Sparta Rotterdam

Sparta Rotterdam vs Blackpool F.C., Aug. 1957

On 1 April 1888, several students from Rotterdam founded a cricket club called Rotterdamsche Cricket & Football Club Sparta. In July 1888, a football branch of the club was established. In 1890, Sparta played its first real football match, and in 1892 Sparta disbanded the cricket branch. Sparta was promoted to the highest league of Dutch football on 23 April 1893. In 1897, Sparta withdrew from the competition after continuous dubious arbitration of Sparta matches. The club continued to exist, however, and in 1899 the board of Sparta visited a match of Sunderland. Impressed with the red-and-white jersey of the English club, the board decided that Sunderland's colours (red-white striped jersey, black shorts) would henceforth be the colours of Sparta.

In 1905, Sparta initiated and organised the first home match of the Netherlands national team, against Belgium. The match, won 4–0 by the Netherlands, was a rematch of a game two weeks prior, when the Netherlands beat Belgium 4–1 in Antwerp, Belgium.

The first match at Sparta's new stadium, Het Kasteel (The Castle), in the Spangen area of west Rotterdam, was played on 14 October 1916. The stadium was renovated in 1999 and is still Sparta's stadium.

Until the 2002–03 season, Sparta had always played at the highest level, but after they appointed the former international player Frank Rijkaard as a manager they were relegated from the top-level Eredivisie in 2002. That made Rijkaard resign from his position.[1] Sparta returned to the Eredivisie for the 2005–06 season. They were relegated again in 2010. On 20 August 2010, they equalled Ajax's and Heracles Almelo's Dutch league record win when they defeated Almere City 12–1[2] with Johan Voskamp scoring an Eerste Divisie record 8 goals on his debut.[3]

After six years in the Eerste Divisie, Sparta again won promotion to the Eredivisie in April 2016 after a 3–1 win over Jong Ajax won them an unassailable lead over second placed VVV-Venlo.[4] However, they were relegated for the third time in their history in May 2018 after they were beaten 1–3 on aggregate by FC Emmen in the promotion/relegation play-offs. The result proved to be a historical one since Emmen won their first ever promotion to the Eredivisie.[5]

Sparta has won six national titles (1909, 1911, 1912, 1913, 1915 and 1959) and three national cups (1958, 1962 and 1966).

The best footballers of Rotterdam and Antwerp contested a yearly match between 1909 and 1959 for the Meuse- and Scheldt Cup (Maas- en Schelde Beker). It was agreed to play the game at stadium Het Kasteel in Rotterdam and at the Bosuilstadion in Antwerp. The cup was provided in 1909 by Kees van Hasselt from Rotterdam and P. Havenith from Antwerp.

The Sparta Jeugdopleiding (English: Sparta Youth Academy) is a four-star certified youth academy and amongst the strongest in the nation, having won the national academy of the year award on several occasions.[6] Several International footballers have progressed through the ranks of the academy, including Danny Blind, Danny Koevermans, David Mendes da Silva, Ed de Goey, Winston Bogarde, Memphis Depay, Henk Fräser, Jan van Beveren, Georginio Wijnaldum, Anwar El Ghazi, Jetro Willems, John de Wolf, Kevin Strootman, Rick van Drongelen and Nick Viergever, Marten de Roon amongst others.[7]

Below is a table with Sparta Rotterdam's domestic results since the introduction of the Eredivisie in 1956.

• Q = Qualifying Round
• 1R = First round
• 2R = Second round
• 3R = Third round
• 1/4 = Quarter-final

Season	Competition	Round	Club	Score
1959–60	European Cup	1R	IFK Göteborg	3–1, 1–3, 3–1
		1/4	Rangers	2–3, 1–0, 2–3
1962–63	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	Q	Lausanne-Sport	0–3, 4–2
1966–67	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	1R	Floriana	1–1, 6–0
		2R	Servette	0–2, 1–0
1970–71	Inter-Cities Fairs Cup	1R	ÍA Akranes	6–0, 9–0
		2R	Coleraine	2–0, 2–1
		3R	Bayern Munich	1–2, 1–3
1971–72	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	1R	Levski-Spartak	1–1, 2–0
		2R	Red Star Belgrade	1–1, 1–2
1983–84	UEFA Cup	1R	Coleraine	4–0, 1–1
		2R	Carl Zeiss Jena	3–2, 1–1
		3R	Spartak Moscow	1–1, 0–2
1985–86	UEFA Cup	1R	Hamburger SV	2–0, 0–2 (4–3 n.p.)
		2R	Borussia Mönchengladbach	1–1, 1–5

As of 1 February 2021

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — GK  NED Benjamin van Leer — GK  NED Tim Coremans — GK  NGA Maduka Okoye — GK  NED Michael Fabrie — DF  NED Tom Beugelsdijk — DF  NED Bart Vriends — DF  BEL Michaël Heylen — DF  NED Augustin Drakpe — DF  NED Aaron Meijers (on loan from ADO Den Haag) — DF  LUX Mica Pinto — DF  CPV Jeffry Fortes — DF  NED Dirk Abels

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  NED Adil Auassar (captain) — MF  NED Abdou Harroui — MF  NED Deroy Duarte — MF  NED Wouter Burger (on loan from Feyenoord) — MF  NED Laros Duarte — MF  NED Sven Mijnans — MF  NED Bryan Smeets — FW  GER Lennart Thy — FW  GER Mario Engels — FW  NED Reda Kharchouch — FW  NED Danzell Gravenberch — FW  NED Emanuel Emegha

Reserve squad

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — GK  NED Jomar Gomes — GK  NED Kenny Lipman — DF  NED Tariq Dilrosun — DF  NED Darwin Heuvelman — DF  NED Boyd Reith — DF  NED Daan van Unen — DF  NED Leon-Cardi Wong-Si-Kwie — MF  NED Ayoub Bukhari

No. Pos. Nation Player — MF  NED Levi Bouwense — MF  NED Jason Meerstadt — MF  NED Sven Mijnans — MF  NED Nino Roffelsen — FW  NED Brad van Hoeven — FW  NED Ouail El Merabet — FW  CPV Gianni dos Santos — FW  MAR Mohammed Tahiri

Players out on loan

Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules. Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality.

No. Pos. Nation Player — DF  NED Lassana Faye (on loan to ADO Den Haag)

• Sparta Rotterdam season 2001–02
• Sparta Rotterdam season 2002–03
• Sparta Rotterdam season 2003–04

• Official website (in Dutch)
• Sparta Rotterdam at Football-lineups.com
• Statistics
• itwm
• despartasupporter
• Unofficial website in English