Trabzonspor is among the leading clubs from Turkey, who has not only achieved great laurels locally but has also been successful on international fields. Trabzonspor's establishment and claiming their ‘big club’ status were not easily achieved. The club was founded in two stages. In the first part, three amateur clubs İdmangücü, Karadenizgücü and Martıspor had merged on June 21, 1966 and formed Trabzonspor. After some initial disputes with Trabzon’s most deep rooted sports club İdmanocağı, Trabzonspor was founded once again with the addition of İdmanocağı to the previous merger in August 2, 1967.
Featuring many players who played for the local teams and joined together to form Trabzonspor, the early years for the club were particularly successful. In the season 1973-74, Trabzonspor was promoted to the Turkish Premier Super League. Since 1975-76, Trabzonspor has won the league six times and also has emerged thrice as the winner for the Turkish cup. Some of the most successful names in Turkish football history can be found in Trabzonspor team of the late 1970s and early 1980s. Senol Gunes, Turgay Semercioglu, Necmi Perekli, and Ali Kemal Denizci are some of the best remembered names from this period. In 1977/78 season Trabzonspor underachieved and finished the league second but won all the three national cups. Between 1979 and 1981 the club sensationally won three successive league titles and this put the Black Sea club among the top teams of the country. After the early success the club, it saw a period of downfall. This was due to the selling off of the key players to the bigger Istanbul clubs and the poor records of transfers, among other reasons. Recently, the team had been strangled in a controversy regarding its behavior to its players after Miroslaw Szymkowaik retired from football. In 2003, the club finished second to Fenerbahce SK in the league. However, they have still managed to win the Turkish cup on several occasions. The recent improvement of the team also meant that club now has several members of the national team in its playing squad, as well as at least four international footballers who represented their respective countries.
Although large parts of Trabzonspor support is drawn from the local Trabzon population, they remain immensely well supported in the rest of Turkey. This is due to their being the only team to break the Istanbul teams’ domination of the league.Trabzonspor saw some European success with coaches like Ozkan Summer Ahmed Suat Ozyazici beating giant teams of Europe, likes of Liverpool, Internazionale and Barcelona at Trabzonspor's spiritual home ground Hüseyin Avni Aker stadium, without even able to score one single goal. Knocking Olympique Lyonnais and Aston Villa out of UEFA Cup in 1991-92 and 1994-95 seasons respectively are still considered as one of the biggest successes of the club. In 2005-2006, they again failed to reach the champions league after it lost to minnows, Anorthosis Famagusta, in a heated second round qualifying match. This was a significant moment for Cypriot football due to difference in size and wealth of the clubs (Cypriot football clubs have never won a two legged tie to a Turkish club before).
Home Away Overall
Wins 5 2 7
Draws 2 3 5
Defeats 2 2 4
Winning % 56 % 29 % 44 %
Drawing % 22 % 43 % 31 %
Losing % 22 % 29 % 25 %