Mourinho banned for four games after Galatasaray clash

Fenerbahce manager Jose Mourinho has been suspended for four matches and fined £35,194 following comments made after Monday’s heated Istanbul derby against Galatasaray.

Mourinho faced accusations from Galatasaray of making racist remarks, but Fenerbahce defended their coach on Tuesday, stating that his comments were “completely taken out of context.”

The goalless draw was officiated by Slovenian referee Slavko Vincic after both clubs requested a foreign referee. However, the fourth official was Turkish, prompting Mourinho to reiterate his criticism of Turkish referees during his post-match press conference.

The 62-year-old Portuguese manager admitted to confronting the fourth official in the referee’s dressing room, telling him, “If you were the referee, this match would be a disaster.”

On Thursday, the Turkish Football Federation confirmed Mourinho’s suspension, citing two separate disciplinary violations.

The TFF said it would penalise him for “his derogatory and offensive statements towards the Turkish referee” and because he “accused Turkish football of chaos and disorder with insulting and offensive statements towards both the Turkish football community and all Turkish referees”.

The former Chelsea, Manchester United and Tottenham boss has been banned from the dressing room and dugout for two games and fined 117,000 Turkish lira (£2,543).

Mourinho has also received another two-match ban for “an act against sportsmanship” during his post-match news conference and been fined £32,651.

His comments included him saying that “after the big dive in the first minute and their bench jumping like monkeys on the top of the kid… with a Turkish referee you would have a yellow card after one minute and after five minutes I would have to change [substitute] him”.

The TFF said “the statements used towards the members of the opposing team 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”.