Welcome back to the Netherlands where Frank Athlete’s first full season in charge at Sparta Rotterdam is about to get underway. As fans of the club prepare to move to the new stadium in 2027, Frank will be keen to leave them with some great memories to cherish in the future. Let’s hope he can deliver…

Season Summary

Team: Sparta Rotterdam
Division: Eredivisie
Season: 2025/26
Players in: Godfried Roemeratoe, FC Twente (€0); Jonas Meffert, Hamburger SV (€0); Romeo Vermant, Club Brugge (Loan)
Players out: Bryan Smeets, PEC Zwolle (€125K); Filip Rogic, Orebo SK (€88K)

As top flight safety was secured for another year, Frank wasted no time in preparing a recruitment strategy for the 2025/26 season ahead. With the squad’s average age still high and the defensive frailties exposed for much of the season, these two areas would be key to any incoming transfers, with the need to bring in strength for the bench as well as the first XI.

Despite the need to strengthen, any recruitment would be hampered by the budget available to the scouting team. The Board’s decision to build a new stadium had crippled the club financially, saddling Sparta Rotterdam with a €40M debt that would need paying back over the next few years. Without the help from external investors, the capital would need to be raised through cost cutting and player sales, which was further evidenced by a small increase to the wage budget and the non existence of a transfer budget.

With the only option being to recruit out of contract players and loan signings, Frank brought in Roemeratoe and Meffert on free transfers from FC Twente and Hamburger SV respectively. Meffert would slot straight in as a defence-minded central midfielder, while Roemeratoe would offer Mijnan competition in the other central midfield role as an attacking mezzala. The third and final addition was a back up striker, and Vermant joins on loan from Club Brugge to deputise for Tigges.

Heading out of the club were Smeets and Rogic, both very much back up players and had been on the periphery of the squad for the last season. They would raise some much needed cash for the club, although none would be made available for transfers.

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The board’s expectations for the season were about as ambitious as their transfer budget: avoid a relegation battle. After discussion with the players, Frank persuaded them that they could aim higher, agreeing to target a mid-table finish come season’s end. Injuries would be a factor that needed attention right from the off, with starting full back Ricardo Mangas sustaining a cruciate ligament injury in pre-season that would keep him side-lined until the New Year.

The season kicked off with a tricky tie away to FC Utrecht, but despite the home side taking an early lead, it was Sparta Rotterdam’s resilience that would prove the difference as they bagged two second half goals to secure the win. Easier opposition lay ahead for the rest of August with NAC Breda up next at home before an away match against Heracles Almelo. Although Frank had earmarked both games as winnable, both opponents proved to be tougher than anticipated and so the Kasteelmann had to settle for back-to-back draws instead.

Keeping things positive, Frank was pleased with their unbeaten start but knew the next game would be a bigger challenge as they travelled to Ajax after the international break. A humbling 3-0 defeat to the Dutch champions was then followed by a loss at home to FC Twente. Back-to-back losses were followed by consecutive wins as Excelsior and RKC Waalwijk were comfortably beaten before PSV hit back from 2-0 down to defeat Sparta 4-2 in mid-October.

Before the month was concluded, a further 4 points were secured in the league against VVV-Venlo and ADO Den Haag, before a convincing 3-0 win over lower division Spakenburg in the Dutch Cup set up a second round tie against FC Eindhoven to be played in late December.

An early lead in the next fixture at home to Vitesse was quickly nullified as they fought back to win 4-1, but this defeat would give way to four straight wins in the league, including an impressive 2-0 victory over AZ in late November. All good things must come to an end though, and it was Willem II that would block a fifth consecutive victory with a 2-1 defeat of Sparta that was then followed by Feyenoord maintaining their winning streak over Frank with a 3-0 defeat of their own.

Despite the downturn in league form, a convincing 2-0 victory in the next round of the Dutch Cup had booked Sparta Rotterdam a place in the Third Round against second division promotion contenders PEC Zwolle in January.

The arrival of the winter break signalled the reopening of the transfer window and Frank used the time to secure some longer term contracts for his better players. Central defender Eric Smith had also picked up a nasty groin strain just prior to the game against PEC Zwolle, and so Quadri Okoye was brought in on loan for a fee of €375K from Bayer Leverkeusen to shore up the defence. He was an expensive addition, but one that was necessary if the side were to push on in the second half of the season, especially after they had performed so admirably in the first half of the season, bagging eight wins and three draws from seventeen games.

Despite his optimism, Frank would endure a dreadful January that featured two more defeats and two disappointing draws against NAC Breda and FC Utrecht to see his side slip down the table. Their poor form carried into the cup as well, succumbing to a 2-1 defeat to PEC Zwolle, a real let down having done so well to reach the Third Round in the first place.

Results across February and March would boost the team’s hopes of a top half finish as they bagged four wins and a draw from seven games, with the defeats predictably coming from AZ and PSV. The best was yet to come though as the team secured three wins from three in April, including a solid 2-0 win away at Vitesse and a superb 3-1 victory at home to Ajax.

With three games of the season remaining, a top half finish was almost a guarantee at this point, with even an outside chance of qualifying for Europe also a possibility too. An away win against FC Twente was followed by a draw against Willem II that meant a minimum 8th place finish would be determined by the final game of the season with Willem II the only side capable of overtaking them. A crushing 2-1 loss to Feyenoord put the ball firmly in Willem II’s court, however they were unable to win as well and so Sparta Rotterdam secured 8th and a shock place in the playoff for the one remaining European spot. Sparta Rotterdam would play against Vitesse while FC Utrecht would play Willem II.

Frank had his team fired up for the first leg at home and secured a huge 4-0 win to almost render the second leg redundant. A 2-2 draw in the return set up a play-off final against FC Utrecht who had themselves comfortably dispatched Willem II in the previous round. Sparta Rotterdam were again drawn at home for the first leg and after a rocky start emerged as winners with Mijnan’s 82nd minute penalty enough to bag a 2-1 result. A defensive performance in the second leg would see the side snatch victory, but FC Utrecht had a point to prove and despite their best efforts, Sparta Rotterdam succumbed to defeat with FC Utrecht winning 2-0 on the night and 3-2 on aggregate.

Despite the bitter disappointment of falling at the final hurdle, Frank could take plenty of positives from across the season. At no point was relegation ever a likely outcome which shows tremendous progress over the last campaign, and the Board were delighted at having established Sparta Rotterdam as an Eredivisie team a season earlier than planned. Hopefully, with a little bit of investment in the squad, the team could push on again next year as well.

Results Overview

Dutch Cup

Prediction: Second Round

Actual: Third Round

Summary: The draw definitely favoured Sparta Rotterdam, with the side playing against lower opposition in all three rounds of the cup, but they were made to pay for their complacency when an impressive PEC Zwolle dumped them out of the competition.

Best moment: Getting through the Second Round with the win against FC Eindhoven was a real plus point, and gives hope to future cup runs that we might emulate that success.

Low moment: Having drawn PEC Zwolle, it should have presented a great chance to go further in the competition. Instead, fans had to deal with defeat to lower opposition and another year-long wait for a chance to challenge for silverware.

Eredivisie

Prediction: 13th

Actual: 8th

Summary: A mixed bag of results early on eventually gave away to a decent platform in the second half of the season, from which the team were really able to kick on. Having set out to achieve a top half finish, to go close to qualifying for Europe was a particular bonus.

Best moment: Despite the great run to the playoff final at the end, the real highlight was the 3-1 defeat of Ajax, Frank’s first win over one of the big teams in the league.

Low moment: Dropping points at the likes of NAC Breda and ADO Den Haag was particularly disappointing, particularly as these are teams Sparta Rotterdam have the ability to beat, and need to in future if they are to build on this season’s success.

Statistical Analysis

As mentioned earlier, there’s no doubt that the lack of transfer budget hindered the club’s progress this season. That said, it was pleasing to see them do so well, especially against some of the bigger, more established teams.

Generally speaking, we were fairly average compared to the other teams in the division, although our ‘goals per game’ and ’shots on target’ returns were both above expectation, ultimately proving the difference as we pushed for European qualification. Defensively. we were also much improved. clearances, blocks and interceptions were all above average, although too often we committed fouls which definitely cost us in some games.

An area that will definitely need improvement was our movement, and in particular our ability to keep the ball and progress up the pitch with it. In this sense we were one of the worst performers in the league, and so we can conclude that our inability to keep the ball is what led to us exceeding at blocks and interceptions. While that shows our determination and ability to recover the ball, it would have been preferable if we had kept hold of it in the first place.

Around the Grounds

In this section we share some of the other stories from elsewhere in the FM universe that have caught the eye this week…

Marching On: Feeling 22-ish - FMSamo returns at the end of his third season in charge at St. Mary’s as he reveals how his team of young starlets got on.

FM22 | Far Post Corner Kick Routine - FMRensie shares his findings from another of his set-piece repertoire - this one being a far post corner routine.

“Miami Galácticos” - La Plata: Vice - FM Grasshopper updates us on how things stand at Inter Miami, and reveals how recruitment has gone following his data-led approach to scouting for this season.

RCDM: Trust The Process - FM Adventure reports on his progress at RCD Mallorca as he looks to establish them for growth in La Liga.

Valores Familiares – 1 – Welcome Home - FM Stag launches a new series at Colo Colo in Chile, told through FM’s only trusted source for new - theangrylinesman

thefmdb.com - The FMDB have revealed a searchable FM22 database on their website that enables you to conduct your own research outside of the game through a browser.

Do you have a blog that’s missing from the above list? Please send me the link on Twitter so I can have a read.

Thanks for reading this update, I really hope you enjoyed it. You’ll find more updates from me, as well as blogs from some other fantastic writers at CoffeehouseFM so make sure you check them out. Feel free to leave a comment below, or you can message me @fm_athlete if you feel like getting in touch.

Thanks for coming. I've been FM Athlete. You've been ‘checking for subsidence’. See you next time.