Trabzonspor Coach Fatih Tekke Stays After Europa League Exit

Trabzonspor have turned down the resignation of head coach Fatih Tekke after their Europa League collapse, insisting his decision was made in the heat of the moment.

The Turkish side, who stunned Europe in the summer by signing Mohamed Salah, were thrashed 4-0 by Ferencvaros in Hungary on Thursday night, losing their play-off 5-0 on aggregate. The scale of the defeat cut deep.

Tekke, who guided Trabzonspor to third place in the Super Lig last season, offered his resignation in the immediate aftermath of the loss. By Friday morning, the club had closed that door. In a statement, they framed the 48-year-old’s move as a reaction to the “intense emotional impact” of crashing out of the Europa League, not a considered decision about his future.

So Tekke stays. The European stage, though, will look different.

From Europa League to Conference League

Trabzonspor drop into the Europa Conference League, where they will play in the league phase this season. Their six opponents will be confirmed on Friday, a draw that now carries a different kind of pressure for a club that expected to be mixing it higher up the ladder.

The disappointment comes after a bold, headline-grabbing summer in the transfer market. The seven-time Turkish champions moved aggressively, bringing in Premier League winners Salah and Fabinho, while Andre Onana returned on loan from Manchester United.

Salah’s arrival, at 34, sent shockwaves through European football. The Egypt international chose Trabzonspor last month after mutually agreeing to terminate his contract with Liverpool at the end of last season. He left Anfield as a modern great: the third-highest scorer in Liverpool’s history, with 257 goals in 442 appearances after joining from Roma in 2017.

He has already begun to repay the faith. Salah scored his first two goals for his new club in a 2-1 victory over Istanbul Basaksehir on Saturday, a glimpse of the firepower Tekke can lean on as the season unfolds.

For now, the coach remains in the dugout, the resignation letter pushed back across the table. The Europa League is gone, but with Salah leading the line and a reshaped squad behind him, Trabzonspor’s response in the Conference League will say plenty about where this project is really heading.