Jose Mourinho’s fall from grace in elite football accelerated Friday when the charismatic Portuguese coach left Turkish club Fenerbahce, two days after failing to get back into the Champions League after a long absence.
His latest short managerial spell – this one lasted barely a year, in a second-tier European league – leaves the 62-year-old Mourinho’s career at a crossroads, with top teams potentially no longer wanting to take a chance on a coach whose best days might be behind him.
Fenerbahce’s elimination at the hands of Benfica in a Champions League qualifying playoff on Wednesday was another blow to the status of Mourinho, who once was considered one of the world’s best coaches and famously had a heated rivalry with Pep Guardiola during their time in Spain with Real Madrid and Barcelona, respectively.
A Champions League winner with Porto and Inter Milan, Mourinho has not coached in the main stage of the marquee competition for six seasons. He won the third-tier Conference League with Roma in 2022 but his time at the Italian club from 2021-24 was pock-marked with squabbles that resurfaced in his brief and chaotic spell in Turkiye.
Turbulent times in Turkiye
There was an incident in April when he grabbed the nose of Galatasaray coach Okan Buruk in the Istanbul derby, earning a three-match ban and a fine.
Indeed, the fiery matches between the two local rivals brought out the worst in Mourinho. Two months earlier, he was handed a four-match ban after making an incendiary comment in the aftermath of a league match against Galatasaray, which announced its intention to start legal proceedings against Mourinho.
Mourinho, who often railed against what he perceived to be poor refereeing in Turkiye, wore the look of a frustrated and unhappy man during his time with Fenerbahce.
Gone was the charm and self-confidence that oozed out of the self-styled “Special One” during the peak years at his first spell at Chelsea from 2004-07, for example.
In October, he even said: “I think the best thing I have to do is when I leave Fenerbahce I go to a club that doesn’t play UEFA competitions. So you find a club in England from the bottom of the table, needs a coach in two years, I am ready to go.”
Who knows, that might be where Mourinho ends up after his departure from Fenerbahce, whose own absence from the Champions League now stretches to 17 seasons.
“We have parted ways with Jose Mourinho,” Fenerbahce posted to its millions of followers in a short statement on its X and Instagram accounts. “We thank him for his efforts for our team and wish him success in his future career.”
There was no immediate statement on the club’s official website.
What next for Mourinho?
Mourinho was once a serial trophy winner, a guarantee of silverware.
Yet that’s now two clubs – Tottenham (from 2019-21) and Fenerbahce – where he hasn’t guided his team to a title. His career trajectory, meanwhile, is heading downwards: from Real Madrid, to Manchester United, to Tottenham, to Roma and then to Fenerbahce.
Coaching the national team of his native Portugal might be one future option for Mourinho, who established a strong reputation for being a pragmatic, tactically astute manager with an uncanny ability to win one-off matches. Those attributes might serve him well in international football.
The days of him leading teams to success in the Champions League or in the top European leagues seem a long way away, however.
Solskjaer also out in Turkiye
It hasn’t been a good couple of days for former Man United managers in Turkiye.
On Thursday, Ole Gunnar Solskjaer, who replaced Mourinho in charge of United in 2018, was fired by Besiktas hours after a loss to Swiss team Lausanne in the Conference League playoffs.
Solskjaer had been in charge since January.
Mourinho leaves Fenerbahce after Champions League failure in latest career blow to the ‘special one’
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Mourinho leaves Fenerbahce after Champions League failure in latest career blow to the ‘special one’
- His latest short managerial spell leaves the 62-year-old Mourinho’s career at a crossroads
- Mourinho was considered one of the world’s best coaches
Senegal talisman Mane overcame grief to become an African icon
- “When I was young my dad was always saying how proud he was of me. He was a man with a big heart,” Mane said
- A goalless 2022 AFCON final against Egypt in Yaounde meant a penalty shootout, and Mane converted the spot kick that brought glory to Senegal
JOHANNESBURG: Senegal talisman and striker Sadio Mane could have missed out on a glittering football career had he agreed with a wish of his late father.
The 33-year-old was discouraged from playing football as a child because his father, a devout Muslim, wanted his son to concentrate on religious studies instead.
Mane, who would go on to become an African football icon, made this revelation when speaking to a senior Confederation of African Football (CAF) official.
Despite differing views about football, the two-time African player of the year stressed his love for his father, and how heartbroken he was as a seven-year-old when his parent died.
“When I was young my dad was always saying how proud he was of me. He was a man with a big heart. His death had a major impact on me and the rest of my family,” Mane said.
“I said to myself — now I have to do my best to help my mother. That is a hard thing to deal with when you are so young.”
But he succeeded, going on to play for clubs in France, Austria, England, Germany and Saudi Arabia, and helping his country win the Africa Cup of Nations (AFCON) for the first time in 2002.
After stints with Metz and Salzburg, Mane joined Southampton in 2014 and his 176-second hat-trick against Aston Villa remains the fastest in the Premier League.
After two seasons with the Saints, Mane joined Liverpool, operated alongside Egyptian star Mohamed Salah, and the pair helped bring many trophies to Anfield.
The silverware haul included the Champions League, UEFA Super Cup, Club World Cup, Premier League, FA Cup and League Cup.
After six seasons with the Reds, Mane spent one at Bayern Munich, then joined many other African stars in the lucrative Saudi Pro League.
- Happy memories -
A goalless 2022 AFCON final against Egypt in Yaounde meant a penalty shootout, and Mane converted the spot kick that brought glory to Senegal.
Victory was particularly joyful as the Teranga Lions had also reached the previous AFCON final, three years earlier in Cairo, but conceded after just two minutes and lost 1-0 to Algeria.
Senegal were unable to achieve back-to-back titles in 2024, though, losing on penalties to hosts and eventual champions Ivory Coast in a round-of-16 clash.
They have been drawn with Botswana, the Democratic Republic of Congo and Benin in Group D at the 2025 AFCON in Morocco, which kicks off on Sunday.
The clash with the Congolese will bring back happy memories for the Senegalese, who came from two goals behind to win 3-2 in Kinshasa last October and went on to secure a place at the 2026 World Cup.
Mane did not score in the DR Congo capital, but a month later netted twice in a 4-0 home victory over Mauritania that sealed the World Cup slot.
Senegal hit 22 goals in 10 World Cup qualifiers and Mane was the leading scorer with five, one more than Tottenham Hotspur midfielder Pape Matar Sarr.
Like a number of other 2025 AFCON title hopefuls, Senegal are spoilt for choice when head coach Pape Thiaw selects his strikers.
Mane of Al Nassr, Nicolas Jackson, on loan from Chelsea to Bayern Munich, Iliman Ndiaye of Everton and Ismaila Sarr of Crystal Palace are just some of the options.
Then there is 17-year-old Ibrahim Mbaye from Champions League title-holders Paris Saint-Germain, who made his international debut in a friendly defeat by Brazil last month.
A few days later he became the youngest scorer for Senegal by netting in an 8-0 rout of Kenya in another AFCON warm-up match.
Mane scored a hat-trick against the east Africans — a timely reminder to AFCON rivals that age has not diminished his predatory instincts.
Many observers have listed Senegal among the favorites to become champions again in Morocco and, if they succeed, Mane is set to play a key role.
“We are among the favorites and accept that. I want a team that dominates,” said Thiaw, who was in the Senegal squad that reached the 2002 World Cup quarter-finals.
