Fenerbahce fans bid him a tearful farewell. Meanwhile, Bologna FC's press office was taken by surprise by Domenico Tedesco

There are currently more than 1,200 comments on X, and a quick scan shows that virtually every one is from a Fenerbahce fan. Tedesco was sacked by the Istanbul giants at the end of April in a shock move that followed the team's second league defeat.

The club's passionate support was sent into a frenzy, prompting President Sadettin Saran to announce just one day later that he would not stand for re-election at the weekend's ballot. The bond between Tedesco and the Fener faithful was also evident offline, at two airports.

The scenes resembled a siege: chaos erupted both when he departed the Turkish capital and upon his arrival in Stuttgart, with supporters in tears and police and security staff struggling to escort him through the crowd. 

Objectively, the passionate supporters' reaction is understandable. Tedesco revived Fener's fortunes, though silverware remained elusive at first. His Bosphorus record remains impressive.

On Matchday 5 of the Süper Lig, he took charge of a squad assembled at the behest of star coach José Mourinho. Tedesco remained unbeaten in his first 22 league games and, in January, delivered the Super Cup to Kadiköy for the first time in 11 years. Until his departure, the club still harboured hopes of a first league title in 12 years.

That run was even more impressive given the club's off-field turbulence. Thirteen days after his arrival, the president who had hired him, Ali Koc, was replaced by Saran. In early December, captain Mert Hakan Yandas was remanded in custody following the betting scandal that had emerged in the autumn. On top of that, Fener suffered a spate of injuries that sidelined more than half a dozen players.

Five difficult days proved decisive for the club's hierarchy, prompting them to sack the popular coach without warning. First, the team exited the cup in the quarter-finals after extra time against Konyaspor; then they surrendered the league title with a 3-0 derby defeat to eventual champions Galatasaray.

Tedesco was taken by surprise: "We had only just been discussing an early contract extension," he told dpa. "Now, after just our second league defeat of the season, we're parting ways. It underlines how fast-paced football has become. When I arrived, the plan was to build something sustainable together; we wanted to do things a little differently from the way they'd been done before."

Matteo Guendouzi, the former Hertha player who only joined the club in January, was full of praise following Tedesco's sacking, having previously compared him to Unai Emery: "Thank you for everything you've done for me, Coach. It was a privilege to work with such a great manager and a great person."

Despite arriving at the club only seven months ago, Tedesco has now joined his three immediate predecessors at Fener in the statistics. He, too, exited despite posting a points-per-game average of at least 2.0. Previously, Mourinho (2.02), Ismail Kartal (2.4) and Jorge Jesus (2.23) suffered the same fate. In 45 competitive matches with Fener, Tedesco won 26 and lost only seven, posting a career-best 2.0 points per game.

He wasted little time before accepting his seventh head-coaching job, this time with Bologna in his fifth different country, and has yet to spend more than seven months out of work.

Tedesco's issue, if it can be called that, is that he enjoys a far better reputation abroad than he does at home in Germany. There, his spell at FC Schalke 04 (July 2017 to March 2019) still counts against him, even though he finished as runners-up in the league and reached the last 16 of the Champions League. 

Back then, unlike at his later clubs, Tedesco's side adopted a decidedly pragmatic style of play. Critics derided it as "the ugliest football ever played by a team in second place in the table". Yet observers overlooked a key stop in the Italian-born coach's career before he arrived in Gelsenkirchen.

Tedesco had taken his first professional job less than four months earlier, at 31, with a second-division side mired near the bottom and under immediate relegation threat. Tedesco turned it around immediately, picking up 1.82 points per game over eleven matches and steering the club clear of relegation. That feat still earns him legend status at Wismut.

After Schalke, he moved to Spartak Moscow, where the coronavirus pandemic cut short his stay after 20 months despite the club's desire to keep him. He then joined RB Leipzig. In his first season there, Tedesco won the DFB-Pokal, the club's first major title, and reached the semi-finals of the Europa League. When he turned down an early contract extension, he was dismissed after just five Bundesliga matchdays.

Then there's Belgium. Tedesco took charge as national coach in 2023. In only his second game, he guided the Red Devils to their first win over Germany in 69 years, and it would be 16 months before they tasted defeat under him. Their Euro 2024 performances were uninspiring, yet they exited only on a narrow margin: an own goal in the 85th minute against favourites France in the round of 16.

These results make Tedesco's mixed reputation in Germany look unjustified, and the contrast with his standing abroad is stark. Italian media have hailed him as the ideal coach for Bologna, praising his attacking football, high pressing, ball possession and tactical flexibility.

SPOX reports that he had also received approaches from England and Germany, yet Tedesco has long harboured the ambition to coach in his parents' homeland. SSC Napoli and Atalanta Bergamo had previously shown interest in him. 

Giovanni Sartori finally gets his man in Tedesco. The 69-year-old Technical Director at Bologna since 2022—after nearly eight years in the same role in Bergamo—has been pursuing the coach for years and re-established contact before Tedesco's departure from Istanbul.

After a turbulent spell at Fener, Bologna's calm, supportive environment—rare in Italian football—should suit Tedesco well. Founded in 1909, the club has a proud tradition and has recently made significant progress: in 2024 it qualified for the Champions League for the first time in 60 years, and a year later its Coppa Italia triumph ended a 51-year wait for silverware.

Tedesco's challenge will be significant: predecessor Vincenzo Italiano had just steered the club to a respectable eighth-place finish, narrowly missing out on European qualification. 

It is not yet clear who Tedesco will face in his debut. Some Fenerbahce supporters, still stinging from his departure, have taken to social media to propose a friendly between the two clubs—a match that might yet be arranged by the Istanbul side's new management.