diff --git a/Library/Homebrew/download_strategy.rb b/Library/Homebrew/download_strategy.rb
index ce63bd7460..0c0836cbb1 100644
--- a/Library/Homebrew/download_strategy.rb
+++ b/Library/Homebrew/download_strategy.rb
@@ -1059,6 +1059,7 @@ class GitDownloadStrategy < VCSDownloadStrategy
              args:  ["config", "core.sparseCheckout", "true"],
              chdir: cached_location
 
+    (git_dir/"info").mkpath
     (git_dir/"info"/"sparse-checkout").atomic_write("#{@only_path}\n")
   end
 end