Jose Mourinho will return to former club Chelsea in the Champions League on September 30 after being named manager of two-time European champions Benfica.

Mourinho, 62, briefly led Benfica in his first managerial role in 2000 and won three Premier League titles across two spells at Stamford Bridge.

The Portuguese left Turkish side Fenerbahce after less than 15 months in charge in August following the club’s failure to qualify for the Champions League, losing 1-0 at Benfica in the play-offs to suffer an aggregate defeat by the same scoreline.

Benfica, who finished second in the Primeira Liga last season, sacked Bruno Lage on Tuesday after his side spurned a two-goal lead to lose 3-2 at home to Qarabag in the league phase of the Champions League.

The record 38-time Portuguese champions have moved swiftly to give the self-dubbed ‘Special One’ a two-year contract.

Why did Fenerbahce sack Jose Mourinho?

After finishing 11 points behind champions Galatasaray in second in Mourinho’s first campaign in Turkiye, Fenerbahce started this season with a 0-0 draw at Goztepe, who won promotion in 2023/24 and came eighth last season.

They overturned a 2-1 first-leg deficit to beat Feyenoord in their first Champions League qualifying tie courtesy of a 5-2 win at home, but the immediacy of Mourinho’s departure suggested their defeat to Benfica in the next round decided his fate.

Turkiye winger Kerem Akturkoglu, who joined Benfica from Galatasaray in 2024, scored the decisive goal in the 35th minute of the return leg, consigning Fenerbahce the Europa League.

In between their contests with Benfica, Fenerbahce secured their first league win of the season by beating Kocaelispor 3-1 at home, although the promoted visitors had lost their first two games without scoring.

Mourinho finished with a record of 37 victories, 14 draws and 11 defeats in 62 matches with Fenerbahce, achieving a win percentage of just under 60.

Jose Mourinho stats, Fenerbahce record

A 118th-minute second-leg goal by visitors Lille knocked Fenerbahce out of Champions League qualifying in Mourinho’s first season and they were the last team to qualify for the Europa League knockout phase play-offs, advancing on goal difference in 18th after winning two of their eight league phase matches.

A 5-2 win over Andelecht took them to the last 16 but a 3-1 home defeat to Rangers then proved costly as they were knocked out at Ibrox on penalties following a 2-0 away win.

Fenerbahce were unbeaten in their first five league matches under Mourinho but then lost 3-1 to Galatasaray in front of their largest home crowd of the season of more than 44,000 fans.

Galatasaray also knocked Fenerbahce out of the Turkish Cup as the visiting side in a quarter-final featuring two red cards on either side during added time.

Mourinho frequently criticised refereeing in Turkiye and received a four-match ban – later reduced to two games – for remarks about referees after a 0-0 draw at Galatasaray on February 24.

In a separate incident, Galatasaray said they would “initiate criminal proceedings” against Mourinho and accused him of making “racist statements”.

He denied the allegations, describing himself as the “opposite” of racist and filing a lawsuit against the club seeking damages worth around £41,000.

Jose Mourinho contract

Mourinho’s deal at Fenerbahce was worth more than £8m a year, according to ESPN at the time of his appointment.

Club president Ali Y Koc called Mourinho a living legend and one of the five best managers alive when he arrived and said they set their first goal was to become Turkish champions.

“I want to thank you all for your love,” Mourinho responded. “I’ve felt it since the first time my name was linked with Fenerbahce.”

Jose Mourinho trophies

An eight-time top-flight champion across Portugal, England, Spain and Italy, Mourinho won the Champions League at Porto in 2003/04 and Inter Milan in 2009/10.

He was a Premier League champion with Chelsea in 2004/05 and 2005/06, returning to triumph again in 2014/15 during his second spell at the helm.

Mourinho’s two most recent glories were the 2016/17 Europa League title with Manchester United and the 2021/22 inaugural Conference League trophy with Roma.

Benfica Champions League fixtures

Mourinho will return to England twice as part of Benfica’s Champions League campaign, with their third game of the league phase at Newcastle.

Their final home game is against Real Madrid, with whom Mourinho won LaLiga, the Copa del Rey and the Spanish Super Cup between 2010 and 2013.

All matches start at 20:00 GMT / 15:00 ET / 12:00 PT unless stated otherwise.

September 16: Benfica 2-3 Qarabag

September 30: Chelsea vs Benfica

October 21: Newcastle vs Benfica

November 5: Benfica vs Leverkusen

November 25: Ajax vs Benfica (17:45)

December 10: Benfica vs Napoli

January 21 2026: Juventus vs Benfica

January 28 2026: Benfica vs Real Madrid