Fenerbahce’s Head Coach Jose Mourinho has found himself at the center of controversy after Galatasaray accused him of making racist remarks following a recent match.
The accusations have prompted the Turkish football giants to announce their intent to file formal complaints with UEFA and FIFA.
Following the UEFA Europa League match between Fenerbahce and Anderlecht on February 13, 2025, which ended in a 1-1 draw, the Portuguese coach’s comments were reportedly taken out of context.
Fenerbahce issued an official statement defending Mourinho, asserting that his words were deliberately misconstrued.
“A post-match remark made by our Coach, Jose Mourinho, has been deliberately taken entirely out of context and distorted in a misleading manner.” the club said in a statement. “As any reasonable person can clearly recognize, the expression used by Jose Mourinho was solely intended to describe the excessive reaction of the opposing team’s technical staff to the referee’s decisions during the match. These remarks cannot, under any circumstances, be associated with racism.”
Fenerbahce emphasized that Mourinho’s words had no racist connotation and were aimed purely at depicting the behavior of the rival team’s technical staff. The club described the allegations of racism as a malicious and unfounded attempt to undermine the coach’s reputation.
“Any attempt to portray this statement as a racist remark is completely malicious.” Fenerbahce added.
The club also announced that they would be seeking legal redress, expressing their intent to use all available legal avenues to protect Mourinho and Fenerbahce’s name from further damage.
“We will exercise our legal rights regarding these baseless accusations aimed at defaming our head coach and the club,” the statement concluded.
This dispute has added further fuel to the already intense rivalry between the two prominent Turkish football clubs.
