In 100 years of Turkish club football, no one has been more successful than Fenerbahce.
The Istanbul giants have won 28 domestic titles, winning their first ever in 1933, although today only those from the professional Super Lig era since 1959 are officially recognized by the Turkish Football Federation.
Fenerbahce have consistently maintained great success over the past 65 years, winning 19 league titles, but they have finished agonizingly as runners-up on 24 occasions and their most recent triumph was over a decade ago, in 2013/14.
Meanwhile, fierce rivals Galatasaray have been crowned champions five times during this drought, including last season when they became the first Turkish club to cross the 100 points mark. Even more distressing, Fenerbahce, whose 93 points in 1988/89 was the previous single-season Super Lig record, achieved the second highest total ever (99) and still finished second.
So when club legend Ismail Kartal’s one-year contract ended over the summer and he left for the third time in a decade, Fenerbahce spotted the new coach available with perhaps the greatest global reputation of the last 20 years: José Mourinho.
He arrived with 21 major trophies in his personal collection, including the Champions League with two different clubs and domestic championship titles in four countries.
Mourinho, who has always been referred to as “The Special One” after a phrase he uttered to the English press during his presentation at Chelsea in 2004, told Fenerbahce fans when he signed his contract during a public event at the Sukru Saracoglu Stadium in June: “This shirt is my skin.
Fenerbahce also went big in the summer transfer market, spending handsomely on Moroccan striker Youssef En-Nesyri, signing promising Turkish talent Oguz Aydin and making former Leicester City and Atletico Madrid defender Caglar Soyuncu a permanent signing after last season’s loan spell. Veteran striker Cenk Tosun moved across Istanbul from Besiktas on a free transfer, with Allan Saint-Maximin, Filip Kostic and Sofyan Amrabat also arriving on loan.
Super League
So far, the reality has not lived up to the hype.
Things started well enough at the start of the Super Lig campaign, with Edin Dzeko scoring the only goal in an opening win over Adana Demirspor. But a setback soon came when, a week later, Fenerbahce surrendered their 2-0 half-time lead to Goztepe to draw 2-2 – the equalizer scored in the 95th minute.
Mourinho’s side responded with three successive victories against Caykur Rizespor, Alanyaspor and Kasimpasa either side of the September international break, scoring ten goals and conceding none. But the real big test, the “Intercontinental Derby” against Galatasaray, ended in defeat at home. Gala led 3-0 within an hour at Sukru Saracoglu, in what was something of an effective smash and grab, with Fenerbahce outrunning possession, completing a higher percentage of passes and creating more chances. Dzeko’s second-half penalty only slightly reduced the embarrassment.
Fenerbahce responded by beating Antalyaspor a week later, but another lost lead following another late equalizer then cost them two points in a 2-2 draw against Samsunspor last Sunday.
This means that at this stage of the season, Fenerbahce sit fourth in the Super Lig table, having won five of their eight matches. Meanwhile, Galatasaray, despite having played one more match, are already eight points clear at the top, winning eight of the nine matches played. Besiktas and Samsunspor separated them.
Champions League
Second place in the Super Lig last season qualified Fenerbahce for the 2024/25 season Champions Leagueentering the competition in the second qualifying round at the end of July.
They had more difficulty than expected against the Swiss Lugano, who opened the scoring at home in the first leg in four minutes. Ultimately, Fenerbahce won 4-3, although a 94th minute conceding halved their aggregate advantage – as you can see, late goals were a recurring theme throughout the season until now.
Lugano then leveled the aggregate score at 4-4 just seven minutes into the second leg in Istanbul, with a tie until Dzeko struck on the hour mark and Sebastian Szymanski won on the evening and ensures overall victory in stoppage time.
Conceding late goals killed Fenerbahce in the third qualifying round after being matched with Lille.
They looked to have secured a promising 1-1 draw in France when Irfan Kahveci equalized ten minutes from time, only for Lille to then win in stoppage time through Edon Zhegrova. This meant that Fenerbahce then had to continue the match in the second leg at home, eventually forcing extra time when Bafode Diakite turned the ball into his own net. But when Lille were awarded a penalty in the 118th minute with a shootout looming, Jonathan David converted to put the French through.
Lille then beat Slavia Prague in the play-offs and have since also claimed a famous victory against Real Madrid in the league stage. Yet Fenerbahce will be fed up with a place in Europe’s elite competition that was well within their reach. .
Europa League
The consolation for leaving the Champions League at that point was being parachuted into the championship stage of the Europa League.
Fenerbahce’s secondary European campaign began with a victory against Belgian side Union Saint-Gilloise on matchday one, although they still conceded in stoppage time, making it 2-0 in 2-1. They were then held to a 1-1 draw by FC Twente on matchday two – just like on matchday two. Manchester United had already faced the Dutch team – and occupies 13th place in the current ranking.
As it stands, that would be enough to progress to the round of 16 as the top seed, despite being eight places higher than United.
Also after hosting the Red Devils this week, Mourinho’s Fenerbahce will face AZ, Slavia Prague, Athletic Club, Lyon and Midtjylland for the remainder of the championship phase.
