Sparta Rotterdam have announced that Rogier Meijer will be their new head coach. The former NEC Nijmegen head coach joins the club from Bayer Leverkusen, where he had been working as an assistant. Meijer takes over from Maurice Steijn, who spent two years with Sparta Rotterdam before announcing that he would depart the club a few months ago. For Meijer, speaking to the club website, he stated that he wanted the opportunity to be a head coach once again after just one season working as an assistant with Bayer Leverkusen.

Meijer takes over a Sparta Rotterdam side that finished the Eredivisie season in 10th place, five points behind FC Groningen and a place in the play-offs for the final European ticket. Meijer takes over at a club with plenty of history in Dutch football, even if that success was realised many years ago. Sparta Rotterdam have won the Eredivisie six times, although the last of these came in 1959. They have also won the domestic cup on three occasions, with the last of these victories coming in 1966.