Fenerbahce coach Jose Mourinho has been suspended for one match and fined by the Turkish Football Federation (TFF) for criticising the performance of the Video Assistant Referee after a 3-2 Super Lig win at Trabzonspor.

Trabzonspor were awarded two penalties in the second half following VAR interventions and with the scores level at 2-2 Mourinho was incensed when a challenge on Bright Osayi-Samuel went unpunished.

The Portuguese coach suggested VAR official Atilla Karaoglan had missed the incident, adding that the Turkish league “smells bad” and that international fans had no reason to watch the league.

The TFF said in a statement that Mourinho’s comments were “contrary to sportsmanship, sports ethics or fair-play understanding”.

The governing body added Mourinho’s remarks were “intended to damage the reputation of the TFF, to lower the value of Turkish football, to overshadow or discredit the impartiality of referees and other competition officials”.

Mourinho was fined 600,000 Turkish lira ($18,000) for unsportsmanlike behaviour and 58,500 for his conduct towards the opposing team’s fans.

Fenerbahce Vice President Acun Ilicali was also fined for criticising the refereeing in a statement on the club’s website.

-Reuters

Two days shy of his 78th birthday, Brazil’s oldest professional club coach, Aderbal Lana, penned a fresh deal with Amazonian outfit Princesa do Solimoes on Friday.

Lana returns for his fourth spell with the club, who made the announcement on social media including a Star Wars twist, saying: “Lana’s return. May the Force be with you, Professor”, with a photoshopped image of the coach in a Jedi costume.

With more than half a century of experience under his belt, Lana has managed 25 clubs, mainly in Brazil’s fourth division, Serie D, and the Amazon championship.

Lana has moved clubs four times this year.

“Age is in people’s heads. You can be 10, 20 or 30 years old, it all depends on what you want to do and how you want to live your life,” Lana told Brazilian newspaper Globo Ge in April, when he was appointed Monte Roraima coach.

“I’m a very happy, healthy and calm guy, so my biggest motivation is not to get old and die slowly,” he added.

Lana’s most notable successes have come in the Amazon championship, winning the title on nine occasions, including four with Nacional-AM, three with Sao Raimundo and once each with Rio Negro-AM and most recently Manaus in 2017.

-Reuters

United Arab Emirates President Sheikh Mohamed bin Zayed Al Nahyan has pardoned Zamalek players Mostafa Shalaby and Nabil Emad and the Egyptian club’s sporting director Abdel Wahed El Sayed after they were each handed one-month prison sentences for assault during a match in the UAE, the Emirates News agency (WAM) said on Tuesday.

Earlier on Tuesday, the Abu Dhabi Criminal Court handed the prison terms as well as 200,000 dirhams ($55,000) fines after the three men were involved in a scuffle with a stadium organiser during this month’s Egyptian Super Cup semi-final at the Al Nahyan ground in Abu Dhabi.

Zamalek beat Pyramids 5-4 in a penalty shootout on Oct. 20.

“The President of the State pardons those accused in the events of a football match that brought together the Egyptian clubs Zamalek and Pyramids in Abu Dhabi, based on the fraternal relations between the Emirates and Egypt,” WAM said in a report posted on X.

The Egyptian Ministry of Youth and Sports said earlier in its Facebook page: “The Egyptian state ends the Zamalek trio crisis within hours.”

“It is expected that the complete end of the crisis and the return of the players will be announced in the coming hours, in the context of full respect for the legal frameworks and based on the historical relations between the two sister countries, Egypt and the Emirates.”