The Turkish Football Federation has officially parted ways with head coach Vincenzo Montella after a winless start to their UEFA Nations League campaign. The governing body confirmed the Italian manager’s dismissal in a brief statement released on Friday afternoon, which stated that it had been decided Montella would not continue in his role with the national team. The decision comes on the heels of four consecutive defeats in Nations League A, compounded by existing scrutiny over Turkiye’s earlier group-stage exit at the 2026 World Cup.
Turkiye’s campaign got off to a turbulent start with a 1-0 loss to France, a contest in which goalkeeper Ugurcan Cakir was shown a red card and subsequently banned. Further disciplinary setbacks followed in a 3-0 defeat against Belgium, where Real Madrid starlet Arda Guler was sent off, leaving the team stripped of one of its key creative talents for the subsequent match against Italy. The winless run was cemented by two heavy losses against the Italians, including a 3-1 defeat at the Stadio Dall’Ara in Bologna and a 4-1 loss at the Atatürk Spor Kompleksi Matli Stadyumu in Bursa. In that Bursa fixture, Italy capitalized on defensive errors, highlighted by substitute Nicolò Cambiaghi intercepting a pass to set up Sandro Tonali, whose shot hit the post before Pio Esposito nodded home the rebound.
Throughout the September and October international windows, Montella was forced to navigate an overwhelming shortage of core players. In addition to the suspensions picked up by Guler and Cakir, the squad was decimated by injuries to vital figures, most notably captain and Inter midfielder Hakan Calhanoglu, Juventus star Kenan Yildiz, and defender Mert Muldur. With his three most influential figures unavailable simultaneously, the manager struggled to generate offensive momentum, watching his side score just a single goal while conceding eight across three of their opening group matches.
Despite the compounding injury crisis and disciplinary issues, the Turkish federation decided against showing leniency. The dismissal follows earlier support voiced by Italy coach Roberto Mancini, a former Sampdoria teammate of Montella, who publicly defended the manager prior to their clash in Bologna. Mancini argued that Montella had performed admirably by elevating Turkiye into Nations League A and qualifying for the World Cup, insisting that the team was merely enduring a difficult spell plagued by misfortune and key absentees.
Ultimately, the federation determined that four losses in four games left no room for continuation, bringing a definitive end to Montella’s tenure on the bench. The search now begins for a replacement capable of restoring stability to the national side and navigating the remaining fixtures of their Nations League campaign.
