diff --git a/mkdocs_multirepo_plugin/scripts/sparse_clone_old.sh b/mkdocs_multirepo_plugin/scripts/sparse_clone_old.sh
index 984ec55..cdadc1b 100644
--- a/mkdocs_multirepo_plugin/scripts/sparse_clone_old.sh
+++ b/mkdocs_multirepo_plugin/scripts/sparse_clone_old.sh
@@ -26,9 +26,12 @@ fi
 # sparse checkout the old way
 git config core.sparseCheckout true
 git remote add -f origin "$url_to_use"
+# .git/info might not exist after git init, depending on git version
+# (e.g. git 2.24.1 does not create it)
+mkdir -p .git/info
 for dir in "${dirs[@]}"
 do
    printf "${dir}\n">> .git/info/sparse-checkout
 done
 git checkout $branch
-rm -rf .git
\ No newline at end of file
+rm -rf .git