Hampus Silverholt
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Ha don't say that, I'll cry if they actually buy him!
Going Dutch with Sparta Rotterdam
- Thread starter Hampus Silverholt
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Ha don't say that, I'll cry if they actually buy him!
Hampus Silverholt
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PSV beating Ajax meant that we had a chance to go 4 points clear at the top of the Eredivisie if we beat Groningen.
And that’s exactly what we did thanks to 2 goals each from our star players Emegha and Maysonnave.
Even an injury to Promes couldn't dampen our spirits ahead of the first leg of the Europa League 2nd Knockout Round against Rangers.
We went to Ibrox confident of getting a result and for the second time this season, we drew away to Rangers 1-1!
Considering Emegha scored in the first minute, it was actually a bit of a disappointing result but all we needed to get through in the return leg was a clean sheet.
3 days later, Ajax dropped points yet again whilst we recorded a win over Heerenveen.
That meant we were now 6 points clear with 7 games remaining, it was beginning to look like we were about to do the unthinkable and actually win the league!
The next 2 matches were huge - the second leg at home to Rangers and an away match against Ajax in the league.
Joel Ideho decided to take things into his own hands against Rangers.
Who needs Promes anyway? Ideho’s 2 goals ensured that we progressed to the quarter-finals of the Europa League!
And we have a very tasty quarter-final tie against Roma.
However, those celebrations had to be short-lived as our tired squad faced Ajax 3 days later in their biggest game of the season.
A loss would let Ajax back into the title race, whereas a win would be unbelievable...
And we only went and beat them!
I can’t quite believe I’m saying this but our team of Dutch players - none of whom are in the Dutch national squad - are 9 points clear at the top of the Eredivisie with 6 games remaining!
Surely the league is ours this season?
And that’s exactly what we did thanks to 2 goals each from our star players Emegha and Maysonnave.
Even an injury to Promes couldn't dampen our spirits ahead of the first leg of the Europa League 2nd Knockout Round against Rangers.
We went to Ibrox confident of getting a result and for the second time this season, we drew away to Rangers 1-1!
Considering Emegha scored in the first minute, it was actually a bit of a disappointing result but all we needed to get through in the return leg was a clean sheet.
3 days later, Ajax dropped points yet again whilst we recorded a win over Heerenveen.
That meant we were now 6 points clear with 7 games remaining, it was beginning to look like we were about to do the unthinkable and actually win the league!
The next 2 matches were huge - the second leg at home to Rangers and an away match against Ajax in the league.
Joel Ideho decided to take things into his own hands against Rangers.
Who needs Promes anyway? Ideho’s 2 goals ensured that we progressed to the quarter-finals of the Europa League!
And we have a very tasty quarter-final tie against Roma.
However, those celebrations had to be short-lived as our tired squad faced Ajax 3 days later in their biggest game of the season.
A loss would let Ajax back into the title race, whereas a win would be unbelievable...
And we only went and beat them!
I can’t quite believe I’m saying this but our team of Dutch players - none of whom are in the Dutch national squad - are 9 points clear at the top of the Eredivisie with 6 games remaining!
Surely the league is ours this season?
Hampus Silverholt
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After the euphoria of the Ajax win, we needed to be on it in our next match against Vitesse. In the end, it was a comfortable 2-0 win with Emegha scoring his 44th of the season!
That was our 14th Eredivisie win in a row - there are only 17 teams in the league!
Then we got hit with some potentially season-defining news. Sepp van den Berg, our best defender who has played in 41/45 matches this season, was ruled out for 4 months.
It cruelly ruled him out of our Europa League campaign and end of season run-in after being an integral part of our team all season.
Our reaction to that that potentially damaging news? Beating RKC Waalwijk 5-0!
We’re actually going to win the league, aren’t we?
With confidence sky-high, I decided to keep our positive approach away against Roma in the first leg of our Europa League quarter-final.
It turned out to be the wrong decision, but Emegha’s late goal gave us hope going into the second leg and if this season has taught us anything, it is that we can achieve the impossible.
Our winning streak in the Eredivisie was finally ended by VVV Venlo of all teams in our 31st match of the season.
But by this point, it doesn’t even matter. With goal difference on our side, we need to win 1 of our remaining 3 matches to win the Eredivisie.
We have both PEC Zwolle and ADO Den Haag at home in those matches so surely we’re not bottling it from here.
The only way things could get better would be if we overturned a 2 goal deficit against Roma in the second leg of the quarter-final.
Wow! This team is unbelievable.
A Joel Ideho inspired comeback means that we’ll face Real Sociedad in the Europa League semi-final.
The other semi-final looks rather interesting too...
If you think us on the verge of winning the Eredivisie is good, just imagine a Rotterdam derby in the Europa League final...
That was our 14th Eredivisie win in a row - there are only 17 teams in the league!
Then we got hit with some potentially season-defining news. Sepp van den Berg, our best defender who has played in 41/45 matches this season, was ruled out for 4 months.
It cruelly ruled him out of our Europa League campaign and end of season run-in after being an integral part of our team all season.
Our reaction to that that potentially damaging news? Beating RKC Waalwijk 5-0!
We’re actually going to win the league, aren’t we?
With confidence sky-high, I decided to keep our positive approach away against Roma in the first leg of our Europa League quarter-final.
It turned out to be the wrong decision, but Emegha’s late goal gave us hope going into the second leg and if this season has taught us anything, it is that we can achieve the impossible.
Our winning streak in the Eredivisie was finally ended by VVV Venlo of all teams in our 31st match of the season.
But by this point, it doesn’t even matter. With goal difference on our side, we need to win 1 of our remaining 3 matches to win the Eredivisie.
We have both PEC Zwolle and ADO Den Haag at home in those matches so surely we’re not bottling it from here.
The only way things could get better would be if we overturned a 2 goal deficit against Roma in the second leg of the quarter-final.
Wow! This team is unbelievable.
A Joel Ideho inspired comeback means that we’ll face Real Sociedad in the Europa League semi-final.
The other semi-final looks rather interesting too...
If you think us on the verge of winning the Eredivisie is good, just imagine a Rotterdam derby in the Europa League final...
Hampus Silverholt
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With us on the verge of winning the league, first-choice goalkeeper Rody de Boer picked up an injury that ruled him out for the rest of the season.
It meant that my decision to buy Kjell Scherpen for £1.6m at the start of the season was completely justified. He’s been on the bench all season and wants to leave, but first he has to win the Eredivisie and play in the Europa League semi-final for us!
The injury made little difference to the result against PEC Zwolle, as we smashed them 4-0.
With just 2 matches remaining, there was no way PSV were catching our goal difference. If they dropped points against NAC in the late kick-off then that would officially confirm us as champions of Holland.
And that is just what happened.
WE HAVE WON THE EREDIVISIE!
It’s the first time Sparta Rotterdam have won the top division since 1959 and is a simply stunning achievement from our squad that was predicted to finish 6th at the start of the campaign
It was so pleasing to win it with 2 games to spare, as it meant that we could put all our focus into the Europa League semi-final versus Real Sociedad.
The first leg ended in a decent draw for us, but it could’ve been so much more with Emegha missing a penalty in the final minutes.
A rotated side then beat Feyenoord in the league, who were also resting players because of their Europa League semi-final.
It was great preparation for the second leg against Real Sociedad where a clean sheet would take us into the Europa League final.
Both semi-finals were taking place at the same time in Rotterdam, just imagine that actually happening…
After doing all the hard work up until this point in the Europa League, we were undone by 3 Sociedad away goals.
It just wasn’t meant to be - I think I knew that after Emegha’s penalty miss in the first leg and the fact that we failed to convert multiple chances in the second leg.
I can’t be disappointed with that after the season we had. But having seen Feyenoord overturn a 3-1 defeat to Marseille it did leave me thinking what might’ve been.
It’s a bit gutting to miss out on the unique opportunity to play them in the Europa League final but at the same time…
We’ve won the Eredivisie!
It meant that my decision to buy Kjell Scherpen for £1.6m at the start of the season was completely justified. He’s been on the bench all season and wants to leave, but first he has to win the Eredivisie and play in the Europa League semi-final for us!
The injury made little difference to the result against PEC Zwolle, as we smashed them 4-0.
With just 2 matches remaining, there was no way PSV were catching our goal difference. If they dropped points against NAC in the late kick-off then that would officially confirm us as champions of Holland.
And that is just what happened.
WE HAVE WON THE EREDIVISIE!
It’s the first time Sparta Rotterdam have won the top division since 1959 and is a simply stunning achievement from our squad that was predicted to finish 6th at the start of the campaign
It was so pleasing to win it with 2 games to spare, as it meant that we could put all our focus into the Europa League semi-final versus Real Sociedad.
The first leg ended in a decent draw for us, but it could’ve been so much more with Emegha missing a penalty in the final minutes.
A rotated side then beat Feyenoord in the league, who were also resting players because of their Europa League semi-final.
It was great preparation for the second leg against Real Sociedad where a clean sheet would take us into the Europa League final.
Both semi-finals were taking place at the same time in Rotterdam, just imagine that actually happening…
After doing all the hard work up until this point in the Europa League, we were undone by 3 Sociedad away goals.
It just wasn’t meant to be - I think I knew that after Emegha’s penalty miss in the first leg and the fact that we failed to convert multiple chances in the second leg.
I can’t be disappointed with that after the season we had. But having seen Feyenoord overturn a 3-1 defeat to Marseille it did leave me thinking what might’ve been.
It’s a bit gutting to miss out on the unique opportunity to play them in the Europa League final but at the same time…
We’ve won the Eredivisie!
Hampus Silverholt
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Our 5th season as Sparta Rotterdam manager ended with a very unexpected league title in what was an incredible year for us.
In our final game against ADO Den Haag, Emanuel Emegha got his 50th and 51st goals of the season... I’ve never had a striker with a goalscoring record like his!
He finally won the Eredivisie Golden Boot after finishing 2nd in the previous 4 seasons. What a player!
His partner in crime this season was Dominique Maysonnave, who got 18 league goals as a shadow striker.
It was an incredible effort from our Dutch squad and it’s absolutely crazy that we’ve won the league in Holland yet none of our Dutch squad is in the current national team setup!
Davy Klaasen and Quincy Promes were inspired signings in January, with the former getting 8 assists for us. It’s amazing how they couldn’t get a game at Ajax yet won the league with us!
We astonishingly beat Ajax to the title with the 9th highest salary in the league... We spend £8.4m a year and Ajax spend £68.3m!
But it wasn’t just domestic success, we also made it to the Europa League semi-final and should’ve done better than that!
Our city rivals Feyenoord actually won the competition in the end meaning they qualify for the Champions League next season. It means Holland will have 7 teams in Europe next season!
Emegha got the golden boot in the Europa League too, naturally.
And we got news from the board that a new stadium is being built. It will be completed in two years time and the 25,500 capacity is nearly double the current capacity.
Despite us spending £35m on the new stadium, we still have £20m to spend in the summer.
Even though we’re Dutch champions it’s going to be hard to convince the quality Dutch players to join us so it might be a summer of trying to keep our best players rather than buying new ones!
In our final game against ADO Den Haag, Emanuel Emegha got his 50th and 51st goals of the season... I’ve never had a striker with a goalscoring record like his!
He finally won the Eredivisie Golden Boot after finishing 2nd in the previous 4 seasons. What a player!
His partner in crime this season was Dominique Maysonnave, who got 18 league goals as a shadow striker.
It was an incredible effort from our Dutch squad and it’s absolutely crazy that we’ve won the league in Holland yet none of our Dutch squad is in the current national team setup!
Davy Klaasen and Quincy Promes were inspired signings in January, with the former getting 8 assists for us. It’s amazing how they couldn’t get a game at Ajax yet won the league with us!
We astonishingly beat Ajax to the title with the 9th highest salary in the league... We spend £8.4m a year and Ajax spend £68.3m!
But it wasn’t just domestic success, we also made it to the Europa League semi-final and should’ve done better than that!
Our city rivals Feyenoord actually won the competition in the end meaning they qualify for the Champions League next season. It means Holland will have 7 teams in Europe next season!
Emegha got the golden boot in the Europa League too, naturally.
And we got news from the board that a new stadium is being built. It will be completed in two years time and the 25,500 capacity is nearly double the current capacity.
Despite us spending £35m on the new stadium, we still have £20m to spend in the summer.
Even though we’re Dutch champions it’s going to be hard to convince the quality Dutch players to join us so it might be a summer of trying to keep our best players rather than buying new ones!
Hampus Silverholt
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At the end of the season, Holland manager Frank de Boer came to watch Sparta Rotterdam and apparently had his eye on 8 players.
When the squad for the Nations League Finals was announced, 2 Sparta players were in. Emegha was no surprise but I was not expecting goalkeeper Rody de Boer to be in the squad.
When the squad for the Nations League Finals was announced, 2 Sparta players were in. Emegha was no surprise but I was not expecting goalkeeper Rody de Boer to be in the squad.
And finally, a Sparta Rotterdam player has played for Holland! All it took was 51 goals in a season for Emegha to get his first cap!
Goalkeeper De Boer then got his first cap for Holland in a friendly against Uruguay - a game in which Emegha scored his first goal for his country!
De Boer has been such a solid keeper for us over the last 2 seasons after being backup at AZ and PSV. He also cost less than £1m and I didn’t really expect him to be good enough to play for Holland.
Our first choice right-back for the last 4 years has been Giovanni Troupee. He cost just £650,000 and is such a crucial player for us but right-back is an area we’re looking to improve in the summer.
Maxim Gullit is another player that cost less than £1m and has been solid for us in the past few years. No doubt his father Ruud would be proud of his success last season!
Abdou Harrouri is our club captain and longest-serving player. He’s been an ever-present in midfield since the start of the save!
In contrast, Davy Klaassen has only been at the club for 6 months but was such a solid signing and ended the season with 8 assists. I’m hoping those physicals don't deteriorate next year!
Joel Ideho is another player who deserves praise after scoring 9 goals last season. I’m in two minds as to whether to extend his loan given the talent we have coming through so he might’ve played his last game for the club.
Bram van den Berg only made a few appearances for the first team last season but I have big hopes for the recently turned 18-year-old.
The same can be said for Murat Kacar and Joeri Bresser who played more of an important part in the first team last season. They were both bought as 16-year-olds for less than £1m and still have plenty of time to improve.
Last but not least is Marcelencio Kastiel. He’s still our record signing at £3.6m and started 33 times in all competitions last year.
I can already confirm that the record transfer has been broken...
Hampus Silverholt
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The 2025/26 season is upon us and after winning our first Eredivisie title last season with an entirely Dutch squad, we have obliterated our transfer record to sign a top Dutch talent.
That is because we have spent £11m on Aurelio Oehlers from Utrecht.
It’s a lot of money but he’s still only 21 and is only going to get better.
A far more underwhelming signing was Jairo Riedewald on a free from Brighton. In all honesty, I don’t really know why I made this deal as we don’t really need him...
But our two most important signings have both been season-long loans for players from Manchester City.
The first is Nathan Ake.
I have no idea how, but we’ve managed to get him on loan for the year and will be paying an extortionate £54,000 a week for him to be at the club.
Another quality, Dutch player who just so happened to be at Man City was Jayden Braaf... He has also joined us on a season-long loan.
He’s so good that the star ratings for all of our other players have gone down. The uncapped winger was on loan at Dortmund last season and played in the Champions League quarter-final for them.
More importantly though, we haven’t sold any of our best players yet and I am also very tempted to bring 34-year-old Gini Wijnaldum to the club…
Those transfers mean we now have a quality front 4 who I’m really excited to unleash on the Eredivisie this season. Braaf and Oehlers will provide more firepower to Maysonnave and Emegha who scored 73 goals between them last season!
It also means that we are predicted to finish 4th this season, which is still the highest we’ve been predicted to finish despite finishing in the top 3 for the past 4 seasons.
We also won the Johan Cruyff Shield for the first time, defeating Ajax in the final thanks to Maysonnave’s last-minute winner. It shows that we have an interesting season ahead of us as our squad is only going to get better.
Retaining the Eredivisie will be really tough but I’m also intrigued as to how far our team of young Dutch players can go in the Champions League. Let’s get into it!
That is because we have spent £11m on Aurelio Oehlers from Utrecht.
It’s a lot of money but he’s still only 21 and is only going to get better.
A far more underwhelming signing was Jairo Riedewald on a free from Brighton. In all honesty, I don’t really know why I made this deal as we don’t really need him...
But our two most important signings have both been season-long loans for players from Manchester City.
The first is Nathan Ake.
I have no idea how, but we’ve managed to get him on loan for the year and will be paying an extortionate £54,000 a week for him to be at the club.
Another quality, Dutch player who just so happened to be at Man City was Jayden Braaf... He has also joined us on a season-long loan.
He’s so good that the star ratings for all of our other players have gone down. The uncapped winger was on loan at Dortmund last season and played in the Champions League quarter-final for them.
More importantly though, we haven’t sold any of our best players yet and I am also very tempted to bring 34-year-old Gini Wijnaldum to the club…
Those transfers mean we now have a quality front 4 who I’m really excited to unleash on the Eredivisie this season. Braaf and Oehlers will provide more firepower to Maysonnave and Emegha who scored 73 goals between them last season!
It also means that we are predicted to finish 4th this season, which is still the highest we’ve been predicted to finish despite finishing in the top 3 for the past 4 seasons.
We also won the Johan Cruyff Shield for the first time, defeating Ajax in the final thanks to Maysonnave’s last-minute winner. It shows that we have an interesting season ahead of us as our squad is only going to get better.
Retaining the Eredivisie will be really tough but I’m also intrigued as to how far our team of young Dutch players can go in the Champions League. Let’s get into it!
leckuno
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Those are some amazing signings you've made there which can hopefully only take you forward. Oehlers is class from what I've seen of him on the game and if anything you should be able to sell him for a massive profit.
Hampus Silverholt
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I hope so! I'm excited to see what he can do now I've finally been able to spend more than £3m on a player and offer wages more than £20,000 per week!
Hampus Silverholt
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We’ve made an ideal start in our defence of the Eredivisie, winning all 4 of our opening matches.
Other teams in the league have made strong starts too, meaning that we currently sit in 3rd place. Heerenveen look like world-beaters all of a sudden and have scored 19 goals already!
We’ll also be taking part in the Champions League group stage for the 2nd time in the save and have been drawn in a group with Dortmund, Lille and Sevilla.
There are 4 Dutch teams in the Champions League group stage this year with Ajax qualifying through their league position, Feyenoord because they won the Europa League and PSV getting through the qualifying rounds.
It’s done no harm for the coefficients as Holland is close to overtaking France!
And our striker Dominique Maysonnave was handed his first callup to Holland along with Ake and goalkeeper De Boer.
He became the 3rd Sparta player to play for Holland in this save!
He’s probably our best player and has been incredible for us since coming through our first ever youth intake, scoring the winner in the cup final 2 seasons ago.
In fact, he’s so good that Chelsea came in with a bid of £74m for him...
He wasn’t happy when i rejected it, so I promised to sell him at the end of the season… we’ll worry about that promise next summer!
So now the season truly starts. I want to finish 3rd at a minimum in our Champions League group so it’s going to be interesting to see how we do!
Other teams in the league have made strong starts too, meaning that we currently sit in 3rd place. Heerenveen look like world-beaters all of a sudden and have scored 19 goals already!
We’ll also be taking part in the Champions League group stage for the 2nd time in the save and have been drawn in a group with Dortmund, Lille and Sevilla.
There are 4 Dutch teams in the Champions League group stage this year with Ajax qualifying through their league position, Feyenoord because they won the Europa League and PSV getting through the qualifying rounds.
It’s done no harm for the coefficients as Holland is close to overtaking France!
And our striker Dominique Maysonnave was handed his first callup to Holland along with Ake and goalkeeper De Boer.
He became the 3rd Sparta player to play for Holland in this save!
He’s probably our best player and has been incredible for us since coming through our first ever youth intake, scoring the winner in the cup final 2 seasons ago.
In fact, he’s so good that Chelsea came in with a bid of £74m for him...
He wasn’t happy when i rejected it, so I promised to sell him at the end of the season… we’ll worry about that promise next summer!
So now the season truly starts. I want to finish 3rd at a minimum in our Champions League group so it’s going to be interesting to see how we do!
FM_TNSSO
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The loan signings from City will be massive for you this season I think, and could really see you go further in the Champions League assuming they both stay fit. Not quite sure how you turned down that £74 million!!! I'd have been seriously tempted!
Hampus Silverholt
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Didn't even consider the bid, which is not normally the case for me! Our team is based around him and given the fact I'm using Dutch players only he's pretty much priceless as he came through our first youth intake. Having said that, I think I have a ready-made replacement in this guy:
Hampus Silverholt
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During the international break, Emanuel Emegha picked up an injury that would rule him out of our next few matches. It’s the first injury I can remember him having in the save!
Then a few days later Jayden Braaf got injured too.
It obviously impacted us in our next game as we went onto draw against Willem II despite going 2-0 up after 3 minutes.
And to make matters worse Oehlers picked up an injury in that game too! That left us down to the bare bones attacking wise going into our first Champions League group stage game versus Lille.
But it didn’t matter as we put in a brilliant performance in France.
Mohamed Sankoh rose to the challenge of being our main attacking threat with a second half goal to add to Davy Klaassen’s first half strike.
In fact, all 7 Dutch teams in European competition won in the first gameweek, including PSV beating Juventus 5-1, so we’re on course to overtake France in the coefficients table!
Our next group stage game was at home to the strongest team in the group, Borussia Dortmund. It was a game that contained an incredible second-half fight back.
We managed to draw 3-3, with Jayden Braaf scoring in the last minute against the club he was on loan at last season! Incredible!
That means our group is looking evenly poised and our next 2 matches against Sevilla will likely determine if we finish 2nd or 3rd.
As for the Eredivisie, we’ve won our last 3 games without conceding but are still in 3rd position. There’s already a huge gap between the top 5 and the rest of the league with Utrecht and AZ both struggling lower down in the table
Goalkeeper De Boer has 6 clean sheets in 8 matches but to be honest we haven’t really played anybody of note yet.
That changes after the international break, as we face Ajax 3 days before Sevilla in the Champions League.
Our key players have returned from injury so I’m really intrigued to see how we fare against the overwhelming favourites for the Eredivisie.
Then a few days later Jayden Braaf got injured too.
It obviously impacted us in our next game as we went onto draw against Willem II despite going 2-0 up after 3 minutes.
And to make matters worse Oehlers picked up an injury in that game too! That left us down to the bare bones attacking wise going into our first Champions League group stage game versus Lille.
But it didn’t matter as we put in a brilliant performance in France.
Mohamed Sankoh rose to the challenge of being our main attacking threat with a second half goal to add to Davy Klaassen’s first half strike.
In fact, all 7 Dutch teams in European competition won in the first gameweek, including PSV beating Juventus 5-1, so we’re on course to overtake France in the coefficients table!
Our next group stage game was at home to the strongest team in the group, Borussia Dortmund. It was a game that contained an incredible second-half fight back.
We managed to draw 3-3, with Jayden Braaf scoring in the last minute against the club he was on loan at last season! Incredible!
That means our group is looking evenly poised and our next 2 matches against Sevilla will likely determine if we finish 2nd or 3rd.
As for the Eredivisie, we’ve won our last 3 games without conceding but are still in 3rd position. There’s already a huge gap between the top 5 and the rest of the league with Utrecht and AZ both struggling lower down in the table
Goalkeeper De Boer has 6 clean sheets in 8 matches but to be honest we haven’t really played anybody of note yet.
That changes after the international break, as we face Ajax 3 days before Sevilla in the Champions League.
Our key players have returned from injury so I’m really intrigued to see how we fare against the overwhelming favourites for the Eredivisie.
Hampus Silverholt
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Our toughest match of the season on paper is away against Ajax, so drawing that game 0-0 is a very good result considering the strength of their side.
3 days later we faced Sevilla in the Champions League, where Alfredo Morelos did what Alfredo Morelos does by getting sent off. That allowed us to finally break them down thanks to another late goal from Braaf in the Champions League.
So after 3 group stage games we’re looking good to make the knockout rounds, but it’s not just us... all 4 Dutch clubs are on course to make it to the last 16 of the competition!
The defensive solidity continued for us after that as in our next 3 league games, we conceded no goals.
That string of results included a 0-0 draw against the surprise package of the season Heerenveen, where they literally had 0 shots in the whole match!
We went into the reverse fixture against Sevilla on a run of 6 clean sheets in a row…so of course we conceded 3 goals.
That told half the story though as it was another incredible fightback in the Champions League. Two injury time goals salvaged a 3-3 draw in what was an almost identical game to our first group stage match against Dortmund.
We've scored 5 of our 7 Champions League goals this season in second-half stoppage time which is mental!
Those goals also mean that we need one more win to make it to the last 16 with our entirely Dutch squad. One of those games is at home to Lille, so you would think that we are pretty much there!
Domestically it is incredibly tight at the top and we’ve still not lost yet this season in any competition!
Heerenveen are still performing way above expectations and have scored 38 goals compared to our 24 and all of the top 4 have extremely good defensive records so far.
Inside forward Jayden Braaf is finally starting to hit form and is our top scorer this season with 7 goals whereas captain Harrouri has been solid in midfield and has the highest average rating out of the squad of 7.56.
Once again, we find ourselves looking at another very promising season but it is a season that is going to be defined by our next set of games.
We play the 5 best teams in the league (other than ourselves) in a row. That’s PSV, AZ, Utrecht, Feyenoord and Ajax consecutively. We’ve never had a fixture list like it!
It’s literally the toughest 5 games of the Eredivisie season all in a row so the league table could be looking a lot different by the end of those games!
3 days later we faced Sevilla in the Champions League, where Alfredo Morelos did what Alfredo Morelos does by getting sent off. That allowed us to finally break them down thanks to another late goal from Braaf in the Champions League.
So after 3 group stage games we’re looking good to make the knockout rounds, but it’s not just us... all 4 Dutch clubs are on course to make it to the last 16 of the competition!
The defensive solidity continued for us after that as in our next 3 league games, we conceded no goals.
That string of results included a 0-0 draw against the surprise package of the season Heerenveen, where they literally had 0 shots in the whole match!
We went into the reverse fixture against Sevilla on a run of 6 clean sheets in a row…so of course we conceded 3 goals.
That told half the story though as it was another incredible fightback in the Champions League. Two injury time goals salvaged a 3-3 draw in what was an almost identical game to our first group stage match against Dortmund.
We've scored 5 of our 7 Champions League goals this season in second-half stoppage time which is mental!
Those goals also mean that we need one more win to make it to the last 16 with our entirely Dutch squad. One of those games is at home to Lille, so you would think that we are pretty much there!
Domestically it is incredibly tight at the top and we’ve still not lost yet this season in any competition!
Heerenveen are still performing way above expectations and have scored 38 goals compared to our 24 and all of the top 4 have extremely good defensive records so far.
Inside forward Jayden Braaf is finally starting to hit form and is our top scorer this season with 7 goals whereas captain Harrouri has been solid in midfield and has the highest average rating out of the squad of 7.56.
Once again, we find ourselves looking at another very promising season but it is a season that is going to be defined by our next set of games.
We play the 5 best teams in the league (other than ourselves) in a row. That’s PSV, AZ, Utrecht, Feyenoord and Ajax consecutively. We’ve never had a fixture list like it!
It’s literally the toughest 5 games of the Eredivisie season all in a row so the league table could be looking a lot different by the end of those games!
Love it mate. Sparta actually became one of my favourite teams a couple years ago after a career with them on Fm19.
Managed to get them to win 3 champions leagues in a row and when I left Mourinho took over, which felt huge for some reason! Ha ha.
Great read so far and some cracking players - can't believe how good that first season regen is!
Managed to get them to win 3 champions leagues in a row and when I left Mourinho took over, which felt huge for some reason! Ha ha.
Great read so far and some cracking players - can't believe how good that first season regen is!
Hampus Silverholt
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Yeah there's definitely something about them, just the fact they're the oldest professional club in Holland and I really love their stadium too.
I honestly think winning the Champions League with an all-Dutch squad is possible, especially given the fact we can produce regens like Maysonnave, but it's taken me 3 months just to do 4 seasons so time may not be on my side...
Hampus Silverholt
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The dreaded run of fixtures started in the best possible way, with a remarkable 3-2 win over PSV thanks to Maysonnave’s winner in the 89th minute. We just love getting late goals this season!
We followed that with the most disgustingly one-sided 1-1 draw in history.
Thankfully, that point against Lille secured our qualification to the Champions League Knockout Rounds for the first time in our history. Not bad for a bunch of Dutch kids!
The draw also ensured that we broke a new team record of going 21 games unbeaten!
Despite a long term injury to Sankoh hampering us, the results just kept on improving with us beating AZ 2-0 and Utrecht 3-1.
A 2-0 win over Feyenoord made me question why I even worried about the ‘tough’ run of games… we were making things look easy! (Although we did have goalkeeper Rody de Boer to thank for saving a penalty at 0-0 in that game)
The winning streak was finally ended by Ajax, where for once we were undone by a late goal.
And with second place guaranteed in our Champions League group, I played the backups away against Dortmund... even that game went well!
A brilliant 1-1 draw meant that we finished second in Group E with 10 points.
Ajax and Feyenoord joined us in the last 16 of the Champions League as all of us finished 2nd in our groups.
So it didn’t really matter who we got in the draw as whoever we faced would be massive favourites. Our First Knockout Round opponents will be Juventus.
They actually finished 3rd in Serie A last season so there might be a slight, remote chance of us getting through… maybe?
They’ll be dealing with a seriously in-form team as our year ended with another win and another clean sheet. We got 4 wins and a draw from the run of 5 matches which I was dreading!
The only bad thing to happen was that we needed extra time to beat lower league opposition in the cup but we end 2025 on top of the Eredivisie and look on course to retain our title.
We have gone through the entire calendar year without losing a game in the Eredivisie and are now 50 games unbeaten in the competition, which is ridiculous!
What a year it has been and what a team we are building!
We followed that with the most disgustingly one-sided 1-1 draw in history.
Thankfully, that point against Lille secured our qualification to the Champions League Knockout Rounds for the first time in our history. Not bad for a bunch of Dutch kids!
The draw also ensured that we broke a new team record of going 21 games unbeaten!
Despite a long term injury to Sankoh hampering us, the results just kept on improving with us beating AZ 2-0 and Utrecht 3-1.
A 2-0 win over Feyenoord made me question why I even worried about the ‘tough’ run of games… we were making things look easy! (Although we did have goalkeeper Rody de Boer to thank for saving a penalty at 0-0 in that game)
The winning streak was finally ended by Ajax, where for once we were undone by a late goal.
And with second place guaranteed in our Champions League group, I played the backups away against Dortmund... even that game went well!
A brilliant 1-1 draw meant that we finished second in Group E with 10 points.
Ajax and Feyenoord joined us in the last 16 of the Champions League as all of us finished 2nd in our groups.
So it didn’t really matter who we got in the draw as whoever we faced would be massive favourites. Our First Knockout Round opponents will be Juventus.
They actually finished 3rd in Serie A last season so there might be a slight, remote chance of us getting through… maybe?
They’ll be dealing with a seriously in-form team as our year ended with another win and another clean sheet. We got 4 wins and a draw from the run of 5 matches which I was dreading!
The only bad thing to happen was that we needed extra time to beat lower league opposition in the cup but we end 2025 on top of the Eredivisie and look on course to retain our title.
We have gone through the entire calendar year without losing a game in the Eredivisie and are now 50 games unbeaten in the competition, which is ridiculous!
What a year it has been and what a team we are building!
Hampus Silverholt
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The January transfer window is normally a quiet time for us and I only had one deal planned, which was to finally make Dillon Hoogewer a permanent Sparta player.
I wanted to get him on a free when his contract expired in the summer but with other clubs snooping around, I decided to pay Man United £5m.
And that was all the business I planned to do… until Shandong Luneng bid £16m for Maxim Gullit.
He’s been so good for us but I felt £16m was a great price for a player that wasn't first choice and who we signed for less than £1m
The deal made sense because we found an almost identical replacement in Micky van de Ven. He cost just £4.8m after falling out of favour at Ajax and as much as it hurts to see Gullit go, it just made financial sense to do it.
But with some cash to splash, and with Ki-Jana Hoever finally becoming affordable, we went crazy and spent £13m to bring him to the club from Wolves.
That concluded a pretty successful transfer window for us.
I was extremely close to paying the £19.5m release fee for Nik Bos from Vitesse, who is tearing it apart for them this season, but have decided to wait until the summer instead.
Coincidently, Buitink from Vitesse moved to Man United for £22m in January. I had the chance to get him for £8m a few years ago and am very much regretting that choice!
We only played a couple of league games in January but won them all with ease and are also through to the quarter finals of the cup.
Despite having won 18 of our 22 Eredivisie matches, we’re still only 4 points ahead of Ajax whereas PSV and Feyenoord aren’t too far behind either
It’s going to be an interesting second half to the season!
I wanted to get him on a free when his contract expired in the summer but with other clubs snooping around, I decided to pay Man United £5m.
And that was all the business I planned to do… until Shandong Luneng bid £16m for Maxim Gullit.
He’s been so good for us but I felt £16m was a great price for a player that wasn't first choice and who we signed for less than £1m
The deal made sense because we found an almost identical replacement in Micky van de Ven. He cost just £4.8m after falling out of favour at Ajax and as much as it hurts to see Gullit go, it just made financial sense to do it.
But with some cash to splash, and with Ki-Jana Hoever finally becoming affordable, we went crazy and spent £13m to bring him to the club from Wolves.
That concluded a pretty successful transfer window for us.
I was extremely close to paying the £19.5m release fee for Nik Bos from Vitesse, who is tearing it apart for them this season, but have decided to wait until the summer instead.
Coincidently, Buitink from Vitesse moved to Man United for £22m in January. I had the chance to get him for £8m a few years ago and am very much regretting that choice!
We only played a couple of league games in January but won them all with ease and are also through to the quarter finals of the cup.
Despite having won 18 of our 22 Eredivisie matches, we’re still only 4 points ahead of Ajax whereas PSV and Feyenoord aren’t too far behind either
It’s going to be an interesting second half to the season!
Hampus Silverholt
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We’re 7 months into the 2025/26 season and have finally lost a game!
The circumstances behind the loss were alarming though, as we shipped 4 goals to city rivals Feyenoord in the Dutch cup quarter final.
We needed a big response in our next 2 matches but weren’t convincing in a draw against AZ and a nervy win over VVV Venlo
After being defensively solid all season, suddenly we’re a team who concedes loads of goals… which is concerning given the fact that Juventus are our next opponent in the last 16 of the Champions League.
However, we’re still unbeaten in the league, top of the table and hold the Eredivisie record for number of consecutive games without losing.
I’m not expecting to get anything from the Juventus game but if we do, we’re going to need Emmanuel Emegha to show up.
He scored 51 goals in all competitions last season but has been less potent this yaer and is without a goal in his last 4 games
It also feels like the stage is set for Dominique Maysonnave. He wants to leave to go to a bigger club, so the least he can do is prove he is good enough to compete in the Champions League Knockout Round.
Right then, let’s see how good we truly are!
The circumstances behind the loss were alarming though, as we shipped 4 goals to city rivals Feyenoord in the Dutch cup quarter final.
We needed a big response in our next 2 matches but weren’t convincing in a draw against AZ and a nervy win over VVV Venlo
After being defensively solid all season, suddenly we’re a team who concedes loads of goals… which is concerning given the fact that Juventus are our next opponent in the last 16 of the Champions League.
However, we’re still unbeaten in the league, top of the table and hold the Eredivisie record for number of consecutive games without losing.
I’m not expecting to get anything from the Juventus game but if we do, we’re going to need Emmanuel Emegha to show up.
He scored 51 goals in all competitions last season but has been less potent this yaer and is without a goal in his last 4 games
It also feels like the stage is set for Dominique Maysonnave. He wants to leave to go to a bigger club, so the least he can do is prove he is good enough to compete in the Champions League Knockout Round.
Right then, let’s see how good we truly are!
Hampus Silverholt
Member
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- Oct 4, 2017
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- 2,239
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- 113
Juventus at home in the first leg of the Champions League 1st Knockout Round - no doubt that this was the biggest game of the save so far
We had a full-strength, 100% Dutch side with van den Berg back from injury to partner on-loan Ake in defence.
And that team only went and won the first leg! Juventus missed countless chances before Emegha popped up with a huge goal with 5 minutes remaining.
We then played an almost perfect 3 league games before the second leg, winning all of the matches with ease
With Juve predicted to play 3-4-1-2, I really was confident that we could get through to the quarter-finals.
So, I must admit, I didn’t expect to be 5-0 down at half time.
It was ridiculous. Juve literally scored with every attack they had and the crazy thing was that we weren’t even bad! We had more xG than them and were down 5-0!
And that’s how the game ended.
It was the most even 5-0 loss in history.
I honestly don’t know what more we could’ve done. We could’ve quite easily drawn that game and be through to the quarter finals!
Instead, we now have just 6 games of our season remaining as we’re also no longer in the Dutch cup.
We have a 5 point advantage over Ajax due to our good league form so look on course to retain the Eredivisie, which would be an incredible achievement for a side predicted to finish in 4th
The upset of the Juventus result would be forgotten if we went an entire season unbeaten!
We had a full-strength, 100% Dutch side with van den Berg back from injury to partner on-loan Ake in defence.
And that team only went and won the first leg! Juventus missed countless chances before Emegha popped up with a huge goal with 5 minutes remaining.
We then played an almost perfect 3 league games before the second leg, winning all of the matches with ease
With Juve predicted to play 3-4-1-2, I really was confident that we could get through to the quarter-finals.
So, I must admit, I didn’t expect to be 5-0 down at half time.
It was ridiculous. Juve literally scored with every attack they had and the crazy thing was that we weren’t even bad! We had more xG than them and were down 5-0!
And that’s how the game ended.
It was the most even 5-0 loss in history.
I honestly don’t know what more we could’ve done. We could’ve quite easily drawn that game and be through to the quarter finals!
Instead, we now have just 6 games of our season remaining as we’re also no longer in the Dutch cup.
We have a 5 point advantage over Ajax due to our good league form so look on course to retain the Eredivisie, which would be an incredible achievement for a side predicted to finish in 4th
The upset of the Juventus result would be forgotten if we went an entire season unbeaten!