Why one Irish team is set to face Salah's Trabzonspor

In August, Mohamed Salah was given a hero's welcome as he was unveiled to Trabzonspor fans at a packed 40,000-seat Papara Park.

That same weekend, Drogheda United travelled to Galway to play out a 0-0 draw in a League of Ireland tie in front of 5,000 fans.

Yet on Thursday, the two will meet in a friendly on the Black Sea coast in north east Turkey as part of a two-decade-long connection between the clubs.

"In 2006, in a Trabzonspor forum online, a couple of fans realised that there was a small Irish club that had the star and crescent, which are obviously symbols from the Turkish flag," Drogheda chief executive Rian Wogan tells BBC Sport.

"From there they then subsequently realised that our club colours are also claret and blue and messages started going back and forward."

The wider relationship between Ireland and Turkey goes back even further, forged during the 1800s.

The Ottoman Empire provided humanitarian aid to Ireland during the Great Famine, with the Ottoman Sultan donating £1,000.

The two countries also celebrate 75 years of diplomatic relations this year.

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