Born in Rotterdam, South Holland, Been made his professional career debut for Feyenoord on 5 September 1982, in a 1–0 win over N.E.C.

Been was a member of the Dutch squad at the 1983 FIFA World Youth Championship[2] and played one official international match for the Netherlands, against Austria on 14 November 1984 as substitute for Ton Lokhoff in the 73rd minute.

He held this position until the summer of 2004 when Bert van Marwijk choose to leave Feyenoord and head to Germany to manage Borussia Dortmund.

After his successful promotion season with Excelsior, Been moved to become the assistant manager to Leo Beenhakker at Trinidad and Tobago for the 2006 FIFA World Cup.

However, Been managed to remarkably change the fortunes of his team, as they went on a run which saw them eventually end eighth in the league standings.

His side were drawn in a tough group in the UEFA Cup with away games at Spartak Moscow and Dinamo Zagreb, while Tottenham Hotspur and Udinese would come to Nijmegen.

However, after two losses in the group (3–2 against Dinamo Zagreb and 1–0 against Tottenham Hotspur), NEC managed to beat Spartak Moscow in Russia with a scoreline of 2–1.

The final and decisive game for Been would be against Udinese; on a wonderful night for the club, he managed to get the team to a 2–0 scoreline and secure progression to the next round.

On 28 January 2009, NEC Nijmegen and Feyenoord had reached an agreement to let Been move to Rotterdam to become the head coach there for the next season.

He was given a very youthful squad to work with, which did have some experienced heads in the form of Roy Makaay, Denny Landzaat and Giovanni van Bronckhorst.

On 24 October 2010, he oversaw his team losing 10–0 against PSV at the Philips Stadion, the biggest defeat in the history of Feyenoord.

On 13 July 2011, Been was confirmed to have left his post as head coach of Feyenoord, citing lack of trust and confidence from his players as the main reason for his surprise choice.