Trabzonspor break new ground against PSV

Fresh from their UEFA Champions League group stage debut, Trabzonspor AŞ will play new year European football for the first time as they meet PSV Eindhoven in the UEFA Europa League round of 32.

Previous meetings
• The sides have been paired for the first time in UEFA competition, and this is Trabzonspor's first game against a Dutch side.

• PSV's record in 14 games against Turkish teams reads W7 D2 L5 (W1 D1 L5 in Turkey).

• The clubs met in a friendly on 12 January 2004 in Antalya, with a PSV side featuring Jan Vennegoor of Hesselink beating Trabzonspor on penalties after a 2-2 draw.

Match background
• Trabzonspor are without a victory in five European games – four draws and a defeat – since winning 1-0 at FC Internazionale Milano in their first UEFA Champions League group stage game in September.

• The Black Sea club are competing in the round of 32 for the first time since the advent of the UEFA Cup group stage in 2004/05. Indeed, this is their maiden UEFA competition game after the winter break.

• PSV are unbeaten in nine European outings, eight of them this term – a run comprising six wins and three draws. They have won their last three away games.

• The Dutch outfit have reached the last 32 for the fourth time in the last five seasons. They lost to Hamburger SV at this stage in 2009/10, but overcame Helsingborgs IF in 2007/08 and LOSC Lille Métropole last season, going on to reach the quarter-finals each time.

Team facts
• PSV coach Fred Rutten announced at the end of December that he would leave the club this summer once his contract expires. "It is time for PSV and me to let each other go," said Rutten.

• Rutten spent his entire playing career as a defender with FC Twente (1979-92), moving on to the club's coaching staff, and taking charge between 1999 and 2001. He was then Guus Hiddink's assistant at PSV before a second spell at Twente and a season as FC Schalke 04 boss. He took sole command at PSV in 2009.

• PSV's Orlando Engelaar and Trabzonspor's Halil Altıntop were team-mates at Schalke in 2008/09, when Rutten was coach.

• Trabzonspor's Brazilian forward Paulo Henrique played in the Netherlands for sc Heerenveen from 2007-10. He featured in two draws against PSV and then scored twice in a 3-2 league win in Eindhoven on 27 February 2009.

• PSV's Brazilian defender Marcelo played alongside Trabzonspor's Polish contingent of Arkadiusz Głowacki and brothers Piotr and Paweł Brożek at Wisła Kraków from 2008 to 2010. They won the Polish title together in 2008/09.

• Didier Zokora took on PSV with Tottenham Hotspur FC in the 2007/08 UEFA Cup round of 16. PSV won the tie 6-5 on penalties after the sides traded 1-0 home defeats, with Zokora among the shoot-out scorers – the only time he ever found the net for Tottenham.

• Peter van Ooijen turns 20 on the day of the game; he has yet to play in a UEFA game on his birthday.

• PSV's Moroccan reserve goalkeeper Khalid Sinouh played in the Turkish Super League with Kasımpaşa SK in 2007/08.

• Trabzonspor coach Şenol Güneş won six league titles as the club's goalkeeper in the 1970s and 1980s and is in his fourth spell as coach at the Black Sea side, with whom he has overseen four runners-up finishes in the top division. He also led Turkey to third place at the 2002 FIFA World Cup.

Round of 16
• The winners will meet Stoke City FC or Valencia CF in the round of 16 on 8 and 15 March, playing the second leg at home.

• Trabzonspor have met neither of their potential opponents in UEFA competition.

• PSV have never come across Stoke, but were paired with Valencia in the 1999/00 UEFA Champions League first group stage. The teams drew 1-1 in Eindhoven, Valencia then winning their home match 1-0.

Competition statistics
• An updated version of the UEFA Europa League Statistics Handbook is available here:
http://www.uefa.com/uefaeuropaleague/news/newsid=1750416.html