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Trabzonspor will host Irish side Drogheda United at Papara Park on Thursday at 7 p.m. in a friendly arranged during the international break, bringing together two clubs whose relationship goes beyond football.
The Turkish club and Drogheda United officially became sister clubs in 2010, building on ties that had already developed through their shared claret-and-blue colors and a historical connection between Türkiye and the Irish town.
Drogheda United not only wear the same colors as Trabzonspor but also feature a crescent and star on their crest.
The connection highlighted between the clubs also goes back to the Great Famine in Ireland, when aid sent by the Ottoman Empire to the Irish people in 1847 was delivered to Drogheda.
The two clubs began developing closer relations from 2006, including exchanges of shirts and pennants.
The proposal to establish a formal partnership emerged after Brian Whelan, who wrote a book on Drogheda United's history titled "A Claret-and-Blue History," raised the idea through Türkiye's ambassador in Dublin.
Whelan pointed to the growing relationship between the two clubs and suggested that their existing ties could be turned into an official sister-club partnership.
Trabzonspor's board accepted the proposal on Sept. 29, 2010, formally bringing the two clubs together.
Trabzonspor will head into the friendly without 12 players who are away on international duty, while Okay Yokuslu and Malinovskyi remain sidelined with injuries.
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