Original Patrick football shirt Sparta Rotterdam 2008/09

The 2008/2009 season of Sparta Rotterdam was the 54th year in Dutch professional football for the club from Rotterdam. The club played in the Eredivisie and participated in the tournament for the KNVB cup.

Under the leadership of trainer-coach Foeke Booy, Sparta finished - for the third time in a row - in thirteenth place in the final ranking. In the cup tournament, the club lost to NEC Nijmegen in the eighth finals: 2-1. The top scorer of the season was center striker Rydell Poepon with nine goals.

Booy was discredited in the autumn when he made fun of referee Michel Winter and his boss Jaap Uilenberg. He did so after Willem II-Sparta (3-2) by expressing the suspicion that the referee's boss is deliberately making his arbitrators whistle to the disadvantage of Sparta. Booy even spoke of "a conspiracy". The reason was the league match against Heracles Almelo on December 14, when Sparta lost 2-1. Heracles defender Mark Looms made a hard foul on Poepon in that match. The Sparta striker had to leave the field injured, but referee Björn Kuipers did not punish the perpetrator. Booy said after the match that "it is not surprising that no Dutch referees will be present at the 2010 World Cup in South Africa".