The Dutchman has signed a two-and-a-half-year contract with the Eredivisie club, and returns to the Netherlands where he spent seven years as Technical Director at PEC Zwolle between 2012 and 2019.
The 51-year-old succeeds Henk van Stee, who left the club in early December after almost four years in the post.
Nijkamp has been out of football since leaving as General Manager of FC Cincinnati in Major League Soccer last August. He has also worked in technical roles in Qatar and for both the KNVB, the Dutch football association, and FIFA.
Nijkamp said: “After my departure from America, I consciously took the time to orientate myself on the next step I wanted to take... What really appeals to me is the youth academy. Sparta has proven in the past to be able to let players move on from the youth academy themselves. I am therefore very much in favour of such a well-functioning ecosystem that starts with the youth academy.”
Within weeks of joining Sparta, Nijkamp had signed the club up to the TransferRoom platform and found instant success in the transfer market, providing a fast return on investment.
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