The Turkish Football Federation’s disciplinary board described Mourinho’s comments as unsportsmanlike and fined him 900,000 Turkish lira ($26,200) for questioning the impartiality of referees and other match officials. (AP/File)
Fenerbahce coach Jose Mourinho was fined and banned for one match due to his outburst against the Turkish League and VAR officials last week.
In typical Mourinho style, he had termed the Turkish league as one that “smells bad” and questioned why any international fans would watch it. He also said he wouldn’t have taken the job if club officials had told him “the whole truth” about how the league allegedly works.
The rant came on Sunday after Fenerbahce beat Trabzonspor 3-2 with a winner in the 12th minute of stoppage time, leading to wild celebrations where the Portuguese coach ran onto the field and tried a knee slide that led to him tumbling face forward onto the grass.
There is simply no better way to spend eight minutes of your life than watching José Mourinho rant about a VAR official 👌
pic.twitter.com/iJtDv2Dfpa— Football Ramble (@FootballRamble) November 4, 2024
“Today, the man of the match was [VAR referee] Atilla Karaoglan. We didn’t see him, but he was the referee of the match. The referee was just a little boy who was there on the pitch, but the referee was Atilla Karaoglan. He went from the invisible man to the most important man of the match. I speak on behalf of all Fenerbahce fans: we don’t want him again. We don’t want him because it smells bad. We don’t want him. We don’t want him on the pitch, but on the VAR even less,” he had said.
“It’s unbelievable to win this match against so many powerful people. We are not going to give up. We know what we have. I blame the Fenerbahce people that brought me here! They told me only half of the truth. If they told me the whole truth I wouldn’t come! But with half of the truth, with my boys we fight the opponent, we fight the system,” he had gone on.
The Turkish Football Federation’s disciplinary board described Mourinho’s comments as unsportsmanlike and fined him 900,000 Turkish lira ($26,200) for questioning the impartiality of referees and other match officials. The board also banned the former Chelsea manager for one match and fined him 58,500 lira ($1,700) for unsportsmanlike conduct toward opposing fans. The ban also prevents Mourinho from entering his team’s locker room.
(With agency inputs)
