Fenerbahce appoint Jose Mourinho as new head coach
Jose Mourinho has been unveiled the new coach at Fenerbahce in front of thousands of ecstatic supporters.
The former Manchester United, Tottenham and Chelsea boss signed his contract at the Sukru Saracoglu Stadium on Sunday afternoon as fans chanted and cheered his name in the stands.
Mourinho waved the club’s yellow shirt in the air before signing what is understood to be a two-year deal and told the fans that they had made him feel welcome after he jetted in on Sunday after attending the Champions League final at Wembley.
“I want to thank you for your love, the love that I felt from the first moment where my name was first connected with Fenerbahce,” he said.
“Normally, a coach is loved after victories. In this case I feel that I am loved before victories.
“That, for me, is a big responsibility that I feel. I promise you that from this moment I belong to your family. This shirt is my skin.
“Football is passion and there is no better place to feel that passion. Since the moment I met with President Ali Koc I wanted to play for you because in the end, you are the soul of the football club.
“Since the moment I met him and understood his ideas, his project I wanted to play for you. I wanted to be the coach of all of you.
“I want to work for Turkish football, I want to work for the Turkish league. I want to help to improve [it] but the most important thing for me is not Turkish football, it’s not the Turkish league, it’s Fenerbahce.
“To finish, I want to say that from the moment I signed my contract, your dreams are now my dreams.”
Mourinho has been on the market since leaving AS Roma in January after two-and-a-half years in charge, during which he won the Europa Conference League.
He attended the Champions League final on Saturday and told Sky Sports about the difficulty facing him in qualifying for the competition next season with his new club.
Mourinho said: “[It is] hard because we have three rounds of qualifying and in Fenerbahce’s case, eight players are at the Euros and they are not coming for pre-season before the first round.
“If I go, you know that I like challenges so we are going to fight to be in the Champions League.”
The Istanbul side are one of the most successful in the history of Turkish football but have not won the league title since 2014.
Mourinho has won 26 major honours across spells with Porto, Chelsea, Inter Milan, Real Madrid, Manchester United and Roma, while he took Tottenham to the Carabao Cup final before being sacked in 2021.
He is the only manager to have won the Champions League, Europa League and Conference League.