Fenerbahce head coach Jorge Jesus leaves club after Turkish Cup victory

By Can Erozden

ANKARA (AA) - Portuguese manager Jorge Jesus quit Fenerbahce's late Sunday after the Istanbul team won the 2023 Turkish Cup.

"... As of today, I am not the head coach of Fenerbahce. I told this to our president a few weeks ago," Jesus said in a post-game press conference to bid farewell to Fenerbahce, where he spent a year.

On Sunday evening, Fenerbahce won the Ziraat Turkish Cup after beating Medipol Basaksehir 2-0.

The 68-year-old stated that he has already made his choice, informing the Fenerbahce president to seek a new head coach for the next season.
He thanked Fenerbahce chair Ali Koc for giving the Portuguese national an opportunity to coach the Istanbul club and also thanked the fans for their support during the 2022-23 season.

"It was important to win the Turkish Cup both for Fenerbahce's history and my career," Jesus said.

Fenerbahce previously won the Turkish Cup in 2013, and the club experienced a trophy drought for nine years after winning the Turkish Super Lig in 2014 and a Turkish Super Cup in the same year.

He also thanked the Turkish people for their unity and solidarity after the major earthquakes hit the country in February.

More than 50,000 people were killed in two powerful earthquakes that struck southern Türkiye on Feb. 6.

The 7.7- and 7.6-magnitude quakes that were centered in Kahramanmaras province affected more than 13 million people across 11 provinces.

Several countries in the region, including Syria and Lebanon, also felt the strong tremors that struck in less than 10 hours.

"... There has been a big tragedy in this country. I have seen how wonderful the Turkish people are. Emotional people. I hope we will see each other again," he said.

Fenerbahce hired him in 2022, but the club lost the Turkish top-tier Super Lig title to archrivals Galatasaray in late May, and during the 2022-23 season, Jesus' men lost derbies against Galatasaray twice (3-0 each) and Besiktas once (4-2 at home), a disappointing performance for the Yellow Canaries.

Jesus previously guided Benfica to the Portuguese league titles three times in 2010, 2014 and 2015, and during his term at Benfica, the Portuguese powerhouse were the 2013 UEFA Europa League runners-up after losing the final against Chelsea 2-1 in Amsterdam.

He won Portuguese League Cups and Super Cups with Benfica and Sporting.

Jesus led Brazil's Flamengo to win the Copa Libertadores and Brazilian Serie A titles in 2019 and finished the 2019 FIFA Club World Cup as runners-up.