Marked for Edin Višća
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Match11 Sep 2027
Rarely has this fixture seen a display like it: 5‑1 against Galatasaray, and it could have been more.
Squad13 Sep 2027
3 goals in one afternoon from one man. The other players were also present, a witness confirmed.
Squad13 Sep 2027
“I remember the meeting. I remember exactly what was promised in it.” Trabzonspor may remember it differently, which is precisely the problem.
Market13 Sep 2027
Everything was agreed until it was not, and Ali Şaşal Vural reports back to Trabzonspor with a summer to forget. Neither club is saying who walked away from the table.
Squad13 Sep 2027
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trabzonspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market13 Sep 2027
“I want to be playing for trophies while my legs still let me.” Nothing in that sentence is a transfer request, and nobody at Trabzonspor heard it as anything else.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Marked 10.00 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
A performance of 8.68 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings13 Sep 2027
Marked 8.19 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Back issues
From our football correspondent
Steady
Boardroom31 May 2027
Qualification is done, and next season the floodlights come on for something bigger. A stage for the players, oxygen for the accounts and a passport for everybody else.
Squad31 May 2027
There are footballers who have a good season and footballers a season is remembered for, and the second kind get their names read out in a hall in the summer. Trabzonspor will be quietly delighted and privately nervous.
Squad31 May 2027
Ernest Muçi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Loan watch31 May 2027
The goals keep arriving from Denis Drăguş’s exile
13 goals in 28 games at Gaziantep — numbers that travel home faster than he does. Somebody at Trabzonspor updates a spreadsheet every Monday, and it makes better reading each week.
Squad31 May 2027
The manager makes an example of Edin Višća
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Squad31 May 2027
“Thirty minutes, door closed, everything said. We shook hands after.” Whatever was in the room stayed in the room, and Mustafa Eskihellaç trained the next morning like a man with less to carry.
Market31 May 2027
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Benjamin Bouchouari signs something — a contract at Trabzonspor or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Market31 May 2027
The loan is over: 0 appearances and 0 goals away from home, and now the harder question of whether he is wanted here.
Market31 May 2027
The loan is done. Appearances: 0. Goals: 0. The number that matters is neither — it is how the manager looks at him on the first morning of training.
From our football correspondent
Triumph
Market21 Dec 2026
“I have nothing bad to say about this place. I just need to be somewhere else.” It is in writing now, which changes what Trabzonspor can pretend not to have heard.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad21 Dec 2026
“I was told what my role would be, and I signed on that basis. It has not happened.” A grievance with a date attached is the hardest kind to settle.
Match19 Dec 2026
Nobody wants to play Trabzonspor right now
4 wins in a row changes how opponents warm up: quieter, more glances across. Runs end, everybody knows that — but nobody in this dressing room is planning for it.
Squad21 Dec 2026
Batista Mendy was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match19 Dec 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Paul Onuachu. 3‑2 against Sivasspor, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.15, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.64, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings21 Dec 2026
A performance of 8.24 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Market26 Oct 2026
“I have given everything here and I need a new challenge.” The request is formal, and the relationship will never be quite the same again.
Match24 Oct 2026
No end in sight to Trabzonspor's wait for a win
7 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Trabzonspor has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Some afternoons a goalkeeper is the team. 6 saves, several of them the sort nobody expects to see stopped, and a scoreline that flatters everybody in front of him.
Squad26 Oct 2026
Batista Mendy was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match24 Oct 2026
1‑2 to Slavia Prague, and no complaints worth printing. The performance asked for nothing more than it got.
Squad26 Oct 2026
André Onana gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
A performance of 8.92 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.86, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Player ratings26 Oct 2026
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.19, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Match17 Oct 2026
No end in sight to Trabzonspor's wait for a win
5 matches now without a victory, and the excuses have worn thinner than the patience. Somebody at Trabzonspor has to find a result from somewhere.
Squad19 Oct 2026
Ernest Muçi in a row with a teammate
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trabzonspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Nobody could get near Edin Višća
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
A performance of 8.54 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Squad19 Oct 2026
“I pick players who do the work. All of it.” No name was spoken; every camera still turned to Sidny Lopes Cabral, and the manager let it.
Player ratings19 Oct 2026
Shots: 14. Goals: none. The chances were there and they were good ones, and they went into the stand, the goalkeeper's arms and the side netting in roughly that order.
Match17 Oct 2026
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Market19 Oct 2026
It has been denied twice and printed three times, which is the usual arithmetic. Until Mustafa Eskihellaç signs something — a contract at Trabzonspor or anywhere else — this column belongs to him.
Squad19 Oct 2026
The competition arrived without a word said to him about it. Sidny Lopes Cabral keeps the shirt for now, at Trabzonspor's convenience rather than his own.
From our football correspondent
Uneasy
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Successful dribbles: 32. There is a particular sort of despair on a full-back's face by the seventieth minute, and it was on display.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Defensive actions: 24, and a clean sheet at the end of it. A centre-half's best afternoons look like nothing happening, which is precisely the point.
Squad5 Oct 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trabzonspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom5 Oct 2026
Wages eat 168% of everything Trabzonspor earn
There is a figure at which a wage bill stops being ambitious and becomes the reason nothing else is possible, and this club has reached it. Nothing is left over for a transfer, a stand or a rainy afternoon.
Squad5 Oct 2026
Paul Onuachu gets it from the manager
“Nobody here is above being told.” It was not said with a name attached, but the dressing room can count, and so can everybody who was listening.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
A performance of 8.38 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings5 Oct 2026
Marked 8.08 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Loan watch5 Oct 2026
“I did not go to Alanyaspor to sit and watch. I want to come back to Trabzonspor and fight for my place.” 2 appearances in 6 matches say the rest.
Match3 Oct 2026
It finished 1‑1, and it somehow always looked like it would. One of those afternoons where the table moves less than the tempers.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Market7 Sep 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Squad7 Sep 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trabzonspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
149% of the income goes out in wages at Trabzonspor
Every club in football pays most of what it earns to its players. Paying nearly all of it is a different arrangement, and it has ended the same way every time somebody has tried it.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The manager makes an example of Paul Onuachu
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
Nobody could get near Edin Višća
Successful dribbles: 19. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Match5 Sep 2026
Beaten 0‑1, and beaten fairly. The manager kept his words short afterwards, which was probably wise.
Player ratings7 Sep 2026
One of those days for Umut Nayir
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 8.48, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Boardroom7 Sep 2026
The music was off and the showers ran late. What was said in that dressing room stays there, but Saturday will publish the minutes.
Squad7 Sep 2026
The award goes to Christ Inao Oulaï, and nobody around here is inclined to argue with the choice.
From our football correspondent
Upbeat
Market31 Aug 2026
“This is not anger. I have thought about it for months, and nothing that has happened lately changed my mind.” The request is on a desk at Trabzonspor, and it is not being withdrawn.
Market31 Aug 2026
The fee is $1.2M, the contract is signed, and the argument about whether he is worth it can begin. Kasimpasa drove a hard bargain; time will say who won it.
Squad31 Aug 2026
Ernest Muçi was at the centre of it, and by the time it was pulled apart there were three or four others involved. Training grounds are small places and long seasons make them smaller.
Match29 Aug 2026
Ask anyone on the way out what separated the sides and you will get one name: Edin Višća. 3‑2 against Gaziantep, and the applause at the whistle was mostly his.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Marked 9.43 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
A performance of 9.39 does not come along often, and when it does the rest of the team becomes scenery. He was magnificent.
Player ratings31 Aug 2026
Marked 9.17 — the sort of number a correspondent writes down twice to be sure. Everything he tried came off, and what he did not try was not worth trying.
Squad31 Aug 2026
The manager makes an example of André Onana
“If you cannot run for the shirt, somebody else will wear it.” No name was used and none was needed; every player in that room knew who it was for.
Market31 Aug 2026
Istanbulspor are about to pick up the phone
A conversation is coming this week. Trabzonspor will put a number on him, and from there it stops being football and becomes arithmetic.
From our football correspondent
Steady
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Successful dribbles: 27. Every time he got the ball somebody had to make a decision, and every time the decision was wrong.
Market24 Aug 2026
The offer was not close and it was refused without much discussion. Whether the second one is refused as quickly is another matter.
Market24 Aug 2026
Ankaragucu pay $1.1M, and the deal is done. The number reads well on a balance sheet; whether it reads well on the pitch is next season's question.
Squad24 Aug 2026
It was not about football and everybody who saw it knows that. Two men who have to play together on Saturday said things at Trabzonspor this week that will take longer than a week to unsay.
Market24 Aug 2026
The interest is real enough to have reached print. Trabzonspor have said nothing, which in a transfer window is its own kind of answer.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
One of those days for Edin Višća
There is a version of this player everybody suspected was in there, and on this evidence it is. 9.01, and no argument anywhere in the ground.
Match22 Aug 2026
1‑1, and both dressing rooms will call it two points lost. A draw that asked plenty of questions and answered none of them.
Player ratings24 Aug 2026
Shots: 10, not one of them in. A centre forward is paid for one thing, and on this evidence he has forgotten which thing it is.