diff --git a/doc/whats_new/v1.6.rst b/doc/whats_new/v1.6.rst
index d7d3a71eba636..fb3563736577e 100644
--- a/doc/whats_new/v1.6.rst
+++ b/doc/whats_new/v1.6.rst
@@ -56,6 +56,10 @@ See :ref:`array_api` for more details.
   compatible inputs when their base estimators do. :pr:`27096` by :user:`Tim
   Head <betatim>` and :user:`Olivier Grisel <ogrisel>`.
 
+- |Fix| func:`validation.check_array` now accepts scipy sparse inputs without error
+  even when array API dispatch is enabled.
+  :pr:`29469` by :user:`Olivier Grisel <ogrisel>`.
+
 Metadata Routing
 ----------------
 
diff --git a/sklearn/utils/tests/test_validation.py b/sklearn/utils/tests/test_validation.py
index 5bde51ae514d9..afc3d743a95d6 100644
--- a/sklearn/utils/tests/test_validation.py
+++ b/sklearn/utils/tests/test_validation.py
@@ -2018,6 +2018,16 @@ def test_check_array_array_api_has_non_finite(array_namespace):
             check_array(X_inf)
 
 
+@skip_if_array_api_compat_not_configured
+def test_check_array_on_sparse_inputs_with_array_api_enabled():
+    X_sp = sp.csr_array([[0, 1, 0], [1, 0, 1]])
+    with config_context(array_api_dispatch=True):
+        assert sp.issparse(check_array(X_sp, accept_sparse=True))
+
+        with pytest.raises(TypeError):
+            check_array(X_sp)
+
+
 @pytest.mark.parametrize(
     "extension_dtype, regular_dtype",
     [
diff --git a/sklearn/utils/validation.py b/sklearn/utils/validation.py
index af9fdb4a79cba..651951e8b90ca 100644
--- a/sklearn/utils/validation.py
+++ b/sklearn/utils/validation.py
@@ -838,7 +838,10 @@ def check_array(
             "https://numpy.org/doc/stable/reference/generated/numpy.matrix.html"
         )
 
-    xp, is_array_api_compliant = get_namespace(array)
+    if sp.issparse(array):
+        xp, is_array_api_compliant = None, False
+    else:
+        xp, is_array_api_compliant = get_namespace(array)
 
     # store reference to original array to check if copy is needed when
     # function returns
@@ -931,7 +934,7 @@ def is_sparse(dtype):
             )
         )
 
-    if dtype is not None and _is_numpy_namespace(xp):
+    if dtype is not None and xp is not None and _is_numpy_namespace(xp):
         # convert to dtype object to conform to Array API to be use `xp.isdtype` later
         dtype = np.dtype(dtype)