performed the same role during the reign of Frank Rijkaard as national coach up until the end of Euro 2000. He was then appointed as coach of Dutch side NEC Nijmegen, leading them to their first European appearance in twenty years in 2003, but was fired in 2004 because of poor results.