It’s over between Fenerbahce and Jose Mourinho. Two days after losing 1-0 in the second leg of their Champions League playoff against Benfica, the team where he started his coaching career, the Portuguese manager has parted ways with the Turkish side, the club announced Friday morning. Mourinho took charge of Fenerbahce in the summer 2024, finished in second place in the table in 2024-25 season behind rivals Galatasaray and were eliminated in the Round of 16 of the UEFA Europa League against Rangers following penalties. Only two games into the new league season (one win and one draw) and with Champions League elimination against Benfica confirmed, the club and the Portuguese coach have decided to part ways, leaving the Turkish side only days before the end of the summer transfer window.
As with many of Mourinho’s tenures, his spell at Fenerbahce will be remembered not only for his results, but also for his behavior off the pitch. On April 2 he grabbed the nose of Galatasaray head coach Okan Buruk after Fenerbahce were knocked out of the Turkish Cup by their heated rival as Galatasaray won 2-1, and a few weeks before that incident he was accused of racism by the same Galatasaray when he used the word “monkeys” to describe the opponent’s bench. In his first and only full season at Fenerbahce, Mourinho also accused the referees and Galatasaray of fraud and corruption in the league on multiple occasions, and that accusation led the Turkish FA to appoint a foreign referee for the heated derby later in February, which took place with 30,000 police officers ready to intervene on the sidelines of the RAMS Park, the home stadium of Galatasaray.
After coaching teams like Real Madrid, Inter, Chelsea and AS Roma, Mourinho decided to join the Turkish side but then failed to qualify for the league phase of the Champions League this season, a disappointment that led both parties to end their work relationship after only one season.
What’s next for Mourinho?
After his Fenerbahce experience we can expect the Special One to return to one of the top five European leagues, although maybe not until the summer 2026. Before moving to Fenerbahce, he coached AS Roma from 2021 to 2024 where he also won the UEFA Conference League, but it’s unlikely to see him back coaching immediately in the Premier League or in another top European league in the short term, considering how early it is in the season and how many managerial changes happened at many top clubs this summer. There is one notable exception, of course. Rumors about a possible comeback at Manchester United will definitely increase in the coming days after the disappointing start of the season under Ruben Amorim, but it’s difficult to predict the future of Mourinho, considering how unpredictable his latest decisions were when he joined AS Roma and Fenerbahce.
Despite saying multiple times he’s keen on still coaching a club in the future, we shouldn’t rule out the possibility of seeing him become the manager of the Portuguese national team after the 2026 World Cup. The Portuguese FA wanted to hire him in January 2023 after the 2022 World Cup in Qatar, but the Special One decided to stay at AS Roma and declined the opportunity. Portugal appointed Roberto Martinez and this summer won the 2025 UEFA Nations League, which means the nation is certainly not going to see another managerial change ahead of next summer’s World Cup in the United States, Canada and Mexico. If things don’t go in the right direction in the tournament next summer, Mourinho’s name will definitely be back in the minds of the Portuguese FA to start a new cycle that will also lead to the 2030 World Cup that will be hosted by Portugal, Spain and Morocco.
