Galatasaray hosted Fenerbahce for Matchday 25 of the Turkish Super Lig in a crucial fixture for the title race. Following a heated 0-0 draw filled with controversy, Galatasaray leveled a serious accusation against Fenerbahçe head coach Jose Mourinho for comments he made in the post-match press conference.
The controversy began before the match even kicked off when Mourinho criticized the quality of the refereeing system and called on the Turkish Football Federation to assign a foreign referee to the game. After the match, Galatasaray released a statement condemning the Portuguese coach’s remarks.
“Since the commencement of his managerial duties in Türkiye, Fenerbahçe manager Jose Mourinho has persistently issued derogatory statements directed towards the Turkish people. Today, his discourse has escalated beyond merely immoral comments into unequivocally inhumane rhetoric.
“We hereby formally declare our intention to initiate criminal proceedings concerning the racist statements made by Jose Mourinho, and shall accordingly submit official complaints to UEFA and FIFA. Furthermore, we shall diligently observe the stance adopted by Fenerbahçe—an institution professing to uphold ‘exemplary moral values’—in response to the reprehensible conduct exhibited by their manager,” ended the statement on the Galatasaray X English account.
What did Jose Mourinho say?
Mourinho’s criticism of the Turkish refereeing system has been a long-standing issue. This was the primary reason Slovenian referee Slavko Vincic was assigned to officiate the game. When asked about why he entered the referee’s dressing room after the match, Mourinho explained:
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“I went to the referee’s dressing room after the game. The 4th official was there, a Turkish referee, but I thanked Vincic for coming. He was responsible for a big match. I turned to him (the 4th official) and told him that if he had been the referee, the match would have been a disaster. And when I say ‘him,’ I mean the general standard of refereeing,” Mourinho said, addressing the poor level of refereeing in Turkey.
“If they really want to be an example of champions and show how good they are, they should request foreign referees for every match. But when foreign referees come in UEFA competitions, they go home. Against us at home, they had one shot on target. If they believe in themselves, they should ask the federation to assign foreign referees every match.
“And again, I also have to thank the referee, because with a Turkish referee, after the big dive in the first minute, and their bench jumping like monkeys on the top of the kids… with a Turkish referee you’d have a yellow card after one minute, and after five minutes, I’d have to change it. Thankfully, it was a perfect experience with him,” Mourinho said.
Upon hearing these comments, Galatasaray took action, submitting an official complaint to UEFA and FIFA, urging disciplinary action against Mourinho.
