Turkish football has been rocked by a full-blown scandal in the past few hours after leaked conversations revealed clear bias from key officials against Fenerbahçe and Jose Mourinho.
A screenshot of a group chat from the Turkish Football Federation’s Disciplinary Committee was published on WhatsApp, in which President Celal Nuri Demirtürk wrote, “We will make Mourinho pay dearly next season. He has been tolerated too much.”
After the authenticity of the screenshot was confirmed, the Disciplinary Committee and its chairman resigned en masse and announced a comprehensive investigation into the incident.
Fenerbahçe General Secretary Burak Kizilhan said that the involvement of individuals on one of the most important boards, charged with ensuring justice in Turkish football, in such statements would render the concept of “discipline” ineffective and constitute a clear attack on the principles of impartiality and equality.
The disciplinary committee officials’ remarks were specifically directed at Mourinho for the incidents in the Galatasaray match last February, when he criticized Turkish referees after a foreign referee was brought in to officiate the Istanbul derby.
The former Chelsea and Real Madrid manager was given a four-match ban and a £35,194 fine for “insulting and abusive remarks towards the Turkish referee” and for “accusing Turkish football of chaos and disorder through insulting and abusive remarks towards the Turkish football community and all Turkish referees.”
The ban and fine were halved on appeal, while Mourinho announced he would sue Galatasaray over the racism accusation.
Mourinho will continue as Fenerbahçe manager next season despite failing to win any trophies in his first season with the Turkish club.
