Sparta Rotterdam

Founded on Easter Sunday, 1 April 1888, by eight schoolboys aged between 13 and 16 as the Rotterdamsche Cricket and Football Club Sparta, it is the oldest club in Dutch professional football. It began as a cricket club and only took up football later that summer, after the boys were given a suitable ball. Since 1916 it has played at Het Kasteel in Spangen, named for the castle-like main stand; its six national championships ran from 1909 to 1959, and it has won three KNVB Cups.