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Rio-style Trabzonspor formed in Brazil in honor of Jefferson
Yazıcıoğlu says the team was established about six months ago by its captain, Leo Reixach, and comprises 20 amateur players. Vila da Penha is reflected in the name of the team, which wears the same jersey as the original one worn by Trabzonspor.
This neighborhood has an established tradition of soccer and has churned out a number of famous players, including Romario, Vanderlei Luxemburgo, Carlos Alberto, Roberto Dinamite and Adriano. Trabzonspor VP was victorious in all of its first nine matches, winning its last match by an impressive 8-2.
The team’s founder and captain, Leo Reixach, speaking to Trabzonspor Journal, said he is a 23-year-old soccer fan. “I live in Rio and am a big fan of Botafogo. Alanzinho will probably be very angry to hear it, but I don’t like Flamengo, the team he grew up in. Since my childhood, I have always dreamed of being a goalkeeper, and Jefferson is my idol. I loved him when he was playing for Botafogo. He was transferred to Trabzonspor in 2005, and so I started to follow Trabzonspor closely. I haven’t given up on Trabzonspor since,” he said.
Reixach explained that he follows Trabzonspor matches on the Internet and learned about the team and the city that way. He later decided to establish a “Rio-style Trabzonspor.” On match days, he says, they rush to soccer fields in Vila da Penha, where almost everyone knows about Trabzon and Trabzonspor.
Noting that the Turkish soccer league is well known in Brazil, he said: “Here, everyone talks about Turkish leagues, but no one ever mentions Trabzonspor. After we established this team, everyone around us started to support Trabzonspor. I even wear the Trabzonspor jersey before going to watch Botafogo matches. I occasionally wear the Turkish national team’s jersey with ‘20 Gökdeniz’ on the back. My friends now complain, saying, ‘You’ve gone too far; you’ve forgotten about Botafogo and become a Trabzonspor fan’.”
‘I was shocked when Toulouse kicked us out of the cup’
Reixach indicated that he tried to participate English-language discussions on bordo-mavi.net, a Trabzonspor fan site. “I was shocked when Toulouse kicked us out of the cup despite us having won the match. I thought we could have advanced a bit in the UEFA. Indeed, I still hope we will be successful in the league to make up for this disappointment. One day we want to go to Trabzon to watch Trabzonspor play at Hüseyin Avni Aker Stadium. We are eager to do this, but we don’t have enough money to even buy tickets,” he said.
Brazilian goalkeeper Jefferson was transferred from Botafogo to Trabzonspor ahead of the 2005-2006 season. At that time, Botafogo’s fans were angry about the transfer and reportedly protested against the club. Trabzonspor, however, announced that this transfer would solve its goalkeeper problem for a long time to come.
Jefferson, though, could not live up to expectations and was transferred to Konyaspor in the 2008-2009 season. Upon also failing in this club, he returned to his former team, Botafogo.
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