Trabzonspor Supports Tekke After Europa League Exit as Salah's Era Begins
Trabzonspor woke up to a crisis on Friday morning and chose defiance.
Hours after a bruising 4-0 defeat to Ferencvaros in Hungary sealed a 5-0 aggregate exit from the Europa League play-offs, head coach Fatih Tekke offered his resignation. It was raw, emotional, the reaction of a coach who had just watched his side unravel on the European stage.
The club refused to accept it.
In a statement on Friday, the seven-time Turkish champions made it clear they were standing by the 48-year-old, describing his decision as driven by the “intense emotional impact” of the elimination rather than any loss of faith in his work. Tekke, who guided Trabzonspor to a third-place finish in the Super Lig last season, remains in charge.
It is a bold call, and a necessary one, because this is no ordinary season in Trabzon.
Salah, Fabinho, Onana – big names, bigger expectations
Trabzonspor have spent the summer acting like a club determined to crash Europe’s top table. They have not just recruited; they have made statements.
Mohamed Salah, a Premier League and Champions League winner and one of Liverpool’s greatest ever players, stunned the game last month by agreeing to join the Black Sea club. At 34, after mutually terminating his contract at Anfield at the end of last season, he chose Trabzon as the stage for the next act of his career.
His numbers in England remain staggering. The Egypt international sits third on Liverpool’s all-time scoring list, behind only Ian Rush and Roger Hunt, with 257 goals in 442 appearances since arriving from Roma in 2017. That kind of pedigree changes the temperature of a dressing room the moment he walks through the door.
He is not alone. Fabinho, another Premier League winner, has arrived to anchor the midfield. Andre Onana has returned on loan from Manchester United, adding a high-profile presence in goal. These are not signings for consolidation. They are signings for a club that expects to compete, at home and abroad.
That is why Thursday night hurt so much.
Europa League dream gone, Conference League awaits
The manner of the defeat in Budapest left scars. Ferencvaros dominated, and once the tie started to slip away, Trabzonspor never found a foothold. Over two legs, they failed to score and conceded five. For a side rebuilt around proven winners, that gulf felt jarring.
The immediate fallout was emotional. Tekke, who has strong ties to the club and had just delivered a podium finish in the league, offered to walk. The board, facing a fork in the road before the season had properly begun, chose continuity over upheaval.
So the European journey is not over, only rerouted. Trabzonspor drop into the Europa Conference League, where they will discover their six league-phase opponents on Friday. The competition may not carry the prestige of the Europa League, but for a squad in transition and under pressure, it offers a vital platform to reset and to prove this project has substance.
A new star, an old instinct
For all the gloom of Thursday, there is already a glimpse of what this team could become with Salah at its heart.
On Saturday, in the league, he opened his account for Trabzonspor with both goals in a 2-1 win over Istanbul Basaksehir. The finish was familiar: sharp movement, ruthless execution, the same instincts that terrorised defences in England for seven seasons. Different shirt, same penalty-box certainty.
That brace did more than win three points. It hinted at a path forward. With Salah leading the line, Fabinho patrolling behind him and Onana adding presence at the back, Tekke has the tools to build a side that can dominate domestically and punch harder in Europe.
For now, though, the story is about resolve. A heavy defeat, a coach ready to resign, a club that refused to let him go. The Europa League has slipped away, but the season is only just beginning.
With Salah already on the scoresheet and a rebuilt squad around him, Trabzonspor have made their bet. The question now is whether this turbulent start becomes a turning point—or the first warning sign that a bold project is running ahead of itself.
