Mourinho files a complaint about the sanctions of the Turkish Football Federation

Jose Mourinho has filed a complaint with the European Court of Human Rights over disciplinary sanctions he received while coaching Turkish club Fenerbahce.

The court in Strasbourg has accepted the Portuguese coach’s application, it said in a message on his website on June 1, and has asked the Turkish government for comments.

Mourinho is contesting a fine of 600,000 Turkish liras ($13,074.7), plus a one-match locker room and bench ban imposed by the Turkish Football Federation (TFF) following a 3-2 Super Lig win at Trabzonspor on November 3, 2024.

The federation punished Mourinho for unsportsmanlike behavior towards rival fans during the match, and for subsequent press comments criticizing refereeing standards.

Trabzonspor were awarded two penalties in the second half after VAR intervention and with the score at 2-2, Mourinho was furious when a challenge on one of his players went unpunished.

Mourinho suggested that VAR official Atilla Karaoglan had missed the incident, adding that the Turkish league «smells bad» and that international fans had no reason to watch the competition.

Turkish football’s governing body said Mourinho’s comments were «intended to damage the reputation of the TFF, to lower the value of Turkish football, to overshadow or discredit the impartiality of referees and other competition officials.»

In his appeal, Mourinho claims that his right to a fair trial was violated because the TFF’s disciplinary and arbitration committees are not independent of the football federation’s president and board of directors.

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The 63-year-old also claims his right to a reasoned decision was violated because the federation failed to inform him of the formal reasoning behind the ruling.

And he claims the punishments violated his right to freedom of expression, meaning he was punished for speaking out about the referees.

The ECtHR has asked the Turkish authorities to determine whether the football panels constituted an independent and impartial tribunal, and whether they properly weighed Mourinho’s right to freedom of expression against the interests of the sports federation.

After parting ways with Fenerbahce following the Champions League play-off defeat in August, Mourinho joined Portuguese giants Benfica but has been linked with a return to Real Madrid.

Published on June 4, 2026