Jose Mourinho handed a FOUR-MATCH ban and fine worth £35K by Turkish football federation after inflammatory comments by Fenerbahce coach sparked ‘racism row’

Jose Mourinho has been handed a four-match ban and a fine of over £35,000 for comments made towards the refereeing team and in a later press conference which saw the former Chelsea manager accused of racism by rivals Galatasaray. 

The Fenerbahce head coach made comments to reporters after the incendiary derby between the two teams earlier this week about the Galatasaray bench ‘jumping like monkeys’. 

Mourinho commented that the match was better because it was not officiated by a Turkish referee. 

Further to Galatasaray’s accusations, which included making official complaints to UEFA and FIFA, Fenerbahce revealed exclusively to Mail Sport that they are set to launch legal action over the ‘defamatory’ statements. 

But now Mourinho’s punishment has been meted out by the Turkish Football Federation, with the former Real Madrid and Inter Milan boss set for a lengthy touchline ban. 

Mourinho was punished for two separate charges, with the first pertaining to his discussions after the match with the officiating team. 

The statement from the federation detailed how Mourinho had ‘come to the match referee and used statements towards the referee of the match. 

‘Immediately afterwards, he directed his derogatory and offensive statements towards the Turkish referee, the 4th referee of the match, towards him and accused Turkish football of chaos and disorder with insulting and offensive statements towards both the Turkish football community and all Turkish referees, and his actions and statements that insulted the brand value of football activities in Turkey.’ 

These charges saw Mourinho handed a two-match ban from entering the dressing room and the touchline, as well as a fine of £2,542 (117,000 Turkish lira). 

Referring to the press conference comments, the statement read: ‘In the same competition, (Mourinho’s) statements made at the press conference after the match and which are the subject of the referral were referred to our Board within the scope of Article 41 of the FDT. 

‘Considering the nature of the statements, it was determined that the statements used towards the members of the opposing team, were not mandatory, 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, and it was deemed an act against sportsmanship.’

For the statement, Mourinho was handed another two-match ban, and a much more significant fine of £32,602 (1,500,000 Turkish lira).  

The tie saw a raft of other sanctions handed out, including fines for members of Mourinho’s coaching staff, a one-match ban and fine for Galatasaray’s manager Okan Buruk, who referred to Mourinho as ‘the crying one’ and lambasted the referee at full-time. 

Galatasaray will play their next home match without a section of fans due to ‘bad and ugly chanting’, while Fenerbahce will be punished two matches without away support due to the severity of fan incidents on the pitch. 

With regard to Mourinho’s comments, Galatasaray were also punished for their initial post on social media which called out the Portuguese manager’s ‘derogatory statements towards the Turkish people’ and sought to bring criminal action against him for his ‘racial discrimination’. 

The Istanbul club were handed a mammoth £65,000 (3,000,000 Turkish lira) fine, and club president Dursun Ozbek was penalised with a 34-day denial of rights.   

In the wake of the roiling controversy, Mourinho received the staunch defence of his club’s vice president, Acun Illicali, who told Mail Sport that the side were ‘more than 110 per cent sure his aim was not to be racist’. 

‘The history of his life he has always had very good relations with people all over the world, of different nationalities,’ Illicali continued. ‘It is so clearly understandable. It’s an insult to the intelligence of some people.

‘They tried to manipulate Jose’s description and at the end of the day we have seen a fake and theatrical approach from Galatasaray’s side.

‘When he said they are jumping like monkeys, he was describing the movement which is clearly understandable because the footage is now public.

Former Chelsea star Michael Essien was among those to throw their support behind Mourinho

‘He was just describing, like saying “you are running like a rabbit”, or “you are bad like a snake”. We use animals when describing with some exaggeration in life and it is as simple as that.’

Mourinho’s former players, Didier Drogba and Michael Essien, were also keen to defend their old manager. 

‘I’ve seen the recent comments about Jose Mourinho,’ Drogba said. ‘Trust me when I tell you I have known Jose for 25 years and he is not a racist and history (past and recent) is there to prove it.’ 

Essien shared a picture of himself and Drogba with the storied manager during their days at Stamford Bridge, captioned with three heart emojis.