2026/2027 season

Eredivisie

Team page
Eredivisie · Team page
Sparta Rotterdam
Head coach: Rogier Meijer · 4-3-3
Rank
12th
Pts
9
P
9
Form
🟡 Average

The essentials at a glance

The summary of this page: estimated level of play, form trend and qualitative verdict. For the details, head to the other tabs.

Editors' ratings
6/10
Attack
3/10
Defence
3/10
Form
2/10
Confidence / mood
Current risk:High

12th with 9 pts from 9 matches: 2 wins, 3 draws, 4 defeats.

16 goals scored, 22 conceded.

The peak of Sparta Rotterdam also feels that his immediate opponents are more concerned with him.

Voetbalprimeur · 18 Oct 2026 · machine-translated

The Tilburgers dove on Saturday to visit Sparta Rotterdam (3-2).

Voetbalprimeur · 18 Oct 2026 · machine-translated

In the new episode of VI ZSM, Sjoerd Keizer and Jarno Verweij look back on Saturday evening's match between Sparta Rotterdam and Willem II, with special attention to Milan Zonneveld.

Voetbal International · 18 Oct 2026 · machine-translated

Sparta Rotterdam knows what to win . After a few minor results, Rogier Meijer's team left three points to the game with Willem II on Saturday night. Afterwards Meijer praised Jens Toornstra.

Voetbal International · 18 Oct 2026 · machine-translated

How the team has played recently

Match-by-match results, record and rhythm of the current season.

Latest matches
Wvs Willem II Tilburg (H) · 3-2
Dvs Go Ahead Eagles (A) · 3-3
Lvs SC Heerenveen (H) · 0-4
Lvs PSV (A) · 1-4
Dvs PEC Zwolle (H) · 2-2
WWDDDLLLL
16 scored / 22 conceded over 9 matches played
Rest: 1 day since the last match · 2 matches played in the last 15 days
Home form
1W - 2D - 2L
Away form
1W - 1D - 2L
Statistics

Computed from this season's scores, every time the page is shown.

Goals scored per match
1.8
Goals conceded per match
3.0
At home
5 scored · 8 conceded in 3 matches
Away
4 scored · 7 conceded in 2 matches
Over 2.5 goals
5 of 5
Both teams score
4 of 5
Clean sheets
0 of 5
Failed to score
1 of 5
Cumulative points vs league average

Not enough matchdays recorded yet for this curve — history builds up with every standings refresh.

How Sparta Rotterdam play

System, playing identity, and what sets the team apart at both ends of the pitch.

Playing identity
Preferred system
4-3-3
Philosophy
Having arrived on 1 July 2026 to replace Maurice Steijn, Rogier Meijer has kept the club's traditional 4-3-3 after a summer of rebuilding marked by numerous departures. The project combines tactical stability with the development of young players trained at the Kasteel.
Attacking strengths
Without Tobias Lauritsen, who left for Sampdoria, the attack relies on Shunsuke Mito, Mitchell van Bergen and Milan Zonneveld, who scored in the derby at Excelsior. Seven goals in four matchdays, including three at Telstar and three against FC Utrecht.
Defensive solidity
In front of Filip Bednarek, the Marvin Young–Bruno Martins Indi central pairing is flanked by Lushendry Martes and Bas Kuipers. Seven goals conceded in four matchdays, including three against Utrecht (3-3) and two in the derby defeat at Excelsior.
Pressing
Transitions
StrengthA stable 4-3-3 starting eleven and an attack led by Shunsuke Mito; the academy is feeding the first team with Lushendry Martes, Marvin Young and Ayoni Santos.
WeaknessVulnerability at set pieces: both goals conceded in the 29 August derby came from corners. The goalkeeping position remains a question mark since Joël Drommel's departure, and attacking depth has been reduced following Lauritsen's departure.

The mood around the club, and who is missing

Internal climate, relationship with the supporters, and known absences before the next match.

Mood
Squad confidence
Confidence dented: after a 0-1 defeat against Feyenoord, a 3-1 win at Telstar and a 3-3 draw against Utrecht, Sparta lost the derby 2-1 at Excelsior on 29 August, conceding a goal in stoppage time. Four points in four matchdays.
Coach / players / board relationship
Rogier Meijer highlighted his squad's mental strength on 23/08/2026 after the draw against FC Utrecht: “Jawel, maar dat hebben we ook al in de wedstrijd tegen Feyenoord getoond. Er zit wel karakter in de ploeg” (VoetbalPrimeur).
Mood with the supporters
Pressure on the head coach
Club objectives
Voetbalzone places the target at a comfortable survival after a summer of departures, with developing young players from the academy as a secondary focus and qualification for the European play-offs as a further ambition should things settle down.
Recent internal tensions
No internal tension reported at this stage.
Absences
No absence recorded in the editorial content.

Before kick-off

What to know before the next match: statistical form, qualitative analysis, and a computed estimate of the 1/X/2 probabilities.

Next match

Sparta Rotterdam — Ajax

At homeSunday 25 October at 16:45Matchday 10
In 7 days. Kick-off time confirmed by the league. Paris time · football-data.org fixtures.
What the press says

No preview found for this fixture. The press mostly covers the big games, and usually the day before.

Prediction
EstimateSparta Rotterdam — Ajax
16 %
1 · Sparta Rotterdam
15 %
X · draw
69 %
2 · Ajax
In-house calculation, from this page's standings data alone: 9 matches played by Sparta Rotterdam, 8 matches by Ajax. Confidence: fair
The formula, in plain words — with this match's figures
  1. League average. 292 goals scored over 154 team-matches played (18 teams taken into account), i.e. μ = 1.90 goal scored per team per match. This is the reference point: everything that follows is expressed relative to it.
  2. Attacking and defensive strengths. Goals scored (or conceded) per match, divided by μ. 1.00 = exactly average; in defence, above 1.00 means “concedes more than average”.
    TeamGoalsRawKept
    Sparta Rotterdam — attack16 in 9 matches0.940.96
    Sparta Rotterdam — defence22 in 9 matches1.291.17
    Ajax — attack22 in 8 matches1.451.26
    Ajax — defence10 in 8 matches0.660.81
    The “Kept” column is the result of shrinkage towards the mean: weight = P / (P + 6), i.e. 0.60 for Sparta Rotterdam and 0.57 for Ajax. The rest of the weight goes to the league average. This is what stops a lone 5-0 from producing an attack at 3.3 times the average — and hence a 95% probability.
  3. Home advantage (γ). Measured on the league itself: 1.89 goal scored on average by the host against 1.77 by the visitor, over the 46 fixtures present in each team's last 5 matches. Raw ratio 1.07; shrunk towards 1 (weight 0.42, on the log of the ratio) then capped at 1.25 → γ = 1.03. Shrinkage goes towards 1, i.e. no advantage at all: while the sample is small, the model does not assert a home advantage it cannot measure.
  4. Venue correction, specific to each team. Drawn from the home/away split: points per match at the venue concerned are compared to points per match over all fixtures, with stronger shrinkage (weight = P / (P + 8)) and a bound of ±12%.
    Sparta Rotterdam at home: 1.00 pts/match versus 1.00 overall over 5 matches → ×1.000
    Ajax away: 3.00 pts/match versus 1.88 overall over 3 matches → ×1.120
  5. Expected goals. One side's attack is set against the other's defence. γ applies to the host only: applying it the other way round too would count the home advantage twice.
    λSparta Rotterdam = 1.90 × 0.96 × 0.81 × 1.03 × 1.000 = 1.51
    λAjax = 1.90 × 1.26 × 1.17 × 1.120 = 3.13
  6. Poisson grid. Probability of every exact score from 0-0 to 8-8, assuming the two goal totals are independent, then adding up the cells: home win 15.6%, draw 14.8%, away win 69.6% — displayed rounded to whole numbers so that they add up to exactly 100. Most likely exact score in the grid: 1-3 (only 7.5%, which says enough about how unpredictable an exact score is).
Limits of this model — they are not anecdotal.
  • It only knows goals and a venue. Neither absences, suspensions, line-ups, fatigue, stakes, weather nor club context enter the calculation — while the other tabs of this page show that they matter.
  • The assumption that the two goal totals are independent is false in reality: it slightly underestimates tight scores, hence the draw.
  • γ is measured over a rolling window (each team's last 5 matches), not over the whole season.
  • The shrinkage constants (6, 60, 8) and the bounds are choices, not measurements. They were tuned to be cautious early in the season; they were not calibrated on a results history, as none is available here.
  • No after-the-fact evaluation has been made: at this stage, nobody knows whether this model is better or worse calibrated than another.
What other sources say
No external source has been collected for this match. That is the normal state: readings are taken by hand, and an empty box is better than an unverified figure.
This block shows probability estimates, not predictions, and carries no advisory value. The in-house estimate is the result of a formula applied to a small sample; the figures from external sources are reproduced as they were collected, without their method having been verified.

The full squad

The professional squad by position, captain marked with an armband.

Goalkeepers
  • Filip Bednarek
  • Pascal Kuiper
  • Rik Suur
Defenders
  • Bas Kuipers
  • Max de Ligt
  • Lushendry Martes
  • Bruno Martins Indi
  • Teo Quintero
  • Boyd Reith
  • Nick Verschuren
  • Giannino Vianello
  • Marvin Young
Midfielders
  • Julian Baas
  • Robin van Cruijsen
  • Cedric Hatenboer
  • Younes Jaber El Meftahi
  • Alwande Roaldsoy
  • Ayoni Santos
  • Jens Toornstra
Forwards
  • Mitchell van Bergen
  • Joël Ideho
  • Andrej Kostić
  • Shunsuke Mito
  • Casper Terho
  • Milan Zonneveld
This team's current captain could not be confirmed with certainty at the last check — no armband is shown above until the information is reliable.
Squad last verified on 1 Sep 2026 — source: the club's official website (sparta-rotterdam.nl, “A-selectie” page).

What has been said recently

Chronological feed of verified information about the club.

rss18 Oct 2026
Correia keeps in touch with Sparta excel: "Wanted him for a long time."
Source: Voetbalprimeur
rss17 Oct 2026
Sparta rewards herself in party week with victory on toboggan carrier Willem II
Source: Voetbal International
rss17 Oct 2026
Sparta booked first home victory by turning behind Willem II
Source: NOS Voetbal
rss17 Oct 2026
Sparta does good business and defeats Willem II, which matches negative club record
Source: Voetbalprimeur
rss17 Oct 2026
Talk to me on VP: Sparta Rotterdam
Source: Voetbalprimeur
rss15 Oct 2026
Sparta Prague - Lillestrøm, live - 124; Europa League
Source: Mundo Deportivo
Transfers1 Sep 2026
Sparta have sold attacking midfielder Ayoni Santos to PSV for €5m, the player signing for five seasons in Eindhoven; he had already been left out of the squad for the derby against Excelsior.
Source: NOS
Transfers1 Sep 2026
Yones Jaber El Meftahi was loaned to FC Volendam on deadline day.
Source: Voetbal International
Transfers31 Aug 2026
Sparta Rotterdam have confirmed the return of Cedric Hatenboer, who leaves Anderlecht and has signed a contract until 2030 at the club where he came through the academy.
Source: VoetbalPrimeur
Result29 Aug 2026
Sparta lost the Rotterdam derby 2-1 away at Excelsior, to a Nesto Groen header in the 92nd minute, despite Zonneveld's equaliser as early as the 48th.
Source: Excelsior Rotterdam
Club29 Aug 2026
Sparta Rotterdam lost the Rotterdam derby 2-1 away to Excelsior, beaten by a goal conceded in stoppage time.
Source: Rijnmond
News last verified on 18 Oct 2026. Sources: sports press (L'Équipe, Le Parisien, Foot Mercato, regional press…) and official club websites — see the link on each item.
Editorial content (playing style, mood, absences, external prediction sources) last verified on 3 Sep 2026. The standings/form data above are refreshed automatically — as is the 1/X/2 estimate, recomputed on every view.