Sparta Rotterdam

Sparta Rotterdam

Full name	Sparta Rotterdam
Nickname(s)	Kasteelheren (Lords of the Castle)
Founded	April 1, 1888
Ground	Het Kasteel (The Castle) Rotterdam (Capacity: 11,026)
Chairman	Leo van den Berg
Manager	Jan Everse
League	Jupiler League
2009–10	Eredivisie, 16th (relegated)
Website	Club home page
Home colours Away colours

Sparta Rotterdam is the oldest professional football team in the Netherlands, established on April 1, 1888.

Sparta is one of three professional football clubs from Rotterdam, the others being Excelsior (est. 1902) and Feyenoord (est. 1908), the latter playing in the Eredivisie.

History

Sparta was first founded in 1887. This club was disbanded shortly afterwards. On April 1, 1888, several ex-members of the old Sparta founded a cricket club called 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 April 23, 1893. In 1897, Sparta withdrew from the competition after continuous dubious arbitration of Sparta matches. However, the club continued to exist, and in 1899, the board of Sparta visited a match of Sunderland A.F.C. Impressed with the red-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 Dutch 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.

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

Until the 2002/2003 season Sparta Rotterdam had always played at the highest level, but they were relegated from the top-level Eredivisie in 2002. Sparta returned to the Eredivisie for the 2005–06 season. They were releated again in 2010. On 20 August 2010 they equalled Ajax's Dutch league record win when they defeated Almere City FC 12-1,^[1] Johan Voskamp scoring an Eerste Divisie record 8 goals on his debut.^[2]

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

Honours

• Dutch national title: 6
  

1909, 1911, 1912, 1913, 1915, 1959

• KNVB Cup: 3
  

1957–58, 1961–62, 1965–66

Results

Sparta in Europe

• 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 FC	2–3, 1–0, 2–3
1962–63	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	Q	Lausanne Sports	0–3, 4–2
1966–67	UEFA Cup Winners' Cup	1R	Floriana	1–1, 6–0
		2R	Servette Genève	0–2, 1–0
1970–71	Inter-Cities Fairs Cup	1R	ÍA Akranes	6–0, 9–0
		2R	Coleraine FC	2–0, 2–1
		3R	Bayern München	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 FC	4–0, 1–1
		2R	FC Carl Zeiss Jena	3–2, 1–1
		3R	Spartak Moskva	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

Current squad

For recent transfers, see List of Dutch football transfers summer 2009 and List of Dutch football transfers winter 2009-10.

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

No. Position Player GK Mathijs Donatz GK André Krul (on loan from FC Utrecht) GK Aleksander Šeliga DF Anthony Bentem DF Emmanuel Boakye DF James Downey DF Ruud Knol DF Ruud Kras (on loan from FC Zwolle) DF Marcellino van der Leeuw DF Mohamed Madmar DF Donovan Slijngard MF Michiel van den Berg

No. Position Player MF René van Dieren MF Lerin Duarte MF Mohamed Madmar MF Karim Touzani MF Marten de Roon MF Nathan Rutjes MF Björn Vlasblom FW David Abdul FW Joey Godee FW Joshua John FW Iwan Redan FW Johan Voskamp

Former managers

See also

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

External links

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

References