Fenerbahçe coach Jose Mourinho and Galatasaray coach Okan Buruk were handed match bans and fined for offensive comments made recently after games in the Turkish Super League.
Mourinho was handed a four-match ban and fined by the Turkish Football Federation (TFF) on Thursday following his comments about Turkish referees after a match at Galatasaray on Monday.
The TFF fined the 62-year-old Portuguese 1,617,000 Turkish lira ($44,000) after he criticised the match officials in a press conference following the 0-0 Super Lig draw.
The penalties were due to "derogatory and offensive statements towards the Turkish referee" and accusations of chaos and disorder in Turkish football, the TFF said on Thursday.
At a post-match press conference, Mourinho said the home side's bench had been "jumping like monkeys" when protesting a refereeing decision.
Mourinho said he’d gone to see the referee and thank him following the game. When he saw the fourth official—a Turkish referee—Mourinho said he told him, “If you are the referee ... would be a disaster.”
The TFF, in their statement, said, “By turning to the Turkish referee…was insulting and offensive to all Turkish referees. Accusing Turkish football of chaos and disorder. A referral that insults the brand value of football activity in Türkiye,” TFF’s statement said.
The Turkish Football Federation also gave a one-match ban to Galatasaray. Head Coach Okan Buruk and fined him 1,500,000 Turkish Lira ($41,061.45) for his “press conference statements aimed at damaging the reputation of football and institutions" in Türkiye.
On Tuesday, Turkish football club Galatasaray accused the manager of Fenerbahce, Jose Mourinho, of making "racist statements" and vowed to take legal action.
Galatasaray said on X that Mourinho had "persistently issued derogatory statements directed towards the Turkish people" since taking up his role in the league.
However, Fenerbahce defended Mourinho saying his post-match remarks had been "distorted in a misleading manner."
"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," Fenerbahce said on X.
