İsmail Kartal's shock exit from Fenerbahçe after 1-1 draw with Roma

İsmail Kartal, manager of Fenerbahçe, announced his resignation Thursday evening, minutes after the 1-1 draw against Roma, during the Turkish club's first Champions League match of the season. In his statement, he said: “I intend never to come back here.”

This resignation means that Romelu Lukaku will soon have to work under a new manager, a prospect that surprised observers.

An already rich career

İsmail Kartal was not on the Fenerbahçe bench for the first time; he had already been an assistant from February 1997 to April 1999, then from July 2010 to August 2014, before taking the head coach role from August 2014 to June 2015 and from January 2022 to June 2024.

This season, he returned to the club with which he played more than 200 matches as a player and had managed to qualify Fenerbahçe for the Champions League.

The club president, Aziz Yıldırım, nevertheless stated in a communiqué that the coach remained in his position, declaring: “İsmail Kartal is in his role. Let the community support our manager. As long as I am here, İsmail Kartal is the manager of Fenerbahçe.”

Kartal’s departure, announced during the evening, leaves the Turkish club uncertain about the direction to take, while supporters await answers.