Trabzonspor Pursues Thomas Reis as New Head Coach
Trabzonspor have pushed their search for a new head coach into a decisive phase, and all roads now appear to lead to German tactician Thomas Reis.
The club moved quickly after the departure of the late Fatih Tekke, refusing to drift through a period of uncertainty. Talks with Reis began almost immediately, with the German emerging as the clear frontrunner to take over on the touchline.
Short deal, big project
According to Turkish outlet “61saat”, Trabzonspor officials have already held a first face-to-face meeting with Reis, who is currently in charge of Bulgarian champions Ludogorets. During that sit‑down, the board presented a concrete plan for the coming months and outlined exactly how they see him fitting into the club’s future.
The offer on the table is straightforward: an initial contract running only until the end of the current season. On paper, it looks like a trial period. Inside the club, it is being treated very differently.
Sources close to Trabzonspor insist the hierarchy do not view Reis as a stopgap. The short deal is designed as a launchpad. If results and performances meet expectations, the agreement is set to evolve into a longer-term project, with the German at the centre of a rebuild rather than merely patching over a difficult moment.
Why Reis?
Reis has already left a strong impression on Turkish football. His first spell in the country, with Samsunspor in the Super League, significantly raised his profile and convinced many in Turkey that his energetic, front-foot style fits the league.
His current work in Bulgaria has only sharpened that reputation. Since taking over Ludogorets on 12 July 2026, he has overseen 11 matches and produced an imposing average of 2.18 points per game. That return, across league and cup fixtures, underlines how quickly his tactical ideas have taken hold.
For a Trabzonspor side searching for clarity and identity after a sudden coaching change, those numbers matter. They speak to a coach who can implement a structure fast and squeeze results from a squad under pressure.
A coach with mileage
Reis’s path to this point has been anything but overnight success. He cut his teeth in youth football, working with the under-19 teams at Bochum and Wolfsburg, learning the details of player development and game management away from the spotlight.
He then stepped up to the senior stage with Bochum’s first team and later Schalke 04, navigating two of Germany’s most demanding environments. The move to Samsunspor opened the door to Turkish football, where his work resonated enough that a club of Trabzonspor’s stature now see him as the man to steer their next chapter.
From there, he switched to Bulgaria and Ludogorets, where those “frightening” figures – 2.18 points per game over his first 11 outings – have pushed him firmly onto Trabzonspor’s shortlist and, at this point, to the very top of it.
The contract length may be short. The ambitions around it are anything but.
