Drogheda United Set for Historic Friendly Against Trabzonspor
Drogheda United are heading into the unknown this autumn – and they might just run into Mohamed Salah along the way.
The League of Ireland club have confirmed a glamour friendly against Turkish giants Trabzonspor at Papara Park on 1 October, a landmark occasion that will see the Louth side play in Turkey for the first time in their history.
The date is no accident. The fixture drops neatly into the three-week international break and sits against a wider backdrop: Ireland and Turkey will mark 75 years of diplomatic relations in 2026, and this game is being framed as another chapter in a relationship that stretches far beyond football.
From famine ships to Papara Park
Drogheda and Trabzonspor are not strangers. The Turkish club count the Boynesiders as one of their three sister clubs, alongside Sanlıurfaspor and Siirt Provincial Special Administration Sport. The bond is unusual, rooted not in modern marketing but in a 19th-century act of solidarity.
On the RTÉ Soccer podcast in 2020, former Drogheda United PRO Roisin Philips outlined how deep those ties run. She recalled how, during the Great Famine of 1845, the Ottoman Sultan sent aid to Ireland, with boats carrying supplies sailing up the River Boyne to Drogheda. The Sultan also donated £1,000 – a substantial sum at the time – as part of that humanitarian effort.
That gesture has echoed down the generations, feeding into a long history of co‑operation between Turkey and Ireland and, eventually, into a formal sister-club arrangement announced in 2011. The upcoming friendly is the latest expression of that shared story.
The match will be accompanied by a Turkish television documentary titled An Gorta Mór – The Star & The Crescent, which will explore the Ottoman role in assisting Ireland during the famine and trace how that history helped forge the modern links between Drogheda and Trabzon.
A mini-camp, and maybe a superstar
For Drogheda, the timing is ideal. With domestic action paused, the trip will double as a late-season mini-camp, offering valuable training time and a test against one of Turkey’s leading sides in a hostile, high-quality environment.
The headline intrigue, of course, surrounds Salah. The former Liverpool forward, now the marquee name in a star-studded Trabzonspor squad, is scheduled to be on international duty with Egypt, who face South Sudan in Africa Cup of Nations qualifying on 27 September. That schedule means there is no guarantee he will feature against Drogheda.
Trabzonspor’s Süper Lig campaign resumes the week after the friendly, with Salah and his team-mates due to travel to Samsunspor, so the club’s management will weigh minutes carefully. Drogheda’s players may find themselves up against the Egyptian icon – or they may instead be facing a rotated side as Trabzonspor tune up for the league restart.
Even without Salah, the Turkish club carry serious star power. Former Liverpool midfielder Fabinho and ex-Manchester United goalkeeper Andre Onana are among the high-profile names who have helped turn Trabzonspor into one of the most eye-catching squads in the region in recent seasons.
A modern club riding a historic wave
For Drogheda, this is more than a friendly. It is a chance to step into a different footballing world, to measure themselves against elite opposition, and to place a proud provincial club at the centre of a story that stretches from famine-era relief ships to a packed Papara Park under the lights.
Whether Salah lines up or not, the sight of Drogheda United walking out in Trabzon will say plenty on its own: a small Irish club, carrying a long memory, testing itself on a big stage born from a bond that started long before anyone kicked a ball.
