{"id":12022,"date":"2026-05-15T23:53:09","date_gmt":"2026-05-15T23:53:09","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/12022\/"},"modified":"2026-05-15T23:53:09","modified_gmt":"2026-05-15T23:53:09","slug":"preview-sparta-rotterdam-vs-sbv-excelsior-prediction-team-news-lineups","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/12022\/","title":{"rendered":"Preview: Sparta Rotterdam vs SBV Excelsior – prediction, team news, lineups"},"content":{"rendered":"

Sparta Rotterdam<\/a> head into their final match of the Eredivisie season knowing that only a victory over SBV Excelsior<\/a> can keep them in the hunt for a Europa Conference League playoff spot.<\/p>\n

De Kasteelheren have seen their form collapse over recent weeks, while the visitors recently secured league survival<\/a> following a late upswing in results.<\/p>\n

Match preview<\/p>\n

Sparta Rotterdam put themselves in the European conversation after winning five straight league games from late December to late January.<\/p>\n

However, once the calendar flipped to February, Sparta\u2019s league form fell off a cliff, with the team managing just one victory from 12 Eredivisie outings.<\/p>\n

As the results tumbled, so did Sparta\u2019s league position, with the team currently sitting in 10th spot – two points adrift of Groningen, who occupy the final Europa Conference League playoff spot.<\/p>\n

Maurice Steijn<\/a>\u2019s side need a victory to have any hope of overtaking their rivals, though their continental chances are still slim considering Groningen\u2019s opponents on the final day<\/a> of the season are bottom-of-the-table Heracles.<\/p>\n

Speaking of Steijn, this Sunday will mark his final regular season game as head coach of Sparta, following his decision to leave the club at the end of the season.<\/p>\n

The race to find his successor recently hit a bump in the road after former Wolfsburg boss Paul Simonis<\/a> failed to agree a deal.<\/p>\n

Feyenoord Rotterdam\u2019s assistant boss Rene Hake is now the frontrunner, with Robin van Persie<\/a>\u2019s number two also looking for a new challenge.<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

\u00a9 Imago<\/p>\n

Excelsior were in relegation trouble after losing six of their seven Eredivisie games throughout February, March and April.<\/p>\n

However, a late flurry of results saw Ruben den Uil<\/a>\u2019s men earn eight points from four games to secure their top division status for another season.<\/p>\n

Den Uil is making serious waves in Dutch football after following up last season\u2019s promotion with a very respectable campaign at the top level – in fact, former Netherlands international Rene van der Gijp has recently urged Sparta to recruit the 35-year-old.<\/p>\n

Before making a decision on his future, Den Uli will be hoping to cap off the season with a derby victory away at the Sparta Stadion Het Kasteel – something they have not accomplished in eight years.<\/p>\n

Excelsior will be confident of at least rattling the net, given they have scored 11 goals across their last four league outings.<\/p>\n

Sparta Rotterdam Eredivisie form:<\/p>\n

W D L L D L\u00a0<\/p>\n

SBV Excelsior Eredivisie form:<\/p>\n

D L D W W D\u00a0<\/p>\n

Team News<\/p>\n

\u00a9 Iconsport<\/p>\n

Sparta Rotterdam will be without Bruno Martins Indi<\/a> for the season finale, with the former Stoke City defender serving a suspension after picking up his fifth yellow card last weekend.<\/p>\n

Said Bakari has been in and out of the squad over the past few weeks, and the 31-year-old remains a doubt for Sunday.<\/p>\n

Speaking of doubts, Mitchell van Bergen could also miss the match after being forced off in the 20th minute against FC Twente last weekend.<\/p>\n

Norway\u2019s Tobias Lauritsen<\/a> will lead the line for Sparta as he looks to build on his tally of 12 goals this season.<\/p>\n

Excelsior, on the other hand, will be without Swedish midfielder Adam Carlen, who misses out through suspension.<\/p>\n

Indonesian forward Miliano Jonathans has been out of action since mid-March through a knee injury, and he will remain on the sidelines this weekend.<\/p>\n

Dutch forward Gyan de Regt<\/a> will provide the attacking threat for the visitors, having come up with three goal contributions across his last four outings.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Sparta Rotterdam possible starting lineup:<\/p>\n

Drommel; Vianello, Quintero, Young, Martes; Kitolano, Baas; Mito, Santos, Van Crooij; Lauritsen<\/p>\n

SBV Excelsior possible starting lineup:<\/p>\n

Van Gassel; Zagre, Schouten, Widell, Meissen; Yegoian, Hartjes, Naujoks; Hansson, De Regt, Sanches Fernandes<\/p>\n

We say: Sparta Rotterdam 2-2 SBV Excelsior<\/p>\n

Sparta Rotterdam need all three points to have any chance of making the Europa Conference League playoffs, but their recent record suggests they might struggle.<\/p>\n

The hosts have shipped 12 goals across their last four matches, and we are backing an in-form Excelsior side to squeeze out a point in Sunday\u2019s derby.\u00a0<\/p>\n

For data analysis of the most likely results, scorelines and more for this match please click here<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Sparta Rotterdam head into their final match of the Eredivisie season knowing that only a victory over SBV…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":7783,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[4],"tags":[254,257,247,249,252,256,253,255,41,250,248,259,258,251],"class_list":{"0":"post-12022","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-rotterdam","8":"tag-cycling","9":"tag-epl","10":"tag-football","11":"tag-formula-1","12":"tag-golf","13":"tag-nfl","14":"tag-olympics","15":"tag-premier-league","16":"tag-rotterdam","17":"tag-rugby","18":"tag-sport","19":"tag-sports-mole","20":"tag-teams","21":"tag-tennis"},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12022","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12022"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12022\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/7783"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12022"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12022"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/netherlands\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=12022"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}