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File:TrabzonsporLogo.png

Logo of Trabzonspor

Trabzonspor is a Turkish football club, from the Black Sea port city of Trabzon playing in the Turkish Premier Super League.

Trabzonspor was formed in 1967 in a merger many local clubs. Many of the players from these teams became part of the team to win promotion to the top division, and helped Trabzonspor in their early years in the top flight. Along with the the other clubs known as the 'big four' (Galatasaray, Fenerbahce, Besiktas), they are the only clubs to have won the Turkish title. Trabzonspor is as yet the only team from outside Istanbul to win it. Trabzonspor's nicknames are 'the bordeaux blues' and 'the Black Sea storm'.

History

Trabzonspor became a team for the first time on 2 August 1967. Football in Trabzon had been dominated by the intense rivalry of two local teams, Idmangucu and Idmanocagi, for years. At this time the Turkish Football Federation had been encouraging local teams in the same city to merge into one, in order to ensure competitiveness in Turkish football. The rivalry between Idmangucu and Idmanocagi was so passionate that these two teams refused to be joined as one. When the TFF saw that these two teams had no intention of joining together, they were threatened with punishment. Soon after, Trabzonspor was formed.

Early Years

Featuring many of the players that had featured for the local teams that had joined together to form Trabzonspor, the early years were particularly successful. In the season 1973/74 Trabzonspor were promoted to the Turkish Premier Super League.

Nine Years of Success

In their first nine seasons in the Turkish top flight, Trabzonspor managed to win the league no less than six times. In the seasons they didn't finish first, they came second. This period represents the most successful dynasty in Turkish football history. Trabzonpsor won their championships with a mixture of exciting team play, and gifted individual players. Some of the most successful names in Turkish football history can be found in the Trabzonspor team of the late 1970's and early 80's. Senol Gunes, Turgay Semercioglu, Necmi Perekli, and Ali Kemal Denizci are some of the best remembered names from this period. Many of the Trabzonspor players at the time also represented the national team.

Later Years

After the successful period of the late 70's and early 80's Trabzonspor became decidedly less successful. Some trace this back to the selling off of key players to the bigger Istanbul clubs and the poor record on transfers. The closest Trabzonspor came to winning the championship was in 1995/6, when they were on course to win the championship, until a home defeat by Fenerbahce ruined the dream of reclaiming the title. The increasing reliance of the bigger teams on money from satellite coverage and income from fans and european games has meant that Trabzonspor has fallen behind the bigger Istanbul teams in terms of its ability to buy better players and create better squads. However, the concentration on local players and carefully picked foreign players has started to show a marked improvement over the days of the late 1990's, when the club was known for an extremely high turnover of players that contributed to its lack of success. In 2003/4 the club contested the championship until the penultimate week. The recent improvement of the team has also meant that Trabzonspor now has several memebers of the national team in its playing squad, as well as at least four international footballers who represent their respective countries.

Youth Academy

Trabzonspor is especially renowned for the quality of players produced through its youth ranks. In the season 2004/05 Trabzonspor featured no less than four Turkey internationals who had been raised through the youth teams. These were Gokdeniz Karadeniz, Fatih Tekke, Huseyin Cimsir, and Mehmet Yilmaz. This is more than any other team in Turkey, and is nearly as successful as the most productive European academies.

Support

Although a large part of Trabzonspor's support is drawn from the local Trabzon population, they remain immensely well supported in the rest of turkey. This is mainly due to their being the only team to break the Istanbul teams domination of the league. They also enjoy enormous support from turkish immigrants in Europe, especially Germany.