Sparta Rotterdam
Sparta Rotterdam is the oldest professional football team in the Netherlands, established in 1888. Until the 2002/2003 season it had always played at the highest level, but it relegated from the premier division in 2002. Sparta has won 6 national titles (1909, 1911, 1912, 1913, 1915 and 1959) and 3 national cups (1958, 1962 and 1966). Sparta is one of three professional football clubs from Rotterdam, the others being Excelsior (est. 1902) and Feyenoord (est. 1908).
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 the exist, and in 1899, the board of Sparta visited a match of Sunderland FC. Impressed with the red-white jersey of Sunderland FC, the board decided that the colours of Sunderland FC (red-white jersey, black shorts) would henceforth be the colours of Sparta.
In 1905, Sparta initiated and organised the first home match of the Dutch national football team, against Belgium. The match, won 4-0 by the Netherlands, came two weeks after a match between the Netherlands and Belgium (result 4-1 for the Netherlands) played in Antwerp.
On October 14, 1916, the first match at Sparta's new stadium, Het Kasteel (The Castle)), was played. This stadium, which was renovated in 1999, still is Sparta's stadium.
