AIRTRICITY LEAGUE CLUB Drogheda United will host Turkish outfit Trabzonspor in a pre-season friendly next year.
The EA Sports Cup winners, who sit third in the Premier Division table with two fixtures remaining, have long-established links with the Trabzon-based side and announced the friendly game for March 2013.
The pair both wear claret and blue while Drogs’ crest features the star and crescent – as does the Turkish national flag.
Managed by Senol Gunes, the Black Sea Storm (as they’re nicknamed) finished third in the domestic league last season but were eliminated early on from the Europa League qualifying rounds.
Their current squad features former English-based players such as Didier Zokora, Sol Bamba and Marek Cech while striker Marco Janko, who is likely to line out against Ireland for Austria next year, is also on their books.
Drogheda chairman Jim Agnew said he has been liaising with Turkey’s Ambassador for Ireland Ahmet Altay Cengizer in order to arrange the game.
We have been in contact with Trabzonspor for some time in relation to a friendly between our two teams and Mr Cengizer has been a fantastic help in communicating our wishes to Turkey and in trying to achieve this outcome,” Agnew told droghedaunited.ie.
“We are extremely grateful to him for his assistance. I know that both sets of fans will be over the moon to finally see our efforts come to fruition. Of course this also further strengthens the bonds between Drogheda and Turkey in general.”
