From January, the football motherland will be relying on a German. Former Bayern coach Thomas Tuchel is to lead England to the 2026 World Cup as national coach and end the long wait for a title.
No time? blue News summarizes for you
- The English Football Association has announced that Thomas Tuchel will be the new coach of the English national team.
- After the European Championship, the team parted company with long-serving national team coach Gareth Southgate. Since then, Lee Carsley has been in office as interim coach.
- Tuchel last coached Bayern Munich, but had to leave at the end of last season.
The appointment of Thomas Tuchel as England's new national team coach is complete. The English FA confirmed that the 51-year-old German will take over the Three Lions from January and lead them to the 2026 World Cup in the USA, Mexico and Canada. It was not initially announced whether the contract would also run until the 2028 European Championships, which England will co-host, or whether it would include any clauses to this effect.
Tuchel is expected to satisfy England's almost 60-year longing for their first major title since the 1966 World Cup triumph. The German can point to an "impressive list of coaching successes" and was "identified as the preferred candidate" in the selection process, the FA announced. The contract had already been signed on October 8.
Various media outlets had already reported on Tuesday that an agreement had been reached between the FA and the former coach of FC Bayern, Chelsea FC, Paris Saint-Germain and Borussia Dortmund, among others.
Tuchel fits the profile
Tuchel, who will also be assisted by his long-time assistant Anthony Barry at the English national team, is the first German to hold the most important coaching post in the motherland of football. Before him, only two other foreigners had coached the Three Lions: The recently deceased Swede Sven-Göran Eriksson (January 2001 to July 2006) and the Italian Fabio Capello (December 2007 to February 2012).
The association had been looking for a new head coach after the end of Gareth Southgate's eight-year tenure following the European Championship final defeat to Spain. Efforts were intensified as internal doubts about interim coach Lee Carsley grew after the 2-1 home defeat to Greece in the Nation League. "This job deserves a world-class coach who has won trophies and been through it all," Carsley said recently.
Reunion with Kane
Tuchel also fits the profile for this reason. He has won national championship titles with Bayern and PSG as well as the Champions League, the Super Cup and the Club World Cup with Chelsea FC in 2021. The coach enjoys a very good reputation in England and had also been touted as a possible successor to the controversial Erik ten Hag at Premier League club Manchester United. Tuchel had been without a job since the summer after his contract with Bayern, which originally ran until 2025, was terminated.
England captain Harry Kane also has a high opinion of Tuchel after their time together at Bayern. "I obviously know Thomas very well from the last year. He's a fantastic coach and a fantastic person," the 31-year-old told Sky ahead of the official confirmation from the FA.
