The Zilveren Bal ( Dutch : Silver Ball ) was a football tournament featuring clubs from the Netherlands that was held annually in Rotterdam prior to each season from 1901 to 1956.
59-518: The tournament was created in 1901 by Sparta Rotterdam , in the aftermath of their relegation from the top-flight. The trophy is a ball made up of silver, hence its name. The Zilveren Bal tournament was for many years the most important cup tournament in the Netherlands, even more important than the Holdert Cup (now known as KNVB Cup ). The hosts Sparta never succeeded in lifting the silver ball, unlike
118-458: A Sparta match. In the years that followed, Queen Wilhelmina, Princess Juliana, and Prince Bernhard also visited the stadium, among other things to attend the annual Blood Transfusion Competition, a charity initiative that earned Sparta a high award from the Dutch Red Cross on its golden jubilee. Until the 2002–03 season , Sparta had always played at the highest level, but after they appointed
177-543: A coach for the first time, the Englishman Edgar Chadwick , which undoubtedly contributed to the success. Star players Bok de Korver , Huug de Groot , and Cas Ruffelse also played a pivotal role in helping Sparta dominate the nation during these years. On 15 October 1916, Sparta moved for the last time, this time to Sparta's new stadium, Het Kasteel (The Castle), in the Spangen area of west Rotterdam. The move
236-461: A free transfer. Gonzalo returned to his employer Groningen , while Sandro Calabro signed with Swiss side St. Gallen . The club contracted Ruud Boymans and the Nigerian Ahmed Musa to strengthen the squad for the 2010–11 season. They avoided relegation, but it was a harsh season in which Jan van Dijk was fired and former international Patrick Paauwe terminated his contract after losing
295-580: A legendary manager of the club, and Japanese agent Tetsuro Kiyooka were a bridge between the Japanese players and the club. The official club mascot since 1 July 2004 is a dog named "Koelie" (English: Coolie ) . The Jan Klaassens Museum, set up in 2003 is located in the city center of Venlo and is operated by the Limburgs Museum. Since 2005, VVV has annually presented the Jan Klaassens Award to
354-500: A single Dutch league match. The next home match against Go Ahead [ nl ] from Wageningen is an important one as both teams have a shot at winning the 2nd division championship, and thus it attracted 1500 spectators. Sparta lost 2–4, which still is their only loss in the 2nd division, but then won the away game (0–2) in February, thus finishing the season with the same amount of points, and since there were no tie-breakers at
413-483: A symbolic ten-year contract, after a video featuring him scoring a hat trick into a toy box became popular. Honda was replaced by Gonzalo and the club signed Japanese player Maya Yoshida . The departure of Honda turned out to be a key point in the club's season. In the second half of the season, the team was not able to win matches and barely escaped from relegation. At the end of the season, key players Ruben Schaken and Adil Auassar both signed with Feyenoord on
472-585: Is a Dutch football club from Venlo , a city on the border with Germany. They play in the Eerste Divisie , the second tier of Dutch football , following relegation from the Eredivisie in the 2020–21 season. The club plays its home games in the Covebo Stadion – De Koel stadium, which is named after one of the club's sponsors Covebo Uitzendgroep. VVV's home colours are yellow and black. VVV originated from
531-483: Is a Dutch professional football club based in Rotterdam . Established on 1 April 1888, Sparta Rotterdam is the oldest professional football team in the Netherlands. Sparta currently competes in the Eredivisie , the top flight of Dutch professional football , which they have won six times, having earned promotion from the Eerste Divisie in 2018–19 . The club is one of three professional football clubs from Rotterdam,
590-4949: Is a list of Sparta players who have competed in international tournaments, including the FIFA World Cup , UEFA European Championship , CONCACAF Gold Cup and the Africa Cup of Nations . To this date no Sparta players have participated in the FIFA Confederations Cup , AFC Asian Cup , Copa América or the OFC Nations Cup while playing for Sparta Rotterdam. 1898–99 RAP 1899–1900 Velocitas 1900–01 HBS Craeyenhout (1/2) 1901–02 HFC Haarlem (1/2) 1902–03 HVV Den Haag 1903–04 Koninklijke HFC (1/3) 1904–05 VOC Rotterdam (1/2) 1905–06 Concordia 1906–07 VOC Rotterdam (2/2) 1907–08 HBS Craeyenhout 2 (2/2) 1908–09 Quick Den Haag 2 (1/4) 1909–10 Quick Den Haag 2 (2/4) 1910–11 Quick Den Haag (3/4) 1911–12 HFC Haarlem (2/2) 1912–13 Koninklijke HFC (2/3) 1913–14 DFC (1/2) 1914–15 Koninklijke HFC (3/3) 1915–16 Quick Den Haag (4/4) 1916–17 Ajax (1/19) 1917–18 RHC (1/2) 1918–19 not played 1919–20 CVV 1920–21 Schoten 1921–22 not played 1922–23 not played 1923–24 not played 1924–25 ZFC 1925–26 LONGA 1926–27 VUC Den Haag 1927–28 RHC (2/2) 1928–29 not played 1929–30 Feyenoord (1/13) 1930–31 not played 1931–32 DFC (2/2) 1932–33 not played 1933–34 Velocitas 1897 1934–35 Feyenoord (2/13) 1935–36 Roermond 1936–37 EVV 1937–38 VSV 1938–39 FC Wageningen (1/2) 1939–40 not played 1940–41 not played 1941–42 not played 1942–43 Ajax (2/19) 1943–44 Willem II (1/2) 1944–45 not played 1945–46 not played 1946–47 not played 1947–48 FC Wageningen (2/2) 1948–49 Quick 1888 1949–50 PSV (1/11) 1950–51 not played 1951–52 not played 1952–53 not played 1953–54 not played 1954–55 not played 1955–56 not played 1956–57 Fortuna '54 (1/2) 1957–58 Sparta (1/3) 1958–59 VVV 1959–60 not played 1960–61 Ajax (3/20) 1961–62 Sparta (2/3) 1962–63 Willem II (2/2) 1963–64 Fortuna '54 (2/2) 1964–65 Feyenoord (3/13) 1965–66 Sparta (3/3) 1966–67 Ajax (4/20) 1967–68 ADO 1968–69 Feyenoord (4/13) 1969–70 Ajax (5/20) 1970–71 Ajax (6/20) 1971–72 Ajax (7/20) 1972–73 NAC 1973–74 PSV (2/11) 1974–75 FC Den Haag 1975–76 PSV (3/11) 1976–77 FC Twente (1/3) 1977–78 AZ (1/4) 1978–79 Ajax (8/20) 1979–80 Feyenoord (5/13) 1980–81 AZ (2/4) 1981–82 AZ (3/4) 1982–83 Ajax (9/20) 1983–84 Feyenoord (6/13) 1984–85 FC Utrecht (1/3) 1985–86 Ajax (10/20) 1986–87 Ajax (11/20) 1987–88 PSV (4/11) 1988–89 PSV (5/11) 1989–90 PSV (6/11) 1990–91 Feyenoord (7/13) 1991–92 Feyenoord (8/13) 1992–93 Ajax (12/20) 1993–94 Feyenoord (9/13) 1994–95 Feyenoord (10/13) 1995–96 PSV (7/11) 1996–97 Roda JC (1/2) 1997–98 Ajax (13/20) 1998–99 Ajax (14/20) 1999–00 Roda JC (2/2) 2000–01 FC Twente (2/3) 2001–02 Ajax (15/20) 2002–03 FC Utrecht (2/3) 2003–04 FC Utrecht (3/3) 2004–05 PSV (8/11) 2005–06 Ajax (16/20) 2006–07 Ajax (17/20) 2007–08 Feyenoord (11/13) 2008–09 Heerenveen 2009–10 Ajax (18/20) 2010–11 FC Twente (3/3) 2011–12 PSV (9/11) 2012–13 AZ (4/4) 2013–14 PEC Zwolle 2014–15 FC Groningen 2015–16 Feyenoord (12/13) 2016–17 Vitesse 2017–18 Feyenoord (13/13) 2018–19 Ajax (19/20) 2019–20 competition abandoned 2020–21 Ajax (20/20) 2021–22 PSV (10/11) 2022–23 PSV (11/11) VVV-Venlo VVV-Venlo ( Dutch pronunciation: [ˌveːveːˈveː ˈvɛnloː] , VVV stands for V enlose V oetbal V ereniging [ˈvɛnloːzə ˈvudbɑl vəˈreːnəɣɪŋ] meaning "Venlo Football Club")
649-465: Is a list of VVV-Venlo players who have competed in international tournaments, including the AFC Asian Cup . To this date no VVV-Venlo players have participated in the FIFA World Cup , UEFA European Championship , Africa Cup of Nations , Copa América , CONCACAF Gold Cup or the OFC Nations Cup while playing for VVV-Venlo. Below is a table with VVV-Venlo's domestic results since the introduction of
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#1732884557441708-406: Is a table with Sparta Rotterdam's domestic results since the introduction of the Eredivisie in 1956. Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules . Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality. Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules . Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality. Jong Sparta Rotterdam
767-636: Is named after its main sponsor, hence its current name, Covebo Stadion De Koel. Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules . Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality. 28 — [REDACTED] Beau Vilters , defender (2014–15) — posthumous honour The following players were called up to represent their national teams in international football and received caps during their tenure with VVV-Venlo: Member associations are listed in order of most to least amount of current and former VVV-Venlo players represented Internationally The following
826-779: Is the second team of Sparta Rotterdam, consisting mainly of players who are not yet eligible for a spot in the first team's squad. The team has been competing in the third-tier Tweede Divisie since 2016. Previously, it played in the Beloften Eredivisie . Note: Flags indicate national team as defined under FIFA eligibility rules . Players may hold more than one non-FIFA nationality. The following players were called up to represent their national teams in international football and received caps during their tenure with Sparta Rotterdam: Member associations are listed in order of most to least amount of current and former Sparta players represented Internationally The following
885-540: The 1912–13 season , the South also competed in its own Eerste Klasse. VVV has been part of this since its introduction into Dutch football, with varying degrees of success. After the 1921–22 season , the club suffered relegation to the second-tier Tweede Klasse . Afterwards, the team played for some time in the Tweede Klasse, in which they won the championship during several seasons. They, however, failed to reach promotion to
944-529: The Eerste Klasse West at the end of the 1900–01 season , which left Rapiditas Rotterdam as the only top-flight club from the city of Rotterdam. This arose the fear that the standard of Rotterdam football would decline, and thus, a few men from Rotterdam, Cees van Hasselt , Jacob Musley , and John. J. Meyer, decided to form the Zilveren Voetbal Commissie (Silver Football Committee), which
1003-617: The Eredivisie . Sparta has won six national titles (1909, 1911, 1912, 1913, 1915 and 1959) and three national cups (1958, 1962 and 1966). The best footballers of Rotterdam and Antwerp contested a yearly match between 1909 and 1959 for the Meuse- and Scheldt Cup (Maas- en Schelde Beker). It was agreed to play the game at stadium Het Kasteel in Rotterdam and at the Bosuilstadion in Antwerp. The cup
1062-462: The association football club De Gouden Leeuw , which was founded by a group of friends in Venlo at the end of the nineteenth century. A few more name changes would occur, and the team was also known as Valuas for some time. Eventually, it was decided on 7 February 1903 to change the name to Venlose Voetbal Vereniging (VVV), the current name of the club. VVV wrote itself into the history books as one of
1121-635: The Eerste Divisie, Sparta again won promotion to the Eredivisie in April 2016 after a 3–1 win over Jong Ajax won them an unassailable lead over second placed VVV-Venlo . However, they were relegated for the third time in their history in May 2018 after they were beaten 1–3 on aggregate by FC Emmen in the promotion/relegation play-offs. The result proved to be a historical one since Emmen won their first ever promotion to
1180-468: The Eerste Klasse again afterwards. After the end of World War II , the number of Eerste Klasse teams was expanded, which also included VVV. From 1948 to 1952, the club achieved fourth-place finishes in the Eerste Klasse. VVV returned to the Eredivisie , the highest league in the Netherlands, by defeating RKC Waalwijk (3–0) in the promotion/relegation play-offs in the 2006–07 season. After one season in
1239-428: The Eredivisie, VVV-Venlo were relegated back to the Eerste Divisie . After a single season, VVV-Venlo won the 2008–09 Eerste Divisie title and returned to the Eredivisie. In the 2009–10 season, the team booked its best league result since 1988 after finishing 12th in the Eredivisie. Another remarkable event was the transfer of star player Keisuke Honda to CSKA Moscow . They also signed toddler Baerke van der Meij on
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#17328845574411298-665: The Schuttersveld in Crooswijk . There, they remained undefeated from January 1894 until the end of the season as they finished in fourth. Sparta then founded the Rotterdam Football Association in 1894. Sparta introduced women's football in late 1896 by trying to organize a competition between a women's team from Sparta and the English Ladies Football Club from London. However, no permission for this match
1357-501: The Sparta squad as they lost 0–1, but this game is now considered to be the first unofficial match of the Netherlands national team . In August 1893, Sparta debuted a new field on the Binnenweg which had a real fence and some seats. The players could even dress up and wash in a nearby house, but because it was continuously flooded, Sparta received permission from the municipality to move to
1416-649: The ages of 13 and 16. Five of them were students of the then HBS at the Van Alkemadeplein, and the remaining three were students of the Gymnasium Erasmianum on the Coolvest, the name of the Coolsingel before it changed in 1888. All the founders came from wealthy families in Rotterdam, because at the time, it was only the high and middle classes who had the time and money to practice sports, such as cricket. All
1475-496: The amateur spirit of the Zilveren Bal . A somewhat peculiar epilogue followed more than half a century after the last edition in Rotterdam, when the two record winners, Feyenoord (as they are spelled since 1971) and Sparta Rotterdam (who added the name of their home city to their official denomination in 2004) organized a match at Spangen on 5 January 2011 to "restore the tradition". However, they failed to follow that tradition since
1534-630: The boys were given a suitable ball , they also engaged in the sport of football, which had recently come over from the United Kingdom . The young Sparta members began playing this sport in the terrain that was located on the Noordereiland , west of the Burgmeester Hoffmanplein , and in July 1888, a football branch of the club was thus established. In the Netherlands, it was Sparta who introduced
1593-432: The club bounced back and returned to the Eredivisie in 2017, after clinching promotion by defeating RKC Waalwijk. On 24 October 2020, VVV-Venlo suffered the biggest defeat in Eredivisie history by losing to Ajax at home 13–0 . Since Keisuke Honda transferred from Nagoya Grampus in 2008, a slew of Japanese players have played at VVV-Venlo, including Maya Yoshida , Robert Cullen and Yuki Otsu . Sef Vergoossen ,
1652-460: The club was fined 10 Dutch coins, but despite this, it still finished fourth. In 1899 the board of Sparta visited a match of Sunderland . Impressed with the red-and-white jersey of the English club, the board decided that Sunderland's colours (red-white striped jersey, black shorts) would henceforth be the colours of Sparta. The first Sparta shirts were purchased second-hand Sunderland shirts. Today,
1711-593: The competition from his competitors. Belgian manager Glen De Boeck was signed for the next season, but failed to improve the results. As a result of that, he resigned in December 2011. Ton Lokhoff was recruited as the new manager and succeeded in avoiding relegation by winning the post-season play-offs. However, in the 2012–13 season, the club was relegated after losing the promotion/relegation play-offs against Go Ahead Eagles . The club finished fifth in its first Eerste Divisie season since its promotion in 2009. But again,
1770-432: The destination of the trophy one way or the other. The tournament continued to be played annually, also during World War II , with the list of winners obtaining an increasingly southern flavour. For instance, BVV Den Bosch [ nl ] won twice in a row in 1945 and 1946, and only narrowly failed to secure the permanent possession of the fourth trophy as they lost their 1947 semifinal on penalties. VVV-Venlo won
1829-511: The fifth time in 1924, which meant that the second trophy also ended up in Den Haag , owned by De Kraaien. By then, many similar pre-season tournaments had been set up in the country, and clubs from Amsterdam did not enter anymore, such as Ajax and Blauw Wit , who had been the last participants from the capital in 1917, when a record 24 clubs entered the competition. Likewise, the clubs from Antwerp and Haarlem very rarely; instead, participation
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1888-640: The first home match of the Netherlands national team , against Belgium . The match, won 4–0 by the Netherlands, was a rematch of a game two weeks prior, when the Netherlands beat Belgium 4–1 in Antwerp , Belgium . The match took place in what had been the Sparta stadium for about ten years at the time, the Schuttersveld in Crooswijk, and the Dutch squad was coached by former Sparta player Cees van Hasselt . From 1893 onwards,
1947-547: The football players of Sparta built up a reputation as "the eternal number 2" because, in its first fifteen years in the top division of Dutch football, Sparta reached second or third place six times. This changed in 1909, as Sparta won the national championship in that year as well as in 1911, 1912, 1913, and 1915; while the Silver Ball was won in 1910 and 1913, and the NBLO Cup in 1909, 1910, and 1911. During this period, Sparta hired
2006-492: The former international player Frank Rijkaard as a manager they were relegated from the top-level Eredivisie in 2002. That made Rijkaard resign from his position. Sparta returned to the Eredivisie for the 2005–06 season . They were relegated again in 2010. On 20 August 2010, they equalled Ajax 's and Heracles Almelo 's Dutch league record win when they defeated Almere City 12–1 with Johan Voskamp scoring an Eerste Divisie record 8 goals on his debut. After six years in
2065-476: The founders, along with the other early members of Sparta, lived in the Stadsdriehoek , Cool , Rubroek or Crooswijk neighborhoods of Rotterdam, which had become a fast-growing port city of the Netherlands in the second half of the 19th century. Sparta initially started as a cricket club, with the Dutch newspaper NRC of May 1888 already reporting a victory for Sparta over Achilles by 45 runs. However, when
2124-521: The goal with a crossbar and nets. Before them, only a rope was stretched between the posts. The members of Sparta only played matches against each other in the first year. These matches were played in various compositions between the 35-hour lesson week and the subsequent 20-hour working week at the Delftse Poort , usually on the square in front of the church of the Grote or Sint-Laurenskerk . In 1888 there
2183-414: The greatest talent from its own youth academy. The Herman Teeuwen Memorial, named after the club icon who died suddenly in 2003, since 2004 has been organised by the club, usually with well-known foreign clubs participating on an invitational basis. VVV announced in July 2015 that they would be retiring the number 28 shirt in memory of youth player Beau Vilters , who had previously worn that number but
2242-486: The last regular edition in 1954. After the 1954 tournament, professional football was introduced within the KNVB, which was not intending to keep up with the amateur spirit of the Zilveren Voetbal Commissie (ZVC), and thus, no tournament was held in 1955, since the organizers were committed to amateurism. In 1956, ZVC tried once more to hold the tournament in Rotterdam with only amateur associations, and indeed, this final edition
2301-495: The likes of HVV Den Haag , HBS Craeyenhout , and Feijenoord . With the entry of professional football in the Netherlands in 1954, the tournament lost its status and slowly disappeared. At the turn of the century, the board of the Dutch Football Association (KNVB) was mostly consisted of Spartans, members of Sparta Rotterdam . Their strong grip on KNVB, however, was not able to save the club of being relegated from
2360-426: The oldest clubs in Dutch professional football. In 1909, the clubs VITOS and THOR merged and became part of VVV. Quick followed in 1910. During the first years of its existence, VVV could not enter the highest league of Dutch football. This was due to the fact that before the 1911–12 season , there was no first-tier Eerste Klasse in the southern Netherlands, but only Eastern and a Western Eerste Klasse. From
2419-464: The original tournament was never a one-off match, never was played in the winter , or ever allowed the entrance of professional clubs. The 2011 match finished 4–2 for Feyenoord, but was not repeated, thanks at least in part to vocal public outrage generated by indignant football historians. The tournament format is exactly the same as that of any other cup tournament. It is a one-off knock-out competition. All tournaments below were held in Rotterdam (at
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2478-468: The others being Excelsior (est. 1902) and Feyenoord (est. 1908). On the Easter Sunday of 1 April 1888, eight students from Rotterdam founded a cricket club called Rotterdamsche Cricket & Football Club Sparta . It was established in the garden of the house of the first treasurer, Hartevelt Hoos Oostvestple, a building located on the 11 in Rotterdam. The club was founded by eight students between
2537-468: The predecessor of today's KNVB , and they played their first real match later that year. In 1892 Sparta disbanded the cricket branch. On 18 December 1892, Sparta defeated the Amersfoortsche FC ( AFC Quick 1890 ) with what still is a record result for a Dutch league match: 17–0. The right winger Freek Kampschreur scored 9 of the 17 goals and is still the shared record holder for the most goals in
2596-517: The signature red and white shirt is combined with black trousers and red and white striped stockings. From 1900 Sparta played a pioneering role in the organization of Dutch football because, at the time, the board of the Dutch Football Association consisted largely of Spartans, and in 1901, Sparta began to organize competitions for the Zilveren Bal , the most important cup tournament at the time. In 1905, Sparta initiated and organized
2655-430: The time, both teams were promoted to the highest league of Dutch football on 23 April 1893. Earlier that same year, on 18 March 1893, Sparta was the first Dutch club to play a match against a foreign opponent, Harwich & Parkeston F.C. of England, whose football was much more developed, and they showed their clear superiority with a resounding 8–0 victory. When another match against an English team, Felixstowe FC ,
2714-458: The trophy permanently after winning each of the very first three editions of the competition between 1901 and 1903, and doing it so always as the reigning Dutch champions. The trophy was thus handed to HVV and a new Zilveren Bal was commissioned, and this one lasted much longer since it was contested on twenty occasions (the 1914 edition was canceled due to the general mobilization after the outbreak of World War I ) before HBS Craeyenhout won it for
2773-673: The various grounds of Sparta), with two exceptions: the 1907 edition was played in Haarlem because Sparta's stadium was undergoing renovation (HVV would have liked to had organize it in Den Haag, but the ZVC preferred the financial arrangements offered in Haarlem) and the 1909 edition, which was moved to Den Haag because of an outbreak of cholera in Rotterdam. Sparta Rotterdam Sparta Rotterdam ( Dutch pronunciation: [ˈspɑrtaː ˌrɔtərˈdɑm] )
2832-615: Was also known as a club that was sometimes difficult to deal with. For instance, in March 1897, Sparta temporarily withdrew from the Dutch league because of the alleged continuous dubious arbitration of Sparta matches, but especially due to turmoil at a match in Amsterdam against the apparently rather arrogant RAP, in which the referee did not act against the verbal abuse of the RAP players. Sparta's remaining two matches were awarded to their opponents (5–0) and
2891-504: Was contested between eight amateur clubs. In the final match, HVV beat CVV and was thus the last to win it, and due to the subsequent abolition of the ZVC, HVV came into possession of the fourth and last Silver Ball. On 15 November 2010, Feyenoord and Sparta announced that they wanted to restore the Silver Ball tradition. An interesting detail is that both clubs were permanently excluded from participating in this tournament as professional clubs in 1956, because professional football did not fit
2950-400: Was dominated by clubs from Rotterdam, Den Haag, nearby towns like Dordrecht and Schiedam , and clubs from the south and east of the Netherlands. The third Zilveren Bal was contested for 13 years, from 1924 to 1937, and during that time the cup was only twice taken out of Rotterdam. Feijenoord obtained permanent ownership of the trophy in 1937 after beating Sparta in a final that was to settle
3009-509: Was given by the Dutch Football Association, which forbids it from happening. Sparta also showed itself to be an innovator in other areas during this period. Over the years, Sparta introduced in the Netherlands, among other things: the header , a goal with a crossbar and nets, and brightly colored shirts. That red and white outfit was copied in 1899 during a visit by the Sparta board to Sunderland in England. Apart from being an innovator, Sparta
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#17328845574413068-448: Was killed in a traffic accident on 14 June 2015, at the age of 18. In April 2011, after a viral video of a local toddler, Baerke van der Meij, grandson of VVV player Jan van der Meij , showing him scoring a hat trick into his toy box, the club gave the 18-month-old an honorary contract. VVV-Venlo currently play at De Koel in Venlo. The stadium holds 8,000 people and was built in 1972. It
3127-464: Was largely privately funded by a group of 27 residents of Rotterdam. Following the English example, the Sparta stadium became the center of the later-built residential area and was soon known as Het Kasteel because of its facade with two turrets. The stadium was renovated in 1999 and is still Sparta's stadium. In 1918, Prince Hendrik was the first member of the Royal House to pay an official visit to
3186-577: Was not played due to the unplayability of the opponent's field. From April 1889, the training and matches began to take place on a site designated by the alderman to the west of De Heuvel in Rotterdam. In the same period, the club also got its first clubhouse on the Delfshavensedijk. In March 1890, Sparta joined the Dutch Football and Athletics Association ( Nederlandse Atletiek en Voetbal Bond , NVAB), founded by Pim Mulier on 8 December 1889,
3245-399: Was not yet an umbrella organization for football, so there were no organized competitions. Therefore, the clubs had to invite or challenge each other, which resulted in a lot of mutual challenges between the existing clubs. The first football challenge that Sparta received dates back to 28 December 1888, more than 38 weeks after the foundation date, but the game, scheduled for 30 December 1888,
3304-766: Was provided in 1909 by Kees van Hasselt from Rotterdam and P. Havenith from Antwerp. The Sparta Jeugdopleiding (English: Sparta Youth Academy) is a four-star certified youth academy and amongst the strongest in the nation, having won the national academy of the year award on several occasions. Several International footballers have progressed through the ranks of the academy, including Danny Blind , Danny Koevermans , David Mendes da Silva , Ed de Goey , Winston Bogarde , Memphis Depay , Henk Fräser , Jan van Beveren , Georginio Wijnaldum , Anwar El Ghazi , Jetro Willems , John de Wolf , Kevin Strootman , Rick van Drongelen and Nick Viergever , Marten de Roon amongst others. Below
3363-509: Was scheduled for 5 February 1894, the NVAB, in order to avert another humiliation to Sparta, forced them to field a team that included a few non-Spartan players, and the plan worked as the game ended in a 1–1 draw. On the following day, 6 February, Felixstowe FC played another match, this time against a Dutch squad with the best players of the Netherlands, which fielded only two players from Sparta, Weinthal and Freek Kampschreur. They did no better than
3422-507: Was set up to organize an annual tournament for clubs from the first and second divisions of the Netherlands. There was a trophy at stake, known at the time as the ZVC challenge cup, which was a ball made up of silver, hence the name of the tournament. The Zilveren Bal would be contested annually, and they were traditionally played on the fields of Sparta Rotterdam, the Sparta Stadion Het Kasteel in Rotterdam. The Zilveren Bal
3481-403: Was to become the property of the first club to win it three times in a row or five times overall. Sparta used its influence to invite five clubs (Dutch champions HVV Den Haag , Belgian league runners-up Beerschot from Antwerp , newly promoted HFC Haarlem , and city rivals Rapiditas and Olympia ) for a tournament played just before the start of the 1901–02 season. HVV earned the right to keep
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