Turkey The Cup

The Cup final opposed Trabzonspor to Adanademirspor. The Northerners were force to reckon with already. Strong season, plenty of ambition, and classy enough. Adanademirspor were nobodies… they finished 13th with 25 points the championship. But one has to recall the great season of their city neighbours, who ended 4th. The city of Adana not only had wonderful season, but added new strength to the provincials. Was another Trabzon coming rapidly to disturb the old dominance of Istanbul?

There is a bit of confusion about the name: it is written Adanademirspor, Adana Demirspor, and Demirspor. The problem is obvious, although not well known: there are clubs with the same name in Turkey, so the name of city is included to make clear which one is meant. Relatively old club by Turkish standards – many clubs were formed in the 1960s, either new or amalgamated old and forgotten since then ones. Foundation in 1940 appears ancient in contrast, but Demirspor had more than modest existence so far. They were champions ones – in 1951, when Turkish football was still amateur. Not bad, but nothing good happened after the league was professionalized. Their nickname – Mavi Simsekler (Blue Lightning) – sounded like a joke. So far. Now they had a chance to win a real trophy.

The two-legged final started in Trabzon and Demirspor lost 0-3. Back home they managed only a scoreless tie, 0-0.

Losing finalists – yet, this team is well remembered in Adana: this is the highest ever achievement of the club.

As for the winners – 4th trophy since 1975. No doubt about them.

Winning the Cup looked easy, they were certainly dominant. Their coach was instrumental and must be named: Ahmet Suat Özyazıcı.

Surely not a famous name, but he made Trabzonspor a strong and successful club. Not many win 4 trophies in three years after all.

And here are the winners, rightly nicknamed ‘Karadeniz Firtinasi’ (Black Sea Storm). They were taking Turkish football by storm. Long lasting storm.