Trabzonspor v Krasnodar facts

With just one point accumulated between them after two rounds of Group C fixtures, Trabzonspor and Krasnodar both know that victory on the banks of the Black Sea is imperative if they are to get their ambitions of reaching the UEFA Europa League knockout phase back on track.

• The Turkish club drew 2-2 at home to Basel on Matchday 2 after opening the section with a 1-0 loss at Getafe. Their Russian opponents, who reached the round of 16 last season, have made an even poorer start, falling to a 5-0 defeat at Basel before losing 1-2 at home to Getafe.

Previous meetings
• Trabzonspor have not conceded in their two previous home fixtures against Russian visitors, drawing 0-0 against CSKA Moskva in the 2011/12 UEFA Champions League group stage and beating Rostov 2-0 (also on aggregate) to win their 2014/15 UEFA Europa League play-off.

• Krasnodar have won three and drawn one of their four games against Turkish sides, all in the UEFA Europa League. They drew 1-1 at Fenerbahçe to complete a 2-1 aggregate victory in the 2016/17 round of 32, Viktor Claesson having headed in the first-leg winner four minutes into his club debut, and last season won both group games against Akhisar Belediyespor (1-0 a, 2-1 h). Claesson again scored the only goal in the first meeting before Yuri Gazinski and Ari found the net at home.

Form guide
Trabzonspor
• A fourth-placed finish in the 2018/19 Turkish Süper Lig restored European football to Trabzonspor after four years – the club's longest absence from the continental stage since a five-year gap from 1998/99 to 2003/04.

• This season the Black Sea club beat Sparta Praha in the third qualifying round (2-2 a, 2-1 h) before overcoming AEK Athens on away goals in the play-offs (3-1 a, 0-2 h). Their two previous UEFA Europa League group stage campaigns, in 2013/14 and 2014/15, both proved productive before they fell to heavyweight Italian opposition in the round of 32 – respectively Juventus (0-2 a, 0-2 h) and Napoli (0-4 h, 0-1 a).

• Trabzonspor have a positive home record in the UEFA Europa League group stage of W4 D2 L1, registering 2-0 wins in each of the previous two Matchday 3 games.

Krasnodar
• Since making their European debut in the 2014/15 UEFA Europa League, Krasnodar have participated in the competition every season, just once (in 2017/18) failing to reach the group stage. Third place in the 2018/19 Russian Premier League put them into this season's UEFA Champions League qualifying round, where they memorably defeated Porto on away goals (0-1 h, 3-2 a), but were then well beaten in the play-offs by Olympiacos (0-4 a, 1-2 h).

• Krasnodar were unable to progress from their UEFA Europa League group at the first attempt, in 2014/15, but have succeeded in each of their last three participations, reaching the round of 16 in both 2016/17 and 2018/19, when only a late goal conceded at home to Valencia (1-2 a, 1-1 h) denied them a first ever European quarter-final.

• The Russian club have claimed one victory on the road in each of their four UEFA Europa League group campaigns, the latest of them at Akhisar last season. Their overall away record in the group stage is W4 D2 L7.

Links and trivia 
• João Pereira (Trabzonspor) and Manuel Fernandes (Krasnodar) are former Benfica and Portugal team-mates. The latter played in Turkey for Beşiktaş from 2011–14.

• Trabzonspor's Czech international left-back Filip Novák played alongside Krasnodar's Swedish midfielder Kristoffer Olsson with Danish club Midtjylland in 2015/16 and the first half of 2016/17.

The coaches
• A former Turkish international midfielder with 36 caps, Ünal Karaman won more than half of those – plus two Turkish Cups – while playing for Trabzonspor from 1990–99. After ending his playing days at Ankaragücü, he joined the Turkish federation's coaching staff and was in charge of the Under-21 side before moving into club football with home-town team Konyaspor. Three years as assistant back at Trabzonspor under Şenol Güneş preceded further roles elsewhere before he returned to the Black Sea club as head coach in May 2018.

• A Krasnodar man through and through, Murad Musaev made his mark by leading the club's Under-19s to the knockout phase of the 2017/18 UEFA Youth League, where they were only eliminated on penalties by Real Madrid in front of a competition-record crowd. That achievement helped him land the position of caretaker coach to the senior side following Igor Shalimov's dismissal in early April 2018. Confirmed as the club's new head coach that summer, he led them into the UEFA Europa League round of 16 and third place in the Russian Premier League.

FootballPeople weeks
The FootballPeople weeks take place from 10 to 24 October 2019 and are organised by UEFA's social responsibility partner Fare. The weeks are a global campaign aimed at tackling discrimination and celebrating diversity in football. The UEFA Europa League is offering its full support to the FootballPeople weeks; teams will line up for a mixed photo with the referees, while an #EqualGame hashtag will also be on display. Videos will be played on giant screens at stadiums across Europe, and child mascots will be wearing #FootballPeople t-shirts. UEFA's collaboration with the Fare network's FootballPeople weeks has been running since 2001. The aim of this initiative fits in perfectly with the goals of #EqualGame, which is looking to promote inclusion, diversity and accessibility.