Thomas Tuchel

Playing career

Thomas Tuchel was born on 29 August 1973 in Krumbach, Bavaria. He played for his local club, TSV Krumbach, where he was coached by his father, Rudolf. In 1988, he entered the FC Augsburg academy, but he did not make a first‑team appearance and was released at the age of 19. Reflecting on Tuchel's time at the club, youth coordinator Heiner Schuhmann said that "[Tuchel] was a passionate player who gave his all but clashed with his teammates because he was assertive and demanding, which didn't always go over well". After leaving Augsburg, Tuchel joined 2. Bundesliga side Stuttgarter Kickers in 1992.

Tuchel made eight appearances during the 1992–93 season. After the 1993–94 campaign, he was dropped from the Kickers' first team and moved to Regionalliga Süd side SSV Ulm, coached by Hermann Badstuber, father of Holger Badstuber, whom Tuchel would later manage at youth level. Playing as a central defender, he remained with SSV Ulm until 1998, when a knee cartilage injury forced him to retire at the age of 25. He subsequently worked as a bartender until 2000.

Coaching career

Early career

Tuchel began his coaching career in 2000, hired by Ralf Rangnick as youth team coach at VfB Stuttgart, where he aided in player development; Mario Gómez and Holger Badstuber became club regulars under him. Tuchel coached the club's under-19 side to the Bundesliga title in the 2004–05 campaign. He left after that season, with the club opting not to renew his contract, citing his abrasive coaching style and demeanour. In 2005, Tuchel returned to Augsburg, with club sporting director Andreas Rettig noting the club's admiration of Tuchel's tactical discipline led to him being appointed youth team coordinator.

He was hired despite lacking a UEFA Pro Licence, which he gained in a six-and-a-half month course in Cologne under Erich Rutemöller. Tuchel held the position as coordinator for three years, transitioning into senior club management after accepting the position as first team coach at FC Augsburg II for the 2007–08 season. With Augsburg II, he coached a team which included Julian Nagelsmann, himself an injury-prone defender, who transitioned to a coaching career after Tuchel instructed him to scout for the club in 2008. Tuchel also garnered a reputation for his combustibility towards referees during games, often receiving fines from the Bavarian Football Association (BFV) as a result. At the end of the 2007–08 season, Tuchel's Augsburg II finished fourth.

Mainz 05

Tuchel's time as the coach of Augsburg II impressed many top-level German clubs, and he went on to be appointed by Bundesliga club Mainz 05 in 2009, replacing Jorn Andersen. Having signed an initial two-year contract, he was promoted into the role after acting as a youth coach at Mainz for the previous 12 months, during which he had won the U-19 Bundesliga. According to club executive Christian Heidel, Tuchel's perfectionism, going as far as to analyse pitch maintenance prior to a game against Olympiacos, contributed to his eventual appointment.

The composition of the squad was seen in Tuchel's tactical approach at Mainz, as despite possessing technically inferior players, he instructed them to utilise long distribution and focus on pressing off the ball, typically overloading one portion of the opposition half in order to create less space to generate counter-attacking opportunities, as relentless high-pressure would create chances by dispossessing or forcing errors from the opposition. An initial disciplinarian, Tuchel reportedly forbade his players to leave the canteen while others were still eating, deeming it ill-mannered. Tuchel's tactics based on pressing and positional play led Mainz to a ninth-placed finish in his first season as manager.

In the following campaign, Tuchel's Mainz enjoyed a perfect start to the season, winning their first seven games, including an away victory over Bayern Munich. This coincided with Tuchel's employment of René Marić and Martin Rafelt, founders of the tactics blog Spielverlagerung, to compile occasional scouting reports on Mainz's opponents. Tuchel eventually led the team to a fifth-placed finish as the club improved by 11 points to qualify for the third-qualifying round of the 2011–12 UEFA Europa League. Only four Bundesliga sides scored more goals than Mainz in the 2010–11 campaign, who had scored 52 goals in total. Of those goals, fifteen had been scored by rising star André Schürrle, and ten by Sami Allagui, who was a key part of Tuchel's pressing machine.

Mainz fell to a thirteenth-placed finish the following season, having notably lost Schürrle to Bayer Leverkusen in the summer. Allagui's lack of form added to Mainz's issues in attack, although new signing Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting was able to score ten goals, and midfielder Julian Baumgartlinger's organization and discipline helped the team and "marked him out" as a future club captain. Mainz suffered an early exit in the Europa League, and ended the season with 39 points, the lowest total during Tuchel's spell at the club. In the 2012–13 season, Mainz would go on to repeat their thirteenth-placed finish from the season prior. Despite a poor start and end to the season, there were significantly fewer struggles than in the previous campaign, and the team finished six points below seventh place. Ádám Szalai, who netted thirteen times, solved the goal-scoring issues up front, while Nicolai Müller and Andreas Ivanschitz scored eight and seven goals respectively. Mainz was knocked out in the quarter-finals of the DFB-Pokal. In what would turn out to be his final season with the club, Tuchel led Mainz to a seventh-place finish, qualifying for the group stages of the 2014–15 UEFA Europa League. At the beginning of the season, he had brought in Japanese forward Shinji Okazaki. Deployed in a central striking role, he went on to have a prolific season, scoring 15 goals in the Bundesliga, a record for a Japanese player.

Borussia Dortmund

In April 2015, coach Jürgen Klopp announced that he would leave Borussia Dortmund following the 2014–15 season. Dortmund, after evaluating several options, quickly decided on Tuchel as they believed he would double down on Klopp's trademark high intensity pressing system. Tuchel's appointment as the club's new head coach for the following season occurred on 19 April. Signing a three-year deal effective from 1 July, he returned to coaching after over a year without a club. Both Klopp and Tuchel followed the same path of moving from Mainz to Dortmund.

Joining at the beginning of the summer window, Tuchel was eager to avoid speculation and off-the-pitch distractions. He addressed the issue of star players who were in a dilemma between staying and leaving, rapidly convincing them that Dortmund could meet their ambitions. After securing the futures of several important players, Tuchel identified targets that could help the squad compete and "bridge the gap at the top". Dortmund and Tuchel's approach was to build upon Klopp's foundations, retaining the team's core while making shrewd additions. This policy resulted in the acquisitions of Roman Bürki and Julian Weigl, players with unproven potential, while Gonzalo Castro joined the club for €11 million. Another major off-field decision at Dortmund included replacing well-loved pasta dishes with wholemeal products to refine the players' diets. Tactically, Weigl was frequently used by Tuchel behind two central midfielders in a 4–1–4–1 formation, and along with the other two midfielders, he would work the ball until Dortmund could force an overload in space out wide, attacking with rapidity from there. Tuchel also utilised a 4–2–3–1 formation at Dortmund; players like Shinji Kagawa, Henrikh Mkhitaryan, and the deep-dropping Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang would make overloads in pockets of space in-between the lines. Weigl would sit back in front of the defence, while the other central midfielder (often İlkay Gündoğan when fit) pushed up forward.

Although unbeaten in his first fourteen matches at Borussia Dortmund, Tuchel and his team ended trophyless in the 2015–16 season, despite an appearance in the 2016 DFB-Pokal final, in which they lost to Bayern Munich on penalties. The team also suffered elimination at the quarter-final stage of the UEFA Europa League at the hands of Liverpool, who were now coached by Klopp. However, the campaign was notable for further promotions of youth talent, with American teenager Christian Pulisic largely starring during the latter stages of the season. Dortmund scored 82 goals in the 2015–16 Bundesliga, a club record, and the team's average league possession of 61% and an average pass accuracy of 85% were significant improvements from the team's counterpressing days with Klopp. Their point total of 78 was also the second highest in club history, and would have secured a league title in all but three of the previous 52 seasons. Dortmund finished second in the Bundesliga, securing UEFA Champions League football, however, Tuchel was criticised at the season's end for missing the club's 50th anniversary of their 1966 European Cup Winners' Cup victory.

Paris Saint-Germain

In May 2018, Tuchel signed a two-year contract with Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), replacing Unai Emery. He reportedly rejected Bayern Munich to join PSG.

Tuchel's first move in the transfer market was the permanent signing of Monaco forward Kylian Mbappé for a fee of €180m on 1 July. To offset this large acquisition, and to adhere to UEFA Financial Fair Play regulations, Tuchel sanctioned the departure of several players, including first-team players Yuri Berchiche and Javier Pastore, as well as promising youngster Gonçalo Guedes. After also generating profits through the sales of other bit-part players, the club signed free agent goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon on 6 July. A month later, the team signed German defender Thilo Kehrer for €37m, and PSG concluded their activity in the summer transfer market by signing Spanish left-back Juan Bernat for €15m on deadline day, while also reuniting Tuchel with former player Choupo-Moting. Despite these acquisitions, Tuchel publicly lamented the club's inability to improve at both full-back areas.

Tuchel's first match in charge also yielded his first honor at the club, as PSG defeated Monaco 4–0 to win the Trophée des Champions on 4 August. He also saw victory in his first league game, as the club defeated Caen 3–0 eight days later. After enjoying a brief unbeaten record, Tuchel suffered his first defeat in Paris on 18 September, losing 2–3 away to Liverpool in a Champions League group stage game. However, by November, Tuchel would break the record for the most wins to start to a domestic league season, as he registered twelve straight victories. The record was later extended to include two additional victories, prior to the club ending its 100% start to the season on 2 December, after PSG drew 2–2 away to Bordeaux. Tuchel then guided PSG to top spot in the club's Champions League group, with a 4–1 win over Red Star Belgrade on 12 December. By securing victory over Nantes on 22 December, Tuchel also broke the record for most points by Christmas in Ligue 1, with 47 after 17 games.

In January 2019, Tuchel was eliminated from his first competition at PSG, falling to Guingamp on 9 January, in the quarter-finals of the Coupe de la Ligue. However, he would defeat the same opposition by a margin of 9–0 ten days later in the league, the biggest home win in PSG's history. Prior to deadline day, on 29 January, the club delved into the winter transfer market to sign Argentine midfielder Leandro Paredes for a rumored fee of €40m. However, these transfers failed to progress the club in Europe, as PSG crashed out of the Champions League in the first knockout round against Manchester United. The club secured a 2–0 victory away from home in the first leg, but lost 1–3 at home, exiting the competition on away goals. With only the league and the Coupe de France to play for, PSG won the former on 21 April, six gameweeks before the end of the season, marking Tuchel's first league title victory as a coach. Six days later, PSG lost the 2019 Coupe de France final to Rennes on penalties, which occurred after a stretch of three consecutive league defeats: this was the first time PSG lost three league games consecutively since 2012.

Chelsea

On 26 January 2021, Tuchel signed an 18-month contract (with the option for an additional year) with Premier League club Chelsea, replacing Frank Lampard. He became the first German to be appointed as head coach of the club. Although expressing a desire to not come in mid-season so as to have a pre-season with his new team, Tuchel accepted the position after Ralf Rangnick rejected the proposal of interim head coach. Tuchel previously interviewed to become Chelsea coach in June 2016, with the club eventually appointing Antonio Conte.

Tuchel took charge of his first match the following day, a goalless draw at home against Wolverhampton Wanderers, a match that set the record for most possession (78.9%) and passes completed (820) for a manager's first Premier League game. Tuchel won his first game on 31 January, defeating Burnley 2–0 at home, and then won his first London derby (and his first away game) by defeating Tottenham Hotspur 1–0 on 4 February. On 11 February, Tuchel guided Chelsea to the quarter-finals of the FA Cup with a 1–0 away win over EFL Championship side Barnsley, extending his unbeaten run to five games. This run was eventually extended to eight games after Chelsea defeated Atlético Madrid 1–0 away in the first leg of the round of 16 in the UEFA Champions League, with Olivier Giroud scoring an overhead kick. This marked Tuchel's first European victory as Chelsea manager.

On 8 March, Tuchel's unbeaten run extended to eleven games after a 2–0 home league win over Everton, becoming the first head coach in Premier League history to keep consecutive home clean sheets in their first five home matches. After a 2–0 home victory against Atlético Madrid in the second leg of the round of 16 in the Champions League on 17 March, Tuchel extended his unbeaten run to 13 games, setting the record for the longest unbeaten run by a new head coach in Chelsea's history. This was considered to be due to the change to a three-man defence and partly attributed to a pragmatic approach to games; Tuchel's team took as many shots as Lampard's team per game (13.8 v 13.9), but created fewer chances, leading to 1.1 goals scored on average per game, compared to 2.1 under Lampard. He was then awarded his first Premier League Manager of the Month in October. The unbeaten run concluded at 14 games, with a 5–2 home defeat against West Bromwich Albion on 3 April. During that 14-game unbeaten run, the club conceded just two goals in 1,260 minutes.

On 17 April, courtesy of a Hakim Ziyech goal, Tuchel led Chelsea to the FA Cup final, defeating league leaders Manchester City 1–0 in the semi-final; Chelsea would eventually lose the final 1–0 to Leicester City. Tuchel also guided Chelsea to the Champions League final following a 3–1 aggregate win over Real Madrid in the semi-finals, becoming the first coach to reach consecutive finals with two different clubs. He eventually led Chelsea to European glory with a 1–0 win over Manchester City in the final. Following this, Tuchel signed a contract extension, with his new contract due to run to 2024.

Bayern Munich

On 24 March 2023, Tuchel was announced as head coach at Bayern Munich on a two-year deal, replacing his former player Julian Nagelsmann, who was dismissed. Tuchel was presented at a club press conference the following day, where he said "the squad assembled [here] is one of the most talented and best in Europe. We are here to win all the titles". Four days later, the club made a formal approach to Chelsea first-team assistant coach Anthony Barry, who worked with Tuchel (primarily on set pieces) during his time at Chelsea. Barry joined just under one month later. Tuchel's first game in charge was a 4–2 home win against his old club Borussia Dortmund on 1 April. In his second game, Bayern were knocked out in the quarter-finals of DFB-Pokal, on 4 April, after losing 2–1 at home to SC Freiburg. Bayern were also eliminated in the quarter-finals of the Champions League later that month, losing 4–1 to Manchester City on aggregate.

Despite accumulating five wins from his first eight Bundesliga matches, Bayern lost 3–1 at home to RB Leipzig on 20 May, dropping to second place below Dortmund, with one match remaining in the season. On the final matchday, Dortmund fell to a 2–2 draw at home to Mainz 05, while Bayern won 2–1 away to FC Köln thanks to a late Jamal Musiala winning goal: these results secured an 11th consecutive Bundesliga title for Bayern, and Tuchel's third league title in his career. At the season's end, Bayern dismissed Oliver Kahn as CEO and Hasan Salihamidžić as sporting director: the pair had recruited Tuchel two months prior. In advance of Tuchel's first full season, Bayern recruited defender Kim Min-jae for a reported €50 million and broke the Bundesliga transfer record by signing Harry Kane for €100 million, which was also supplemented by the arrival of backup goalkeeper Daniel Peretz.

Bayern lost in 3–0 to RB Leipzig in the 2023 DFL-Supercup on 12 August but began a strong start to the Bundesliga season (which included one defeat in their first sixteen matches), albeit, they were eliminated from the DFB-Pokal in an upset on 1 November against 1. FC Saarbrücken. The team also topped their Champions League group. However, consecutive league defeats to Bayer Leverkusen and VfL Bochum in February 2024 left them eight points behind Leverkusen by matchweek 22. Bayern were beaten 1–0 by Lazio in the first leg of their Champions League last-16 tie on 14 February, despite enlisting mid-season squad reinforcements in the form of Eric Dier on loan and Sacha Boey for €30 million. This defeat marked Tuchel's tenth in his 43 games, which was as many defeats as Nagelsmann accumulated in his first 84 games. One week later, it was announced Tuchel would mutually depart at the end of the 2023–24 season as part of a "sporting realignment".

England

On 16 October 2024, Tuchel was announced as head coach of the England national team, with his appointment made on 1 January 2025; Tuchel signed his 18-month contract eight days prior, and after interviewing with Manchester United the previous summer. Tuchel is England's first German and third foreign head coach, after Sven-Göran Eriksson and Fabio Capello. Speaking on his appointment, Tuchel stated, "I have long felt a personal connection to the game in this country" and called taking the position as "a huge privilege". The FA's chief executive Mark Bullingham called Tuchel "one of the best coaches in the world". During his first press conference, Tuchel expressed a desire to play attacking football which "reflects the Premier League", citing principles of physicality, intensity, and directness. The decision was controversial, due to many England fans associating Germany with the Second World War. A national newspaper dubbed his appointment as "A dark day for England". The former Portsmouth manager Harry Redknapp also referred to him as a "German spy".

His backroom team, which was integrated at St George's Park, consisted of his own and existing FA staff: staff included Tuchel's former Chelsea and Bayern Munich assistant coach Anthony Barry, his Chelsea goalkeeping coach Hilário, and his PSG and Bayern Munich performance coach Nicolas Mayer. In February 2025, Brentford coach Justin Cochrane joined as an assistant coach and James Melbourne joined as an analyst from Chelsea. Tuchel's contract reportedly stipulates a financial bonus for winning the FIFA World Cup, and early termination clauses if England failed to reach the quarter-finals of the 2026 World Cup.

In March 2025, Tuchel selected his first 26-man squad for England's initial 2026 FIFA World Cup qualifiers against Albania and Latvia. This included uncapped senior call-ups for Dan Burn, James Trafford, Myles Lewis-Skelly and Jarell Quansah, as well as the return of Marcus Rashford, Jordan Henderson and Reece James to the national team since March 2024, November 2023, and March 2023, respectively. According to Bellingham, Tuchel reached out to 55 players before deciding his final squad, as well as spending three months travelling to club matches to meet potentially selected players. Tuchel led England to a 2–0 victory against Albania on 21 March and to a 3–0 victory over Latvia three days later. Tuchel lost his first game as England coach on 10 June, losing 3–1 in a friendly against Senegal. For his squad for the September 2025 World Cup qualifiers, Tuchel was noted for calling up 24 players rather than the 26 allocated selection spaces, citing his desire for a "tighter, more competitive squad".

Manager profile

Training methods

Tuchel is known for his implementation of innovative training methods. During his tenures at Mainz and Dortmund, Tuchel made players take touches with their knees, cut the corners off the training pitch in an effort to force accurate passing and movement, and obliged his players to hold tennis balls during defensive drills to keep unnecessary fouling in check. Training was reportedly made so difficult and mentally exhausting that actual games felt easy in comparison.

A stringent analyst, Tuchel once paused a documentary on Pep Guardiola for two hours on the Mainz bus to study a graph which showed Barcelona's passing patterns. Tuchel has borrowed training methods from other sports, including archery and kick-boxing; he once made his Mainz team spend close to a month training with a handball club. According to Jan Kirchhoff, Tuchel also emphasised psychological training, regularly sharing extracts from newspaper articles or books with his players to challenge their thinking. An initial disciplinarian, Tuchel implemented bans on eating refined carbohydrates, replacing it with wholemeal pasta and light sauces at his clubs. He changed this approach after being appointed at PSG.

Sources close to Chelsea noted Tuchel's training sessions at the club featured a light tone, with a wide range of drills including smaller footballs or using hands instead of feet in some games. He also used staggered recovery, such as lighter sessions after big games or rest days altogether. According to Andreas Christensen, in days leading up to games, training intensity typically increased, with focus on possession over tactical discussion, such as practising three v two passing drills. As England manager, Tuchel was criticised by some media figures for not attending more Premier League matches when considering player selection, prompting Tuchel to defend his methods, saying, "I watch five matches on a wide-angle screen. [Not] watching live [lets] you watch [more matches], tactically, with wide-angles". Tuchel was also noted for allowing players to report closer to fixture dates to reduce fatigue derived from longer lead-in times to those fixtures.

Tactics

Labelled a "tactical chameleon", Tuchel's tactical knowledge and flexibility has seen wide praise. His footballing style is characterised by flexibility and pragmatism: speaking on his tactical setup in Ben Lyttleton's Edge: What Business Can Learn From Football, Tuchel said, "My [footballing] philosophy is an aesthetic one: "aesthetic" means [to] control the ball, the rhythm, to attack in every minute and to try to score as many goals as possible". Tuchel is known as a tactical innovator and is often favorably compared to Pep Guardiola: the pair once discussed tactics together for over four hours. Tuchel's tactical play earned him the moniker Tommy Tactics among Chelsea supporters.

Writing for The Athletic, Liam Twomey and Sebastian Stafford-Bloor said Tuchel's Mainz side prioritised adaptability in their approach, changing formation or tactical set-up multiple times each game to negate the particular strengths of their opponent. Speaking on this, Tuchel remarked, "We broke all [established] tactical rules [and assumptions] not for the sake of it, but because we were inferior in all aspects [at Mainz] and were forced to". During his time at Dortmund, Tuchel often used the 4–1–4–1 and 4–2–3–1 formations; with the former, he made his team force overloads in space out wide, while with the latter, he looked to create overloads in pockets of space in between the lines of the opposition. He also made the club more ball-dominant, as average possession by the team increased almost 9% following his appointment.

At Paris Saint-Germain, Tuchel primarily played a 4–3–3 with plenty of flair to emphasise the attacking capabilities of wide forwards Neymar and Mbappé (although he used up to ten different formations while at the club). During the 2018–19 season, the forward line, with Neymar and Mbappé flanking central target man Cavani, regularly dropped into the half-space or into wide areas. The team's full-backs would also push up alongside the midfield in order to attain positional overloads, and players were encouraged to find space between the lines of defence and midfield to disorganise the opposition. Simultaneously, this would disrupt attempts to man-mark Neymar and Mbappé and create open space behind the defensive line for the pair to run into.

Writing for The Athletic, Thom Harris and Mark Carey stated Tuchel's ideas hinge on controlling possession in midfield and overloading the centre of the pitch with technical players who can both retain the ball and press quickly when it is lost. For example, at PSG, the team's midfield would see the deepest defensive midfielder stick close to the central defenders, who would often be joined by another midfielder acting as a deep-lying playmaker. These roles were occupied by Marquinhos and Marco Verratti, respectively. The last remaining midfielder would push forward to stagger attacks and disrupt defensive structure by overloading one side of the opponent's defensive area, setting an overload passing trap. During the 2018–19 and 2019–20 seasons, Di María and Paredes were commonly associated with this role. The team also heavily used Gegenpressing, a tactic where, after losing possession of the ball, the team would immediately attempt to win it back rather than regroup. PSG would thus corral the opponent to one side before switching play quickly to exploit the weaker side. Tuchel has also been noted for using man-marking, tasking Herrera to do so on Thiago in the 2020 Champions League final.

Reception

Klopp, his contemporary, commenting on Tuchel's "exceptional" rise through the ranks remarked, "He's an outstanding coach and an outstanding manager". Guardiola also expressed his admiration for Tuchel's footballing philosophy, saying, "He's so creative. One of the few managers I learn from. Excellent in all departments. I enjoy watching his teams, the way he plays [and] his approach". Hansi Kleitsch, the head coach of the various youth teams at VfB Stuttgart when Tuchel was an assistant coach, said, "[Tuchel] was able to dissect an opponent, he had X-ray vision. His match plans always worked out". In an assessment of Tuchel's coaching style, Rangnick said, "Tuchel is a very bright, intelligent person. He's somebody who loves to improve people".

Tuchel is known for his aptitude and positive response to new footballing trends and ideas: after leaving Mainz, Tuchel visited Matthew Benham, owner of then-Championship club Brentford, to learn about statistical models. Tuchel also sought out online tactical blogs instead of established coaches to inform his footballing ideas: he later hired René Marić of Spielverlagerung at Borussia Dortmund to compile scouting reports. At Borussia Dortmund, he introduced the concept of "differential learning" patented by sport scientist Wolfgang Schollhorn, which informs that player skill is not honed by repetition but by confronting an ever-changing set of problems which demands constant adjustments. During his time with England, Tuchel borrowed verbiage from American football coach Bill Callahan for team speeches, and adopted Bill Belichick's squad composition philosophy, highlighting a desire not to "collect talent" but to "build a team"; according to Jack Pitt Brooke of The Athletic, Tuchel's eventual squad selection for the 2026 FIFA World Cup prioritised players who would be "good tourists, popular and selfless" within the team.

In November 2021, Barney Ronay wrote in The Guardian that "Tuchel's acuity, his tendency in pre- and post-match TV appearances to blurt out original thoughts, to riff on the spot, turning this thing around in his hand, seeing its edges" is a microcosm of his footballing approach. Ronay also opined that Tuchel demonstrates "restless intelligence, [an] obsession with detail, with football as a play of shapes and numbers and ideas". Gonzalo Castro, who played under Tuchel, said, "[Tuchel] organises everything precisely, down to the last millimetre". Tuchel is known as a fierce motivator. At Mainz, during a bike tour up a mountain, Tuchel buried the club badge and told the youth team that if they reached the 2009 U-19 Bundesliga final, he would retrieve it; according to under-19 player Konstantin Fring, "We all had goosebumps. We would have killed someone for him [when he retrieved it]. We wanted to win so much. And we did". Tuchel went on to retrieve the badge.

Personal life

As a child, Tuchel was a "huge" fan of football, and his first footballing idol was Hans-Günter Bruns.

Tuchel attended Simpert-Kraemer-Gymnasium, where he devised tactical strategies in PE volleyball. He graduated from Baden-Württemberg Cooperative State University with a degree in business administration, and worked as a bartender at the Radio Bar in Stuttgart while a student.

Tuchel married his wife Sissi, with whom he has two daughters, in 2009. In April 2022, it was reported that the couple had divorced, citing irreconcilable differences. Tuchel is currently in a relationship with Natalie Max. He speaks German, French and English, and describes himself as an "imperfect vegetarian". Tuchel consumes minimal amounts of alcohol. He considers himself an avid reader, namely of crime thriller novels and books about architecture and design, and is also a fan of tennis, rock music, and hip hop.

Managerial statistics

As of match played 18 July 2026

Honours

Manager

Borussia Dortmund

DFB-Pokal: 2016–17

Paris Saint-Germain

Ligue 1: 2018–19, 2019–20

Coupe de France: 2019–20; runner-up: 2018–19

Coupe de la Ligue: 2019–20

Trophée des Champions: 2018, 2019

UEFA Champions League runner-up: 2019–20

Chelsea

UEFA Champions League: 2020–21

UEFA Super Cup: 2021

FIFA Club World Cup: 2021

FA Cup runner-up: 2020–21, 2021–22

EFL Cup runner-up: 2021–22

Bayern Munich

Bundesliga: 2022–23

England

FIFA World Cup third place: 2026

Individual

VDV Bundesliga Coach of the Season: 2015–16

Premier League Manager of the Month: March 2021, October 2021

German Football Manager of the Year: 2021

UEFA Men's Coach of the Year: 2020–21

IFFHS Men's World's Best Club Coach: 2021