Türkiye have sacked head coach Vincenzo Montella after a calamitous start to the UEFA Nations League left them winless in four matches and staring at relegation from League A.
The Turkish Football Federation confirmed on Friday that its executive board had decided not to continue with the Italian, bringing his three-year tenure to an abrupt end just days after a 3-1 home defeat to Italy capped a miserable international break.
"It has been decided not to continue with our A National Team Head Coach Mr. Vincenzo Montella," the federation announced, without naming a successor.
Four defeats, eleven conceded
Türkiye's debut in the top tier of the Nations League could hardly have gone worse. Drawn into a brutal group alongside Belgium, France and Italy, they lost all four of their opening fixtures — beaten by France, beaten by Belgium, and beaten twice by Italy — scoring just twice while conceding 11 times.
The latest reverse, a 3-1 loss to Italy on Tuesday, proved the final straw. With two group games remaining, Türkiye can finish no higher than third, meaning a relegation play-off — and potentially a humiliating drop straight back down to League B — now looms.
Montella, 52, lost six of his final seven matches in charge of the Crescent-Stars, and the board concluded that a change was unavoidable with Belgium visiting on November 12 and a trip to France following three days later.
From Euro heroics to World Cup heartbreak
The dismissal is a sharp fall from grace for a coach who only three years ago sparked a renaissance in Turkish football. Appointed in September 2023, Montella won his first three games — including a famous 3-2 victory away to Germany — and steered Türkiye to Euro 2024, where they reached the quarter-finals, their best finish at a European Championship since 2008.
He then became the first foreign manager to lead Türkiye to the FIFA World Cup, ending a 24-year absence from the tournament. But the finals in the summer proved a disaster: despite arriving with high hopes, Türkiye finished rock-bottom of their group after defeats to Australia and Paraguay, with only a 3-2 win over co-hosts the United States offering any consolation.
Across 40 matches in charge, Montella won 21 and lost 14, while overseeing a climb from 42nd to 22nd in the FIFA rankings, Türkiye's highest position in a decade.
The succession question
With Montella still having two years left on his contract, Turkish media report he will receive severance of around €1 million — roughly five months' wages. Attention has already turned to his replacement, with Shakhtar Donetsk manager and former national team captain Arda Turan reported as a potential successor.
Whoever takes the job inherits a squad rich with talent but fragile in confidence. Inter Milan's Hakan Calhanoglu, Real Madrid's Arda Güler and Juventus starlet Kenan Yildiz form a glittering core, yet none of them could prevent the slide that cost Montella his job.
Beyond the Final Whistle verdict: Montella gave Türkiye their best summer in a generation, but international football is a results business, and four defeats from four in League A made his position untenable. The federation must now act fast — Belgium arrive in a month, and relegation is no longer unthinkable.
Do you think Arda Turan is the right man to lead Türkiye into a new era, or should the federation look abroad again?
