🏏 Sat, 29 Aug 2026 16:30 CEST
Excelsior
vs
Sparta Rotterdam
4-3-3 vs 4-2-3-1
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- Two Rotterdam clubs meet with the table still congested. Excelsior thrashed Cambuur 4-0 away on the opening day but lost 2-1 at home to PSV, leaving them 10th on three points from two games. Sparta sit eighth on four points from three, having lost 1-0 at home to Feyenoord, won 3-1 away at Telstar and then shared a 3-3 draw with Utrecht at home. AZ Alkmaar have set the pace with nine points from three, but everyone from eighth to 14th is separated by a single point.
- Sparta's number 10 Shunsuke Mito is the headline act. The 23-year-old Japanese winger arrived from Albirex Niigata and, despite standing just 164cm, is a right-footed left winger who lives for cutting inside and shooting. Explosive acceleration and close dribbling are matched by real defensive commitment in pressing back, and he produced seven goals and four assists across a nine-game run in the 2025-26 season. Excelsior's right side will have their hands full.
- Sparta start two players with Excelsior on their CV. Midfielder Jens Baas, 25, came through Dordrecht's youth system and developed at Excelsior, offering distribution and the legs to drive transitions. Alongside him is 32-year-old Bas Kuipers, a well-travelled defender whose career has taken in Go Ahead Eagles, NEC Nijmegen, ADO Den Haag, Ajax and Twente, as well as a spell at Excelsior.
- Experience runs down Sparta's spine. Bruno Martins Indi, 34, is a former Netherlands international left-footed centre-back with Feyenoord, Porto, Stoke City and AZ behind him, and he sets the line and the tone. Behind him stands Polish goalkeeper Filip Bednarek, 33, brother of Porto's Jan, who recorded 42 clean sheets in 108 games for Lech Poznan. After conceding three against Utrecht last time out, tightening up is the priority.
- Excelsior counter with height and youth at the back. Their 192cm left-footed Swedish centre-back, 23, made his professional debut at Helsingborgs IF and captained Sweden at U16 and U17 level, while his partner is a 24-year-old built at 190cm and 89kg who thrives on physical duels. They will need all of it against Sparta target man Sonneveld, the 188cm centre-forward signed from Telstar who specialises in holding the ball up.
- The midfield contrast is striking. Excelsior use 21-year-old Jan Plug, a 188cm Feyenoord academy graduate, as their screen, with Georgian playmaker Yegoian (168cm) and Halges (170cm) supplying quick feet in tight spaces ahead of him. Sparta pair Robin van Kruijssen, promoted from Volendam's youth ranks, with Jens Toornstra, who spent eight seasons at Feyenoord and won an Eredivisie title and two KNVB Cups there.
- Excelsior's attacking numbers are healthy enough: five goals in two matches. The front line features 20-year-old Aymen Sliti, who belongs to Feyenoord and is spending the season across the city at Excelsior, alongside 22-year-old David Gaarden. The question is whether they can rediscover the fluency of that four-goal display at Cambuur after being edged out 2-1 by PSV.
- Excelsior also have a genuine game-changer in reserve. Alireza Jahanbakhsh, 33, has 98 caps and 17 goals for Iran and in 2017-18 became the first Asian player to finish as top scorer in a major European league. His route to Excelsior took in AZ, Brighton and Feyenoord. Austrian midfielder Valentin Sulzbacher, a 189cm Red Bull Salzburg academy product, gives them another aerial option from the bench.
- Sparta's bench offers attacking alternatives too. Right winger Joel Idjeho, 23, was schooled at Willem II and Ajax before joining Arsenal's academy, and his direct running stretches tiring defences. Norwegian midfielder Roaldsoy, a 190cm arrival from Molde, adds physicality in the middle, while 36-year-old Venezuela international Teo Quintero, a left-footed centre-back raised in Girona's academy, is available to shore things up late.