The birth of the billion-euro coach: Mourinho has been dismissed by six teams, with total compensation exceeding 100 million euros.

Mourinho is a champion coach and one of football’s elite managers, having twice won the Champions League with Porto and Inter Milan. Yet recently, his coaching performance and opportunities have worsened; he focuses solely on counterattacks, frequently disputes with officials, and searches for leaks within the team. As a result, he has left the major five European leagues to coach in the Turkish Super League, where he has struggled. His career is on a downward trend, but he continues to receive large termination fees, becoming football’s first billion-euro coach.

According to official Fenerbahçe announcements, the club has fired head coach Mourinho. After losing 0-1 to Benfica in the Champions League playoff, Fenerbahçe failed to register a single shot on target and missed out on the Champions League group stage. The club hired Mourinho at a high salary with hopes of winning the league and competing in the Champions League, but with no titles and two consecutive years missing the Champions League, they had no choice but to dismiss him. Although Mourinho’s reputation took a hit with this Turkish stint, he secured a compensation payout of 15 million euros (approximately 13 million pounds).

Throughout his coaching career, Mourinho has been dismissed seven times by six different clubs,twice at Chelsea with compensation of £18 million and £8.3 million; at Real Madrid with €17 million; at Manchester United with £19.6 million; at Tottenham with £15 million; at Roma with £3 million; and at Fenerbahçe with £13 million.The total compensation sums up to £94 million, surpassing 100 million euros, making him football’s first coach to earn over a billion euros in severance pay.

Guardiola, currently managing Manchester City, is also facing challenges, but it is much harder for him to be fired. This is the fundamental difference between Guardiola and Mourinho. Guardiola pursues attractive football, whereas Mourinho not only lacks good results but also has his teams play unattractive football. Without strong results to back him up, Mourinho is quickly dismissed. However, personally, Mourinho benefits greatly, as his severance pay is an amount most coaches could never earn in their entire careers.