Five days after their humiliating defeat at Celtic Park, Heart of Midlothian must dust themselves off once more and prepare for a big European tie. After losing a goal late against FC Nordsjælland last Thursday, the Jambos are still in search of their first victory in League Phase football for two years.
Wouter Vranckens’ side make the long trip to Eastern Turkiye to play Trabzonspor on Thursday night. Traditionally, Turkish football has been dominated by the three big Istanbul clubs: Galatasaray, Fenerbahce and Besiktas, but when the triopoly falls, it’s this club on the Black Sea that usually picks up the pieces. They are now a club boasting major domestic success, and one of the best players in the world, but what is the story of Hearts’ next Conference League opponents?
While a large portion of football in this Eurasian country is centred around Istanbul and the west of Turkiye, Trabzonspor are the biggest team in the East. From the city of Trabzon, the club was founded in 1967 through a merger of four separate clubs, which included two bitter rivals İdmanocağı and İdmangücü.
In the 1960s, football in Turkiye was booming in popularity, and league officials requested that cities bring their football teams together to fulfil the potential that the sport had in the country. However, İdmanocağı and İdmangücü struggled to agree on the terms of this, and chaired several debates on the issue. Plans for a Trabzon team without İdmangücü were proposed and accepted for a time, before threats were made by former Turkish international and then government secretary for sport, Ulvi Yenal, that neither would be admitted into the league if they couldn’t resolve their merging crisis, leaving Trabzon without a professional football club.
The city took to the streets in protest, demanding that club officials get their act together and come to a solution; in August 1967, Trabzonspor emerged. They became the Claret-Blues, taking on a colour scheme resembling neither of the prior Trabzon rivals, instead forging a path to the future; it is a colour palette still synonymous with the club today.
Throughout the mid-1970s, Trabzonspor revelled in their golden age. In the 1975/76 campaign, they became the first Süper Lig champions outside of Istanbul, and to this day remain one of only two clubs away from the Bosporus to win the league. They won a further five titles throughout the late 70s and early 80s in a period of dominance that to this day has marked the Black Sea Storm as one of the country’s most successful, well-respected clubs.
After their sixth Süper Lig triumph in 1984, Trabzonspor went through a significant baron spell, where the establishment they’d broken for nearly ten years had come to power once more. The Claret-Blues won several cup competitions, but the next three decades were marred by near-misses in the league, all whilst falling further behind the Istanbul giants, both on and off the pitch.
Thirty-eight years on from 1984, Trabzonspor once again rose to the top, taking the league title back to the Black Sea. Their 2022 Süper Lig victory was a significant moment not just for Trabzon, but for Turkiye. Proving once again that Galatasaray, Fenerbahce and Besiktas could be toppled, despite the financial and political pressures placed on the game in their country. It was a massive feat, even for Turkiye’s fourth club. It sparked pandemonium in the streets; crowds celebrated all through the night in pictures still talked about today.
For Hearts, the task ahead this week is one which is brutal, not least off the back of a 7-1 defeat at the weekend. To make matters worse, Trabzonspor today possess a team full of European experience, immense talent… and a certain little Egyptian by the name of Mohamed Salah.
Winner of two Premier League titles, a Champions League and countless individual awards, Salah is one of the best footballers in the world right now, even at the age of thirty-four. He left Liverpool this summer to join the Black Sea Storm for free, in a transfer saga that had the world on tenterhooks.
He is already the Süper Lig top goalscorer, having scored eight goals in as many games. Netting a hattrick against Galatasaray, the Egyptian King also chipped in against Besiktas on Monday night to secure crucial victories for the Claret-Blues. They are unbeaten at home in the league this season despite a challenging run of games.
Trabzonspor sit joint-third in the table so far, just four points behind leaders Galatasaray, despite their 4-0 victory against them. Losses to newly-promoted Amedspor and struggling Konyaspor have knocked back what has otherwise been an impressive start to the season. They are hoping to build on a third-place finish from last season, granting them qualification to the Europa League playoff round, which they lost to Ferencvaros from the Hungarian capital of Budapest.
More than just Salah, they have a squad full of recognisable faces. Fabinho joined his former Liverpool teammate this summer, whilst former Manchester City and Atletico Madrid defender Stefan Savic is the club captain. Bagsman Paul Onuachu, Cameroon international Andre Onana and former Hull City star Ozan Tufan also feature in this star-studded team.
With no disrespect towards FC Nordsjælland, the challenge facing Hearts on Thursday night is nothing like what they faced last week. Even the Celtic team who pummelled them at Parkhead can’t match this Trabzonspor outfit for quality. The combination of pressure to bounce back from Sunday, the over-2000-mile trip to Asia, the quality of the opposition and their distinct domestic and European pedigree make this game one of the most difficult any of the Hearts players will have ever played in.
Trabzonspor vs Heart of Midlothian kicks off at 5.45 pm on Thursday back home, where Wouter Vranckens’ team face an incredible uphill battle against one of the strongest sides in this year’s Conference League. They will be desperate for Turkish delight to make amends for a shocking week, but the Jam Tarts face an almighty task ahead.
