Ole Gunnar Solskjaer got 221 days as coach of the shaky, big club Besiktas. Everyone, except the Besiktas management and the supporters, understands that you don’t turn the ship around overnight as a coach. On Saturday, the Turkish club will appoint their second new coach after Solskjaer was fired at the end of August 2025.
Solskjaer knew what a witch’s cauldron he was jumping into when he signed with Besiktas in January 2025, but it still sucks when you get fired from status as a long-term coaching solution after 29 games. The history of the proud Turkish big club shows that 221 days as Besiktas coach were actually of the longer stays. Now the replacement is already history, in comes the next person to the job.
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Besiktas appoints Vincenco Italiano as new coach
After Solskjaer, Besiktas should have back a Turkish coach who understands domestic football. Former success coach at Besiktas, Sergen Yalçın, was brought in to “clean up” after Solskjaer. 262 days later, he too was finished (May 2026), after a period of poor results domestically and increasing pressure from the club’s supporters.
Now Besiktas are once again turning to a foreign coach.
On Saturday, the coach will be presented with the apt name Vincenzo Italiano. Of course, from Italy. He has managed clubs such as Fiorentina and Bologna.
-Thank you very much to everyone. I’m really looking forward to getting started. It’s a very emotional moment for me. I would like to thank our president and the board members,” said Solskjaer’s replacement.
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For the record, we include the list of Besiktas coaches from 2023 and before Yalçın:
- Ole Gunnar Solskjaer – 221 days and 29 games
- Serdar Topraktepe – 50 days and nine matches
- Giovanni van Bronckhorst – 152 days and 20 games
- Serdar Topraktepe – 78 days and nine games
- Fernando Santos – 95 days and 16 games
- Serdar Topraktepe – 19 days and three matches
- Rıza Çalımbay – 41 days and seven matches
- Burak Yilmaz – 31 days and five matches
- Şenol Güneş – 343 days and 41 matches
