Jose Mourinho Fined Over £35,000 and Banned for Four Matches Over Racism Allegations by Galatasaray

Fenerbahce head coach Jose Mourinho has been handed a four-match ban and fined over £35,000 for comments made towards the refereeing team during a heated derby clash against Galatasaray.

Mourinho made remarks to reporters after the fiery derby earlier this week, criticizing the Galatasaray bench for “jumping like monkeys.”

He also commented that the match was better because it was not officiated by a Turkish referee.

Following Galatasaray’s accusations, which included official complaints to UEFA and FIFA, Fenerbahce announced plans to take legal action over what they described as “defamatory” statements.

The Turkish Football Federation has now announced Mourinho’s punishment, with the former Real Madrid and Inter Milan manager facing a lengthy touchline ban.

Mourinho was penalized for two separate charges, the first relating to his post-match comments directed at the officiating team.

The federation’s statement detailed how Mourinho had approached the match referee and made inappropriate remarks towards him.

‘Immediately afterwards, he directed his derogatory and offensive statements towards the Turkish referee, the 4th referee of the match, towards him and accused Turkish football of chaos and disorder with insulting and offensive statements towards both the Turkish football community and all Turkish referees, and his actions and statements that insulted the brand value of football activities in Turkey.’ 

These charges resulted in Mourinho receiving a two-match ban from entering the dressing room and the touchline, as well as a fine of £2,542 (117,000 Turkish lira).

Referring to the press conference comments, the statement read: ‘In the same competition, (Mourinho’s) statements made at the press conference after the match and which are the subject of the referral were referred to our Board within the scope of Article 41 of the FDT. 

‘Considering the nature of the statements, it was determined that the statements used towards the members of the opposing team, were not mandatory, were contrary to the ethics of sports and the concept of fair play, contained expressions that could encourage violence and disorder in sports, were divisive and separatist in society and could cause fan incidents, and it was deemed an act against sportsmanship.’

For his statement, Mourinho received an additional two-match ban and a much larger fine of £32,602 (1,500,000 Turkish lira).

The match also led to a series of other sanctions, including fines for members of Mourinho’s coaching staff, as well as a one-match ban and fine for Galatasaray’s manager, Okan Buruk, who referred to Mourinho as “the crying one” and criticized the referee at full-time.

Galatasaray will play their next home match without a section of fans due to “bad and ugly chanting,” while Fenerbahce will face a two-match ban on away support due to the severity of fan incidents during the match.

Galatasaray was also penalized for their initial social media post, which called out Mourinho’s “derogatory statements towards the Turkish people” and sought criminal action against him for “racial discrimination.”

The Istanbul club was fined £65,000 (3,000,000 Turkish lira), and club president Dursun Ozbek was given a 34-day denial of rights.