President Fenerbahce On Mourinho's Dismissal: We Want To Play Better

Jose Mourinho was fired for not being in accordance with Fenerbahce's (Instagram/@fenerbahce) style.

JAKARTA - Fenerbahce president, Alic Koc, said that Jose Mourinho's dismissal was painful, but it needed to be done so his team could play better football.

The 62-year-old coach was sacked by Fenerbahce on August 29, 2025 after a 0-1 aggregate defeat to Benfica in the 2025/2026 Champions League playoffs.

As a result, Fenerbahce failed to appear in the Champions League and had to settle for playing in the Europa League this season.

"Why did we fire Mourinho? I would say it for the first time, it was a painful dismissal."

"Separating from someone who is also a friend is difficult. Getting rid of Benfica is not a problem, but the way we are eliminated is unacceptable."

"This makes me feel that last year's style of football will continue. We separated because we believe this squad will play better football at this time," Koc told Turkish sports media, Fanatik.

Koc said he believed Mourinho's defensive tactics hindered his team.

"We know our coach will emphasize defense when we sign him. However, we discussed the need to play more dominantly at the end of the season."

"Scoring 99 goals and winning 99 points (as Fenerbahce did in Super Lig in the 2023/2024 season) is our genetic code," said Koc.

However, Koc has no regrets signing Mourinho more than a year ago despite the former Chelsea manager, Manchester United, and Tottenham Hotspur failing to win trophies during his tenure in Istanbul.

Fenerbahce finished second in the 2024/2025 Super Lig, 11 points adrift of their rival, Galatasaray, who eliminated Mourinho's side in the quarter-finals of the Turkish Cup. They were also knocked out of the Europa League by Rangers.

" Bringing him here was a great success. Our cohesiveness was established, success was real," said Koc.

Fenerbahce hopes to announce a replacement for Mourinho soon and is most likely a foreign manager.

"(Elderly's former coach) Luciano Spalletti was our first choice, but he decided not to coach this season."

"Due to the large number of foreign players in our team, we feel the coach should be a foreigner with experience in Europe. We are in contact with several people and will announce our new coach soon," he said.

Under Mourinho, Fenerbahce started a new season by picking up four points from their league's opening two games.