In 100 years of Turkish club football, no one has been more successful than Fenerbahce.
The Istanbul giants have claimed 28 domestic titles, winning their first in 1933, although currently only those from the professional Super League era since 1959 are formally recognized by the Turkish Football Federation.
Fenerbahce have still enjoyed great success over the past 65 years, winning 19 league titles, but have finished agonizingly runners-up on 24 occasions and their last triumph was now more than a decade ago in 2013/14.
Meanwhile, fierce city rivals Galatasaray have been crowned champions five times during this drought, including last season when they became the first Turkish club to break the 100-point barrier. Even more painfully, Fenerbahce, whose 93 points in the 1988/89 season was the previous season’s Super Liga record, achieved the second-highest total of all time (99) and finished second.
So when club legend Ismail Kartal’s one-year contract expired in the summer and he left for the third time in a decade, Fenerbahce looked for the new manager available with perhaps the biggest global reputation of the last 20 years: Jose Mourinho.
He arrived with 21 major trophies in his personal collection, including the Champions League with two different clubs and domestic league titles in four countries.
Mourinho, who was forever labeled “The Special One” after a line he said to the English press during his Chelsea presentation in 2004, told Fenerbahce fans when he signed his contract at an event audience at the Sukru Saracoglu Stadium in June: “This shirt is my skin.”
Fenerbahce also went big in the summer transfer window, spending big on Moroccan striker Youssef En-Nesyri, recruiting up and coming Turkish talent Oguz Aydin and converting former Leicester City and Atletico Madrid defender Caglar Soyuncu on a permanent signing after last season’s loan. Veteran striker Cenk Tosun moved to Istanbul from Besiktas on a free transfer, with Allan Saint-Maximin, Filip Kostic and Sofyan Amrabat also on loan.
So far, the reality hasn’t quite lived up to the hype.
Things got off to a good enough start as the Super Lig campaign kicked off, with Edin Dzeko scoring the only goal in the opening win over Adana Demirspor. But a setback quickly followed when, a week later, Fenerbahce trailed 2-0 at half-time at Goztepe to draw 2-2 – the equalizer coming in the 95th minute.
Mourinho’s side responded with three straight wins over Caykur Rizespor, Alanyaspor and Kasimpasa either side of the September international bracket, with ten goals scored and none conceded. But the real big test, the ‘Intercontinental Derby’ against Galatasaray, resulted in a home defeat. Gala took a 3-0 lead inside an hour at Sukru Saracoglu, in which they were somewhat efficient, with Fenerbahce finishing off possession, completing a higher percentage of passes and creating more chances. Dzeko’s penalty in the second half only slightly reduced the embarrassment.
Fenerbahce responded by defeating Antalyaspor a week later, but another lead lost to another late draw cost them two points in a 2-2 draw with Samsunspor last time out on Sunday.
This means that at this stage of the season, Fenerbahce sit fourth in the Super League table, having won five of their eight matches. Meanwhile, Galatasaray, despite having played one more game, already have an eight-point lead in first place, winning eight of the nine games played. Besiktas and Samsunspor split them.
Second place in last season’s Super League qualified Fenerbahce for the 2024/25 season Champions Leagueentering the competition in the second qualifying phase at the end of July.
They struggled more than expected against Swiss side Lugano, who opened the scoring at home in the first leg within four minutes. In the end, Fenerbahce prevailed 4-3, although conceding in the 94th minute halved their overall lead; as you can see, late goals have been a recurring theme throughout the season so far.
Lugano then leveled the aggregate score at 4-4 just seven minutes into the second leg in Istanbul, with the tie level until Dzeko scored on the hour and Sebastian Szymanski won it on the night and secured the overall victory in the stoppage. time
Late goals conceded killed Fenerbahce in the third qualifying round after being paired with Lille.
France looked to have secured a promising 1-1 draw when Irfan Kahveci equalized with ten minutes remaining, only for Lille to overtake him in injury time through Edon Zhegrova. That meant Fenerbahce had to chase the game on the return leg, 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 just as a penalty shoot-out was scheduled, Jonathan David converted to send the French side through.
Lille beat Slavia Prague in the play-off round and have since also secured a famous win over Real Madrid in the league stage, but Fenerbahce will be aching for a place in the competition of Europe’s elite that was very much within their reach. .
The consolation for exiting the Champions League when they did was to parachute into the league stage of the Europa League.
Fenerbahce’s second European campaign began with a win over Belgium’s Union Saint-Gilloise on matchday one, although they still conceded in stoppage time as they turned 2-0 into 2-1. FC Twente then drew 1-1 in the second matchday, just like when Manchester United had previously faced the Dutch side – and are 13th in the current table.
As it stands, that would be enough to go through to the knockout round as the top seed, while they are eight places above United.
Still to come after hosting the Red Devils this week, Mourinho’s Fenerbahce face AZ, Slavia Prague, Athletic Club, Lyon and Midtjylland in the rest of the league stage.
