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Trabzonspor

Logo of Trabzonspor

Full name

Trabzonspor Kulübü

Nickname(s)

"Bordo-Mavililer" ("The Bordeaux-Blues")
"Karadeniz Firtinasi" ("The Black Sea Storm")

Founded

1967

Ground

Hüseyin Avni Aker Stadyumu,
Trabzon, Turkey

Capacity

20,750

Chairman

Nuri Albayrak

Manager

Vahid Halilhodzic

League

Turkish Premier Super League

2004-05

Turkish Premier Super League, 2nd

Home colours

Away colours

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 of 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 other clubs known as the 'big four' (Galatasaray SK, Fenerbahçe SK, Beşiktaş JK), 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

At this time the Turkish Football Federation (TFF) had been encouraging local teams in the same city to merge into one, in order to ensure competitiveness in Turkish football. Trabzon had an extremely competitive league dating back to the 1920s, and there was little love between intense rivals who had been vying for the title for so long. The most intense rivalry was between the two most successful sides, Idmangücü and Idmanocaĝi. Ultimately it was these two teams which were responsible for the many delays before Trabzonspor was formed. When the TFF saw that they had no intention of joining together with the others, they were threatened with punishment. The last big hurdle was choosing the colours of the new club. After many disagreements, the colours of purple and blue were chosen and Trabzonspor were formed.

Early Years

Featuring many of the players that played for the local teams and 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 a nine year period from the season 1975/76, Trabzonspor managed to win the league no less than six times, and the Turkish Cup three 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 1970s and early 1980s. Şenol Güneş, Turgay Semercioğlu, 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 1995/96, when they were on course to win the championship, until a home defeat by Fenerbahçe 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 attract bigger crowds. However, the concentration on local players and carefully scouted foreign players has started to show a marked improvement over the days of the late 1990s, when the club was known for an extremely high turnover of players that contributed to its lack of success. In 2003/04 the club finished second, pushing Fenerbahce until the penultimate week, when a home defeat to Galatasaray ended their challenge. However, they have still managed to win the Turkish Cup on several occasions. The recent triumphs in 2003 and 2004 show that Trabzonspor still has the talent to win trophies.

The recent improvement of the team has also meant that Trabzonspor now has several members 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 Gökdeniz Karadeniz, Fatih Tekke, Hüseyin Çimşir, 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.