Drogheda United Faces Trabzonspor: A Historic Friendly Match
Drogheda United are heading into the unknown in October – and they might just find Mohamed Salah waiting for them.
The League of Ireland club have confirmed a glamour friendly against Turkish giants Trabzonspor at Papara Park on 1 October, a fixture that will mark Drogheda’s first-ever game on Turkish soil and deepen a relationship that stretches back far beyond modern football.
A sister club steps onto the big stage
This is not a random pre-season kickabout dropped into the autumn calendar. Drogheda are one of Trabzonspor’s three official sister clubs, alongside Sanlıurfaspor and Siirt Provincial Special Administration Sport, a link rooted in history rather than marketing.
The timing is no accident either. Ireland and Turkey will mark 75 years of diplomatic relations in 2026, and this game drops neatly into that broader story of connection between the two nations.
The match will sit inside a three-week international break and effectively double as a late-season mini-camp for Drogheda, a chance to sharpen legs and minds in a very different environment. For Trabzonspor, it is a tune-up before their Super Lig campaign kicks back into gear the following week with a trip to Samsunspor.
Salah factor looms over Papara Park
The headline, of course, is the possibility of Drogheda facing Salah.
The Egyptian forward, who joined Trabzonspor after closing an era-defining spell at Liverpool, is the marquee name in a squad that has been aggressively upgraded. His former Anfield team-mate Fabinho is there. So is ex-Manchester United goalkeeper Andre Onana. For a League of Ireland side, this is rarefied air.
There is a catch. Salah’s Egypt are scheduled to face South Sudan in Africa Cup of Nations qualifying on 27 September. With that international duty so close to the friendly, there is every chance the forward will be rested or managed carefully, and he may not feature at all.
Still, the mere prospect of Drogheda’s defenders lining up opposite one of the defining attackers of his generation gives the fixture a different weight. Even if he watches from the stands, his presence will hang over the night.
A story that began on the Boyne
To understand why Drogheda are flying to Turkey in the first place, you have to go back a lot further than 2011, the year the sister-club arrangement was officially announced.
Speaking on the RTÉ Soccer podcast in 2020, former Drogheda PRO Roisin Philips traced the roots of the relationship to the 19th century and the catastrophe of the Great Famine.
“In fact it goes back to the Great Famine in 1845,” she said. “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 story will be front and centre around the game. A documentary, “An Gorta Mór – The Star & The Crescent”, will accompany the occasion and air on Turkish television, exploring the Ottoman Empire’s humanitarian response to Irish suffering and the unlikely bridge it built between Drogheda and Turkey.
Football, history and a rare opportunity
For Drogheda, this trip is about much more than 90 minutes. It is a chance to walk into one of Turkey’s most intense football environments, test themselves against a star-laden squad and embody a relationship that began with aid ships on the River Boyne and now stretches to Papara Park.
Whether Salah steps onto the pitch or not, Drogheda will find themselves under a different kind of spotlight in October – one that mixes football, diplomacy and a shared past into a single night in Trabzon.
