Drogheda United Set for Historic Match Against Trabzonspor
Drogheda United are heading into the unknown this autumn – and they might just run into Mohamed Salah when they get there.
The League of Ireland club have confirmed a glamour friendly against Turkish giants Trabzonspor at Papara Park on 1 October, the first time the Louth side will play on Turkish soil. For a club more used to trips to Sligo and Derry than the Black Sea coast, it is a striking step onto a different stage.
The fixture carries far more weight than a routine off-season run-out. It forms part of the build-up to the 75th anniversary of diplomatic relations between Ireland and Turkey, which will be marked in 2026, and leans heavily on a relationship that runs deeper than most modern club “partnerships”.
Drogheda are one of Trabzonspor’s three official sister clubs, alongside Sanlıurfaspor and Siirt Provincial Special Administration Sport. That link is about history as much as football.
A new documentary, An Gorta Mór – The Star & The Crescent, will sit alongside the game, airing on Turkish television and revisiting the remarkable story of Ottoman aid during the Irish Famine. It is that story that underpins Drogheda’s bond with Turkey.
Speaking on the RTÉ Soccer podcast in 2020, former Drogheda United PRO Roisin Philips outlined how it all began long before any modern memorandum of understanding.
"It goes back far longer than 2011 when they announced that we'd become their sister club," she said. "In fact it goes back to the Great Famine in 1845. Drogheda had links with Turkey as a result of the Sultan at the time sending aid over to the Irish people. Boats came up the Boyne in Drogheda. He also sent £1,000 at the time.
"There's been a long history of co-operation between the two countries, from the Turkish side to Ireland."
That history now folds into a very modern football story.
The game falls during a three-week international break and will double as a late-season mini-camp for Drogheda, a chance to sharpen fitness and test themselves against elite opposition in a hostile, high-energy environment. For players accustomed to tight, compact League of Ireland grounds, Papara Park will feel like another world.
The headline attraction, of course, is the prospect of facing Salah. The former Liverpool star joined Trabzonspor after ending his trophy-laden spell at Anfield, adding serious global stardust to a squad already packed with big names, including his old Liverpool team-mate Fabinho and ex-Manchester United goalkeeper Andre Onana.
Whether Drogheda actually line up against Salah remains to be seen. His Egypt side are scheduled to face South Sudan in Africa Cup of Nations qualifying on 27 September, leaving his involvement in the friendly in doubt. Trabzonspor’s Süper Lig campaign resumes the following week with a trip to Samsunspor, so the club’s medical and coaching staff will manage minutes carefully.
Even without him, the scale of the challenge is obvious. Trabzonspor have built a star-studded group designed to compete at the top end of Turkish football and make a dent in Europe. Drogheda, by contrast, will arrive as visitors, underdogs and ambassadors all at once.
For the Irish club, it is a rare blend: a warm-up camp, a cultural exchange, and potentially 90 minutes spent chasing one of the modern game’s great forwards. For Trabzonspor, it is a chance to celebrate a centuries-old act of generosity with the very town that once welcomed those Ottoman ships up the Boyne.
On 1 October, that shared past will meet the present under the lights of Papara Park. The question now is simple: will Salah be there to greet them?
