Istanbul-listed “Big Four” Turkish football club Fenerbahce (FENER) ended August with the firing of “special one” Jose Mourinho, who served as the coach of its men's football team for just over a year.

In the official statement on the sacking, no information was provided on the compensation payment attached to the termination of Mourinho’s contract.

€100mn in compensation bagged

Transfermarkt reported on August 29, however, that Mourinho will receive a payoff of €12mn while Bein Sports reported on August 30 that he will receive €15mn.

Other media reports implied that the €15mn figure included compensation payments that would go to Mourinho’s assistant coaches and other members of his technical staff.

In his career to date, Mourinho has bagged more than €100mn in compensation payments from the seven European football clubs who have fired him.

Splashing the cash

Separately, Istanbul club Fenerbahce said on September 2 that it will pay €11mn per year to goalkeeper Ederson Santana de Moraes for a period of three years plus an optional one year.

No information was provided on the transfer fee paid to English Premier League club Manchester City for the 32-year-old Brazilian.

On August 29, Portuguese club Benfica said that it sold Kerem Akturkoglu to Fenerbahce for €22.5mn in cash and €2.5mn in add-ons to be paid based on the 26-year-old Turkish midfielder’s performance.

On July 31, Fenerbahce said that it will pay €8mn per year to Milan Skriniar. No details on the payment made to European champions Paris Saint-Germain for the 30-year-old Slovak centre-back was divulged.

According to Transfermarkt, Fenerbahce also paid €7.5mn to Paris Saint-Germain for Spanish midfielder Marco Asensio.

Fenerbahce will further pay €20mn a year to 21-year-old Colombian striker Jhon Duran, who joined the team in June on loan from Saudi club Al-Nassr, and €15mn a year to Anderson Talisca, 31, an attacking midfielder who arrived from Al-Nassr in January.

Yoghurt money makes its way to Mourinho

Last month, Fenerbahce signed a sponsorship deal with Chobani, America’s top yoghurt brand. It will annually receive €14mn under the deal.

Following two consecutive rights issues in December and June that brought the company’s paid-in capital from Turkish lira (TRY) 99mn to TRY 1.25bn, Fenerbahce Sports Club currently controls a 62% stake in FENER, the operator of its men’s football team, while the remaining 38% is listed on Borsa Istanbul.

Hey big(ger) spender

On August 28, another Istanbul football club that is also one of the “Big Four”, Galatasaray Sportif (GSRAY), said  it would pay €31mn to Monaco FC for Wilfried Stephane Singo. The 24-year-old Ivorian defender will earn €4.8mn per year under a five-year contract.

GSRAY is a unit of Galatasaray Sports Club. It operates the club’s football team.

Last month, Galatasaray agreed to pay a net €75mn to Italian football club Napoli for Victor Osimhen. The 26-year-old Nigerian striker will earn €21mn a year over a four-year contract.

The transfer terms set Turkish football transfer fee and player salary records.

In June, Galatasaray agreed to pay €12mn a year to Leroy Aziz Sane, a 29-year-old German winger.

On September 2, another “Big Four” club, the Black Sea region’s Trabzonspor (TSPOR), said that it sold goalkeeper Ugurcan Cakir to Galatasaray for €33mn plus €3mn in add-on fees that will be based on the player’s performance.

On the same day, Galatasaray announced it will pay €4.5mn per year to German midfielder Ilkay Gundogan for the next two seasons.

Super Lig outlay of €321mn ranks seventh highest in Europe

The outlay of its clubs means that Turkey’s Super Lig in the first European window of the 2025/2026 football transfer season ranks as the seventh largest spending soccer league in Europe. The window ended on September 1.

Turkey’s window will end a little later, on September 12. However, the country’s top spenders compete in UEFA Europe-wide competitions. Any signings made after September 1 by the Turkish clubs will only be eligible to play in the home league.

In this transfer season, Turkish Super Lig clubs spent a combined sum of €321mn on transfers while their transfer income stood at €158mn.

The €163mn net spend makes Turkey’s top league the second biggest net spender in Europe, following England’s Premier League, which posted a deficit of €1.48bn after spending €3.55bn on new signings.

The top Portuguese league, the Primeira Liga, was one position ahead of Turkey in the big soccer spending splurge. It was the sixth largest spender, having allocated €335mn to new signings. However, it posted an €18mn profit on a net basis.

Galatasaray Europe's fifth biggest spender

Galatasaray was the top spender in Turkey and fifth biggest spender in Europe, paying out €148mn. English club Liverpool was the top spender in Europe at €484mn, while Italy’s Milan was one rank ahead of Galatasaray at €164mn.

Trabzonspor was the biggest transfer income earner in Turkey, posting an income of €36mn. All that income came from the sale of Ugurcan Cakir.

On September 1, Fenerbahce said that it had sold 19-year-old defender Yusuf Akcicek to Saudi Arabia’s Al-Hilal for €22mn.

Izmir club Goztepe in mid-August sold Brazilian forward Romulo Jose Cardoso da Cruz to Germany’s Red Bull Leipzig for €20mn.