Mourinho will aim to end Fenerbahçe’s 10-year Turkish title drought
José Mourinho has been confirmed as the new manager of Turkish club Fenerbahçe.
Thousands of fans packed into Fenerbahçe’s Sukru Saracoglu Stadium in Istanbul on Sunday to witness the official presentation of Mourinho as the club’s manager for the next two seasons. This was followed by an unusually long press conference, lasting almost two hours, this Monday.
“We managed to bring one of the best managers in the history of football to the club, the only one to have won all three UEFA club competitions,” said Mário Branco, Fenerbahçe’s sporting director.
Mourinho, on the other hand, tried to temper expectations and refused to make any promises, setting his sights on qualifying for the new-look Champions League and winning the Turkish League.
“The big goal, the big dream, is to win the Turkish League, with the greatest respect to those who have won it in previous years, three different clubs, but we want to fight for it,” said Mourinho.
Fenerbahçe, who finished second in the league, will have to enter the second qualifying round for the Champions League, scheduled for July 23 and 24 (first leg), and July 30 and 31 (second leg), with many important players expected to be absent due to the Euro 2024.
“Of course, the qualifying rounds and the play-offs are going to be tough, especially as we don’t have time to prepare. I’m going to say something I shouldn’t, I wish our players at the Euro would leave early, come and rest and train. We want to be in the new Champions League; the Europa League gives us a better chance of doing something big, but the big goal is to try and play in the group stage of the Champions League,” he admitted.
Fenerbahçe will be the 10th club that Mourinho has managed in his career, after Benfica, União de Leiria, FC Porto, Chelsea (twice), Inter Milan, Real Madrid, Manchester United, Tottenham and Roma.
The Istanbul outfit is the second most successful in Turkey, with 19 league titles, behind Galatasaray (24), but they haven’t lifted the trophy for a decade, since 2013/14. In the last three seasons, they’ve finished second in the league, and in the last one they were just three points behind their eternal rivals, who went on to become two-time champions.
José Mourinho, who replaces Ismail Kartal in the post, is the third Portuguese coach to take charge of Fenerbahçe, after Vítor Pereira (between 2015 and 2016, and in 2021/22) and Jorge Jesus (2022/23).
Source: LUSA
