Fenerbahce coach shocks by announcing resignation at press conference, club refuses to accept

Shortly after Turkish side Fenerbahce drew 1-1 with Roma, head coach Ismail Kartal announced he was stepping down.

. But President Aziz Yildirim immediately rejected the decision and insisted that the 65-year-old should stay in charge.

Kartal made the announcement in the post-game press conference after the match, interestingly. An abrupt turn he brought to his fourth spell at the Istanbul club. He came back in June 2026 when Fenerbahçe secured a Champions League return after an 18-year absence.

“I have been here three months. “The work that we did in training sessions and camps with the players from the start of the season until today, and the work of our president, has been very helpful. Those were good days. I commend my players and resign my position until this evening. This was a decision I made for the good of my club. "We decided as a team together," announced Kartal.

“From now on, to help Fenerbahce, my players and future coaches, I have resigned from my position and I do not want to come back,” he said.

Fenerbahce have played four games into the Super Lig campaign. They got two wins out of them, losing the other two. Their first Champions League match was drawn against Roma.

Once the press conference was over, Yildirim responded by making clear that he had no intention of allowing the resignation to stand.

“Ismail Kartal is still the boss. The club has to back our coach. “Ismail Kartal is the manager of Fenerbahce until I leave,” said Yildirim.

"His reasoning was the intense pressure around his position and a bottle thrown from the stands during the Roma match," the president said. Later, Fenerbahce said the spectator had been identified and banned from the stadium.

Yildirim also criticized the behavior of the fans and the media, calling on them to respect Kartal and the values of the club. This community should stand behind Ismail Kartal. You can’t support him by throwing punches at him like this.” Ismail Kartal doesn’t have to say that he’ll stay. I am older than he. He’ll go on. I said so. That’s it. “We’re a family.”

But the announcement of resignation also shocked the Fenerbahce squad. Defender Archie Brown, who scored the second-half equalizer after Bryan Cristante’s first-half goal against Roma, said he did not know Kartal had announced he was quitting.

‘What do you mean he’s resigned? As a coach? He’s not the coach anymore? Did he just say that? “I didn’t know this,” Brown told CBS Sports.