Portuguese veteran coach Jose Mourinho was unveiled as the new coach of Fenerbahçe on Sunday, tasked with breaking the club's league title drought since 2014, following six runner-up finishes.
"I promise you that from this moment, I belong to your family," Mourinho told thousands of fans at Ülker Stadium.
The crowd erupted in cheers as he held up the Fenerbahçe jersey and declared, "This shirt is my skin."
Mourinho joins the historic Istanbul club just a week after it was narrowly beaten to the Turkish Süper Lig title by archrivals Galatasaray, who have claimed the championship five times in the past decade.
Fenerbahçe, whose fans include Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, missed out in the title race despite a points tally of 99 and losing only one league game all season.
After days of strong indications that Mourinho was to take charge, Fenerbahçe announced in a social media post early Sunday that the Portuguese manager was to attend a ceremony at its stadium.
Mourinho was later photographed getting off an airplane that Fenerbahçe posted with the simple message "THE SPECIAL ONE" - a description he gave himself on arriving at Chelsea 20 years ago, leaving Porto as a new Champions League winner.
Now aged 61, Mourinho should lift the profile and status of a club that never won a European title and will enter the Champions League in the early qualifying rounds in July.
Mourinho has won the Champions Leagues with Porto and Inter Milan, the Europa League – or its predecessor, the UEFA Cup – with Porto and Manchester United, and a Europa Conference League with Roma two years ago.
He has coached teams to win eight domestic league titles in Portugal, England, Italy and Spain.
It’s his first job since he left Roma in January after two and a half years marked by the Europa Conference League title in 2022 and a series of disputes with referees.
The Portuguese has not worked outside the top five European leagues since 2004 when he left Porto after winning the Champions League and joined Chelsea, which was on the rise under then-owner Roman Abramovich.
Since then, he has also coached Inter Milan, Real Madrid, Manchester United and Tottenham in a career filled with trophies and off-field controversy.
It would surprise few people if Mourinho and Fenerbahçe were an explosive mix in a fiercely passionate football city.
Fenerbahçe clashed with Turkish football authorities last season, including by taking its team off the field during a Turkish Super Cup game in protest.
