One of the most protracted transfer sagas of the summer came to a close, but not in the way many expected. Liverpool icon Mohamed Salah was seeking a move elsewhere after his contract with the Anfield club expired.
At first, a move to the Saudi Pro League was mooted. It made sense. The league has attracted high-profile players in recent years and had the funds to meet Salah’s high wage demands. On top of it, getting a Muslim player who has turned himself into a global superstar would have suited the league’s reputation.
But despite his interest in joining the likes of Cristiano Ronaldo and Karim Benzema in the Gulf, he appeared to be distancing himself from a move to Saudi Arabia. The rumours of a transfer to Major League Soccer didn’t last long, and then a Turkish club appeared in the frame. Defending Super Lig champions Galatasaray didn’t show much interest, and neither did Fenerbahce.
Besiktas appeared keen and held talks with the Egyptian player’s agent. But the finances of a possible deal didn’t suit them. Then came Trabzonspor. The club located in the northeastern part of Turkey grabbed headlines as they plotted an ambitious move. Suddenly, the country’s fourth most popular club was taking the attention away from the traditional Big 3.
On Wednesday, August 5, Salah landed at Istanbul’s Ataturk Airport and was welcomed by a frenzied Trabzonspor crowd of thousands. A day later, he put pen to paper on a two-year deal with the club. The move has turned heads in Europe and beyond, and the query “Who are Trabzonspor?” has shot up in Google searches among football fans. Curva Global aims to tell you the story of the team that the Egyptian King now calls home.
Trabzonspor was formed by two rival clubs
Football in the city of Trabzon was dominated by two clubs İdmanocağı and İdmangücü going back to the 1920s. They competed in the Trabzon Amateur Regional League, and both clubs saw tremendous success.
İdmanocağı won five titles in a row from 1929 to 1933 while İdmangücü went seven in a row from 1934 to 1940. The two rivals divided the city and the rivalry was woven into the very fabric of Trabzon. Many people at the time equated their rivalry to the fierce animosity between Galatasaray and Fenerbache.Football in the city of Trabzon was dominated by two clubs İdmanocağı and İdmangücü going back to the 1920s. They competed in the Trabzon Amateur Regional League, and both clubs saw tremendous success.
Things began to change in the 1960s. Ahead of the 1962-63 Turkish football season, the federation asked its provincial cities to unite their smaller clubs into one team to represent them in the new Super Lig. The idea was to have a competitive league with the best players from each city. Given their heated rivalry and history, İdmanocağı and İdmangücü refused to do so, and the city remained without a Super Lig team.
İdmangücü would join hands with Karadenizgücü and Martıspor in June 1966 to form Trabzonspor, but İdmanocağı remained away and challenged the merger in court. However, Ulvi Yenal, Turkey’s head of Physical Education, stepped in and put his foot down.
İdmangücü would hands with Karadenizgücü and Martıspor in June 1966 to form Trabzonspor but İdmanocağı remained away and challenged the merger in court. However, the Ulvi Yenal, Turkey’s head of Physical Education stepped in and put down his foot.
The warning was clear. Merge to form a single club, or there will be no Super Lig side from Trabzonspor at all, with bans for İdmanocağı and İdmangücü. Both clubs came to their senses, and on August 2, 1967, Trabzonspor was reborn, this time with all four clubs on board. But there was another challenge.
The club needed to identify its new colours. İdmangücü wore green and white, and Idmanocağı traditionally sported yellow and red. Neither club wanted to display the colours of their historic rivals. Five separate meetings just to settle on a neutral colour were held. At the end, blue and maroon were decided upon as the club’s new colours, and it became an identity for the entire city.
After staying in the second division for some years, the club finally earned promotion to the top-flight in 1973 under Ahmet Suat Özyazıcı. Trabzon finally had their Super Lig team.
Trabzonspor halted the Istanbul’s domination
After ending their debut Super Lig campaign in the 9th spot, Ahmet Suat Özyazıcı led Trabzonspor to the league title in the 1975/76 season. As a result, Trabzonspor became the first club outside of Istanbul to win the Super Lig.
They would go on to retain the league next season, finishing ahead of Fenerbahçe and completed the Double by beating Besiktas in the Turkish Cup final. The team missed out on the league title by a single point in the 1977/78 campaign but did add another Turkish Cup to their name. Trabzonspor then won a third league title in four years at the end of the decade.
The team saw another golden period of success in the 80s. Back-to-back league titles in 1980 and 1981 meant they completed a hat trick of top-flight championships. This was followed by a period of two seasons when they finished second in the league. But glory days returned to Trabzon after the club did the league and cup double in 1983/84.
This meant that the team won six league titles and three Turkish Cups in a period of 10 years, a domination unheard of outside the Big 3. During this time, they also won the Turkish Super Cup six times.
Trabzonspor were well clear as the best team in the country by some distance. This period of success has meant they have kept their status as Turkey’s biggest club despite not being able to replicate the glory days of the 70s and 80s.
They haven’t been relegated since getting promoted to the league for the first time. While they have not been able to replicate the glory days of the 70s and 80s, they remain a traditional big-time club.
Trabzonspor trophies and honours
After a sustained period of domination, Trabzonspor failed to get their hands on the league title in the 90s. There were a few near-misses as they finished runners-up in 1995 and 1996. Still, the team managed to get their hands on the Turkish Cup twice and also added another Super Cup in the 90s.
The 2000s saw Trabzonspor struggle for consistency. A 14th-place finish in the 2001/02 campaign was the worst in the club’s history. But the club underwent an overhaul under former president Özkan Sümer. The revival saw integration of homegrown talent with foreign names, and it led to two consecutive Turkish Cup titles in 2003 and 2004.
The team also came close to ending its league title drought but finished behind Fenerbahçe in the 2003/04 and 2004/05 campaigns. The turn of the decade saw them add an eighth Turkish Cup, followed by another Super Cup in 2010. In 2011, they painfully conceded the league title to Fenerbahçe on goal difference.
Following this, the club failed to win any major honour for another 10 years. The wait ended with the Turkish Cup triumph in the COVID-delayed tournament in 2021, and they won the Turkish Super Cup as well.
In 2021/22, under the management of Abdullah Avcı, Trabzonspor finished at the top of the Super Lig with 81 points, eight ahead of nearest challengers Fenerbahçe. This was the club’s first league title in 38 years, and they were once the team that ended the Istanbul dominance, with the Big 3 sharing every league title between them since 1984.
They won their 10th Turkish Super Cup in 2022 and last season added a 10th Turkish Cup to their trophy cabinet after beating Konyaspor in the final.
Trabzonspor trophies:
Süper Lig Champions – 7 times
(1975–76, 1976–77, 1978–79, 1979–80, 1980–81, 1983–84, 2021–22)
Turkish Cup Winners – 10 times
(1976–77, 1977–78, 1983–84, 1991–92, 1994–95, 2002–03, 2003–04, 2009–10, 2019–20, 2025–26)
Turkish Super Cup Winners – 10 times
(1976, 1977, 1978, 1979, 1980, 1983, 1995, 2010, 2020, 2022)
Trabzonspor stadium
After their formation, Trabzonspor began playing their games at Hüseyin Avni Aker Stadium. It had a capacity of close to 25,000 and underwent many renovations to improve the facility. The stadium was an essential part of the team’s history, but in 2016 the club moved to the state-of-the-art Şenol Güneş Sports Complex.
The new stadium, named after former Trabzonspor goalkeeper and manager Şenol Güneş, has a capacity of close to 41,000. The arena has modern facilities and is seen as a big part of the club’s aim to modernise its outlook.
The stadium is also a reminder of the club’s ambition on and off the pitch. With Mo Salah’s arrival, the fans will hope they get to witness some memorable moments at the venue.
Nicknames
The seven-time Turkish champions have two distinct nicknames. The club are referred to as Karadeniz Fırtınası, which translates to Black Sea Storm. This is an ode to the club’s geographic location on the Black Sea coast as well as their fierce playing style during their dominance in the 70s and 80s.
The team is also known as Bordo-Mavililer, meaning The Claret-Blues, a reference to the club’s iconic colours. There have been stories about why the club adopted the claret and blue, with one such theory linking it to English club Aston Villa.
Former club vice-president Ibrahim Haciosmanoglu once pointed out that when Trabzonspor were formed in 1967, they didn’t have money for new kits. They approached a number of clubs in Europe and Aston Villa were the only one who sent them a full set.
Rivalries
Owing to their success and the fact they challenged the dominance of the Istanbul clubs right from their early years, Trabzonspor has had rivalries with the Big 3. Fenerbahçe is particularly seen as a fierce rival due to the close title races the two teams had in the 70s and 80s.
In 2011, Trabzonspor lost the league title on goal difference to Fenerbahçe, and after the Turkish football match-fixing scandal emerged, it led to more tensions. Trabzonspor requested that the title be awarded to them since Fenerbahçe were named in the scandal.
The rivalry led to ugly scenes two years ago when Trabzonspor fans invaded the pitch following a home loss to Fenerbahçe. This led to clashes between the fans and Fenerbahçe players, further fueling the animosity between the two clubs.
Rivalries with Besiktas and Galatasaray, while important, are not as full-blooded as this one. Apart from this, there are two regional derbies involving Trabzonspor.
The club competes against Samsunspor in the Old Derby in the Black Sea region. Geographical proximity and cultural differences add to the spice of this derby. Trabzonspor are seen as more rooted in their regional roots, while Samsunspor is more of a cosmopolitan city.
There is also a regional rivalry with Çaykur Rizespor, as the teams compete in the Eastern Black Sea derby. Both clubs have strong regional identities, and since both are situated on the eastern coast of the Black Sea, there isn’t much distance between the cities. This leads to large away fan turnouts on matchday, creating a colourful atmosphere along the coast.
The massive away crowds also mean there is heightened security when the teams are scheduled to meet in the league or cup.
Trabzonspor current team and manager
Mo Salah might be the most high-profile signing in the club’s history, but Trabzonspor have a bunch of talented and experienced players in their squad. Nigerian striker Paul Onuachu was the top scorer in the Super Lig last season, finding the net 22 times.
Apart from this, fans who followed Cape Verde closely at this year’s FIFA World Cup will recognise the presence of Wagner Pina and Sidny Lopes Cabral in the Trabzonspor team. Veteran defender Stefan Savic adds experience to the back line, which is commanded in goal by Manchester United goalkeeper Andre Onana.
The team is managed by former club icon Fatih Tekke. The 48-year-old began his playing career with Trabzonspor and spent six years with the club. He had stints with other Turkish clubs before returning to his home team in 2002 for another four-year spell.
He was named the manager of his boyhood club in March 2025 and led them to a Turkish Super Cup success the next season. The team also finished third last time in the league, a massive improvement from their disappointing seventh-place finish in 2025.
Under Tekke, the Trabzonspor supporters are hoping to challenge more consistently for domestic honours. With Mo Salah’s signed, these hopes have been boosted to unimaginable heights. The fans of the club often chant “Bize her yer Trabzon” (“Everywhere is Trabzon for us”) and with the signing of a global superstar, they will believe they can paint Turkey claret and blue.
READ MORE: What is the ASEAN Championship? Format and Teams Explained
