The Turkish football club Fenerbahçe has fired its coach Domenico Tedesco after the bitter defeat in the Istanbul city derby against Galatasaray. The second-placed team in the Turkish league announced this on Monday evening (April 27, 2026).
Tedesco, who was already head coach at Schalke 04 (2017-2019) and RB Leipzig (2021-2022) in the Bundesliga, succeeded star coach José Mourinho at Fener on the fifth matchday in September last year. The 40-year-old was previously on the sidelines as coach of the Belgian national team from February 2023 to January 2025.
Derby debacle against Galatasaray
After Fener, runner-up in the last four Süper Lig seasons, lost the city derby against Gala 3-0 on Sunday, the championship for Fenerbahçe this season is only mathematically possible. The club is seven points behind record champions Galatasaray with three match days before the end of the season. Fener celebrated its last championship in 2014.
In the Turkish Cup last week, Fenerbahçe was eliminated 0-1 after extra time at Konyaspor, and in the Europa League the team already failed in the second round against Nottingham Forest (2-1/0-3). The fans were only able to look forward to a trophy this season in January, when Fener won the Supercup against Galatasaray (2-0).
In addition to Tedesco, the club is also parting ways with sports director Devin Özek and coordinator Berke Celebi. Tedesco’s successor for the remaining games of the season will be the previous assistant coach Zeki Murat Göle. In total, Tedesco was on the sidelines of the 19-time Turkish champions in 45 competitive games.
