20.08.2026 09:50
Striking allegations have been made regarding Fenerbahçe Head Coach İsmail Kartal's technical staff. Journalist Ahmet Selim Kul claimed that the person Kartal previously introduced as a "professor" was investigated and found to be a doctoral student. Kul also made striking allegations about the way some names in the technical staff were appointed.
A new claim has emerged regarding the technical team of İsmail Kartal, who has been appointed as the head coach of Fenerbahçe for the fourth time. Speaking on HT Spor broadcast, journalist Ahmet Selim Kul alleged that the person Kartal previously introduced as a "professor" is actually a doctoral student.
Kul claimed that they conducted research on the academic title of the person in question and it turned out that the individual introduced as a "professor" is a doctoral student.
"FRIEND OF EMRE KARTAL"
In his statements, Ahmet Selim Kul also made claims about the manner in which some names in İsmail Kartal's technical staff were appointed. Kul alleged that the person introduced as a "professor" is a friend of Emre Kartal, İsmail Kartal's son, who is also part of the technical staff.
"GETS INTO THE A TEAM BECAUSE HE'S HIS SON'S FRIEND"
Ahmet Selim Kul used the following statements in his live broadcast:
"I said it on the first day. I said İsmail Kartal's staff should be improved. I mean, the coach's... Normally, a story like this should have grown, but since there's no news reading culture in Turkey, it wasn't dwelled on much... Do you know what the person İsmail Hoca called a 'professor' turned out to be? A doctoral student. He turned out to be a doctoral student. İsmail Hoca said, 'Professor'! And all of this was met with 'Whatever, let's ignore it'. The Fenerbahçe head coach goes on live broadcast and says, 'There's a professor on my staff'. We check the university, we do research; he turns out to be a doctoral student!"
In the continuation of his statement, Kul continued his claims regarding the appointments in the technical staff as follows:
"A kid works in the Fenerbahçe youth academy. He gets into the A team technical staff because he's his son's friend. I explained the conditioners, the goalkeeping coach, etc... Some people in the technical staff have only one job: if players say something bad about İsmail Hoca, to train them up. These were the same in the past; these are things we knew from before."
TECHNICAL STAFF CONTROVERSY
The fact that some names in Fenerbahçe's coaching staff had previously worked with youth teams in their careers also became one of the topics of debate directed at the technical staff. The source text regarding the claims raised by Ahmet Selim Kul did not include a response from İsmail Kartal or Fenerbahçe.