Thomas Tuchel

Thomas Tuchel
Tuchel with Borussia Dortmund in 2016
Personal information
Date of birth (1973-08-29) 29 August 1973
Place of birth Krumbach, West Germany
Height 1.93 m (6 ft 4 in)
Playing position Defender
Club information
Current team
 Paris Saint-Germain (manager)
Youth career
TSV Krumbach
1988–1992 FC Augsburg
Senior career*
Years Team Apps (Gls)
1992–1994 Stuttgarter Kickers 8 (1)
1994–1998 SSV Ulm 69 (2)
Total 77 (3)
Teams managed
2007–2008 FC Augsburg II
2009–2014 Mainz 05
2015–2017 Borussia Dortmund
2018– Paris Saint-Germain
* Senior club appearances and goals counted for the domestic league only

Thomas Tuchel (German pronunciation: [ˈtʰoːmas ˈtʊxəl]; born 29 August 1973) is a German professional football coach and former player. He is the head coach at Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain.

Playing career

Born in Krumbach, Tuchel's starred as a member of local youth club, TSV Krumbach, before moving to the FC Augsburg academy in 1988. However, he never appeared for the first team, being released soon after he turned 19, where he was quickly granted the opportunity to play in the 2. Bundesliga for Stuttgarter Kickers in 1992.

He featured in only eight games in 1992–93 season, with largely unimpressive performances, and following an even more disappointing 1993–94 season, he was dropped from Kickers first team, and quickly joined third-tier Regionalliga Süd side, SSV Ulm, becoming a mainstay for the club over his four-year spell, featuring in 69 matches as an imposing central defender. Despite this, he was forced to end his active career in 1998, at age 25, after suffering a chronic knee cartilage injury earlier that year.[1]

Coaching career

Early career

Tuchel began his coaching career in 2000, as the head coach of the U-19 team at VfB Stuttgart, holding the position for five years, aiding in the development of future first team players, namely Mario Gómez and Holger Badstuber. In 2005, he returned to Augsburg, who were impressed with his ability at coaching youth players, and was provided with the role of youth team co-ordinator.[2] Tuchel held the position for three years, eventually transitioning into management after being offered the position as first team coach at Augsburg II for the 2007–08 season.[3]

Mainz 05

Tuchel's time as the coach of Augsburg II later impressed many top-level German clubs, and he moved to Bundesliga club Mainz 05 in 2009.[4] Tuchel, being promoted into the position after acting as a youth coach at Mainz for the previous 12 months, signed an initial two-year contract.[5]

The challenge of sustaining Mainz as a newly-promoted Bundesliga club was difficult, as Tuchel inherited a squad of sub-standard quality that was unequipped for top-level football, and he was given limited money to spend.[4] He nevertheless relished the prospect of conducting business in the transfer market, and enjoyed freedom to incorporate players in order to build a squad to his liking.[6] In his first season at Mainz, Tuchel enjoyed a strong league start, eventually guiding the club to a respectable 9th-placed finish, while also creating a team that housed promising youth players adept at attacking football, such as Ádám Szalai and André Schürrle.

Tuchel with Mainz 05 in 2014

Tuchel sought to progress this philosophy in the following campaign, with the arrivals of young German playmaker Lewis Holtby, as well as imposing Austrian full-back Christian Fuchs. Both players allowed him to address major squad deficiencies from the previous season, where Mainz often saw an inability to break down defensively-minded teams, while also having limited success from the left-flank.[6] This allowed the club to enjoy a perfect start to the season, enjoying seven wins in their first seven games, including an away victory over Bayern Munich. Tuchel eventually led the team to a fifth-placed finish, with Fuchs and Holtby contributing with eight league-assists, as the club improved by a total of 11 points to qualify for the third-qualifying round in the 2011–12 UEFA Europa League.

Despite their stern efforts, Mainz were unable to juggle the requirements of both domestic and European competition, slipping to 13th-placed finishes the following two seasons, while also losing both Schürrle and Szalai to domestic rivals. Tuchel nevertheless sought to replace them with addition of forward Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting, while also changing goalkeeper, a problem position for the club, with the promotion of Loris Karius. Tuchel also worked extensively with midfield youth product Yunus Mallı, who became capable of playing multiple roles within the midfield, as well being able to operate as a second-striker or center-forward.[7] This allowed the team to transition into a more cohesive and purposeful unit from the free-flowing attacking mindset seen previously, with play now consistently running through the partnership exhibited by Mallı and Choupo-Moting, while also being able to play from the back with Karius' passing and distributing abilities.[8] After a strong finish to the season, Tuchel extended his contract to remain with the club for another two seasons.

In what would turn out to be his final season with the club, Tuchel sought to expand the dynamic of the team, hoping to create a quicker, more unpredictable outfit. He bought in Japanese forward Shinji Okazaki to partner Choupo-Moting, while also acquiring defensive midfielder Julian Baumgartlinger for a reported €1.1 million.[9] Baumgartlinger, now partnering Mallı in midfield, allowed the team to retain their cohesive shape from the previous seasons, while also managing to create a base for which the team could attack at pace.[8] This approach reaped rewards for the team, with Mainz enjoying a 7th-placed league finish, qualifying for the group stages of the 2014–15 UEFA Europa League. Okazaki also enjoyed an extremely prolific season, hitting 15 in the league.

Despite various approaches by Schalke 04 and Bayer Leverkusen for his services in the latter-half of the 2013–14 season, Tuchel remained until the end of the campaign, with the assumption a successful season would allow for larger funds to be made available in order to progress the squad.[10] After it became apparent, however, that these funds would be in limited supply, Tuchel asked to be released from his contract prematurely, later stating "I couldn’t see how we could reinvent ourselves once more the coming summer."[11][12] Mainz initially refused to release him from his contract, but they eventually allowed him to leave on 11 May 2014.[10]

Tuchel concluded his Mainz career with a record of 72 wins, 46 draws, and 64 losses, from 182 games, with a win percentage of 39.56%.[13]

Borussia Dortmund

In April 2015, coach Jürgen Klopp announced that he would leave Borussia Dortmund following the 2014–15 season. Klopp felt his position at the club had become compromised, and both club and coach sought an evolution after a disappointing 7th-placed league finish to the campaign.[14] Dortmund, inquiring over the availability of various coaches, quickly decided on Tuchel, eager to incorporate a similar footballing philosophy made a club trademark under Klopp.[5][15] Shortly thereafter, he officially assumed the role as the club's new head coach on 19 April 2015, returning to the game after over a year out of management, signing a three-year deal.

Tuchel quickly set to revitalizing the team, a task made much more easier as Dortmund's financial situation greatly contrasted Mainz's.[16] He conducted his transfer business relatively early in the window, allowing the departures of nine-first team players, while purchasing German midfielders Gonzalo Castro and Julian Weigl from Bayer Leverkusen and 1860 Munich, respectively. Both became the fulcrum of the system Tuchel deployed at the club, as he aimed to replicate the dynamic offense displayed during the final season of his tenure at Mainz.[16] Castro and Weigl, who were adapted from defensively-minded midfielders to a box-to-box midfielder and deep-lying playmaker respectively, allowed Tuchel to experiment with various formations with a solid base at the center of the park.[17] Throughout the campaign, the team were able to transition from a 4–2–3–1, 4–3–3, and 3–4–3 with relative ease, which saw them enjoy strong domestic success by finishing runners-up in the Bundesliga, which included a run of 11 consecutive wins to begin the season.[18] However, Tuchel's debut season at Dortmund ended trophyless, despite an appearance in the 2016 DFB-Pokal Final, in which they lost to Bayern Munich on penalties, while also suffering elimination at the quarter-final stage of the UEFA Europa League at the hands of Liverpool, who were now coached by Klopp.[19] The campaign was also notable for further promotions of youth talent, with American teenager Christian Pulisic largely starring for the team during the latter stages of the season.

In preparation for the following campaign, Dortmund spent heavily on player purchases, with an outlay of over €119m on eleven entrants, although, much of this was done to offset the departure of core first-team players Mats Hummels, İlkay Gündoğan, and Henrikh Mkhitaryan, who commanded fees in total of €104m between them.[20] Tuchel, however, managed to replace them on the versatile output of Ousmane Dembélé, Marc Bartra, and Raphaël Guerreiro, with the latter seeing the most drastic shift in tactical and positional change, often being deployed as a newly converted central midfielder from left-back.[21] Guerreiro, signed following his exploits at UEFA Euro 2016, showcased great passing and dribbling abilities; qualities deemed sparse in midfield. This positional change allowed Guerreiro's potential to be maximized under the German coach, as he starred in a midfield trident alongside Castro and Weigl, in a system which was both defensively secure, and also provided a greater attacking threat than previously seen.[22] The versatility of Bartra, who was also used as a right-back as well as a central defender, combined with the rapid attacking threat of wide-players Dembélé and Pulisic, allowed Dortmund to transition much quicker between systems. This emphasis on a pace-orientated attack also brought out the best in Gabonese striker Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang, who hit 56 goals in 63 league appearances under Tuchel.[23] This allowed Dortmund to return to the final of the DFB-Pokal, where Tuchel won his first ever major honor as a coach, as well as the club's first trophy in five years, as they beat Eintracht Frankfurt 2–1, with goals from both Dembélé and Aubameyang.[24]

Despite the victory, it was to be Tuchel's only honour with the club, as he was fired three days later on 30 May 2017.[25] His tenure as first-team coach was marred with controversy, with a strained relationship with the club's hierarchy, notably CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke.[23] Tuchel expressed discontent over the departures of Hummels, Gündoğan, and Mkhitaryan, who were sold despite alleged promises from Watzke that they would not leave. He also maintained fractured relations with club stalwarts Roman Weidenfeller, Neven Subotić, and Jakub Błaszczykowski, as he aimed to replace the ageing trio, an action that reportedly did not sit kindly with Watzke.[26] Tuchel also purportedly fell out over prospective transfers, aiming to sign defender Ömer Toprak in 2016, as well as Spanish midfielder Óliver Torres in 2017, with both moves allegedly blocked by Watzke and chief scout Sven Mislintat, who maintained a close working relationship together.[27] Toprak eventually joined the club following Tuchel's departure, starring alongside Bartra, while Torres joined Porto as the side's key attacking outlet.

Tuchel, meanwhile, took another year out of management, leaving Dortmund with a record of 68 wins, 23 draws, and 17 defeats in 108 games, with a win percentage of 62.96%.

Paris Saint-Germain

In May 2018, Tuchel signed a two-year contract with Paris Saint-Germain, replacing the treble-winning Unai Emery.[28]

Tuchel's first foray into the transfer market at a European heavyweight was the permanent signing of Monaco forward Kylian Mbappé for an initial fee of €135m on July 1.[29] Mbappé shone as a member of the team the previous campaign, and was instrumental for the French national team during their win at the 2018 FIFA World Cup.[28] To offset this large acquisition, and to adhere to UEFA Financial Fair Play regulations, Tuchel sanctioned the departure of several players, including perceived first-team players Javier Pastore and Yuri Berchiche,[30][31] as well as promising youngster Gonçalo Guedes.[32] After also generating profits through the sales of other bit-part players,[33][34] the club signed free agent goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon on July 6.[35] A month later, the team signed German defender Thilo Kehrer for €37m,[36] and Tuchel concluded his activity in the summer transfer market by signing Spanish left-back Juan Bernat for €15m on deadline day,[37] while also reuniting with Cameroonian forward Eric Maxim Choupo-Moting.

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 August 4.[38] He also saw victory in his first league game, as the club defeated Caen 3–0 eight days later.[39] After enjoying a brief unbeaten record, Tuchel suffered his first defeat at PSG on September 18, losing 3–2 away to Liverpool in a UEFA Champions League group game.[40]

Managerial statistics

As of 7 October 2018
TeamFromToRecord
MWDLGFGAGDWin %Ref.
FC Augsburg II1 July 2007[3]30 June 2008[3] 34 20 8 6 80 45 +35 058.82 [41]
Mainz 053 August 2009[4]11 May 2014[10] 182 72 46 64 248 288 −40 039.56 [13][42][43][44][45][46]
Borussia Dortmund29 June 2015[15][16]30 May 2017[25] 108 68 23 17 245 113 +132 062.96 [47][48][49]
Paris Saint-Germain14 May 2018[50]Present 12 11 0 1 44 10 +34 091.67 [51]
Total 336 171 77 88 617 456 +161 050.89 —

Honours

Managerial

Borussia Dortmund

Paris Saint-Germain

References

  1. ↑ "Thomas Tuchel's carnival club party on as Mainz maintain perfect start". The Guardian. 23 September 2010. Retrieved 10 June 2017.
  2. ↑ "Mainz hat wieder einen Klopp" (in German). bild.de. 25 August 2009. Retrieved 25 December 2013.
  3. 1 2 3 "Thomas Tuchel" (in German). weltfussball. Retrieved 29 January 2013.
  4. 1 2 3 "Thomas Tuchel übernimmt". kicker (in German). 3 August 2009. Retrieved 29 January 2013.
  5. 1 2 Dunbar, Russ (19 April 2015). "'Rule-breaker' Tuchel takes on job of replacing Klopp at Dortmund". Deutsche Welle. Retrieved 20 April 2015.
  6. 1 2 Ladyman, Ian (13 November 2011). "Don't Mention the Score". ESPN. Retrieved 15 March 2017.
  7. ↑ "1. Bundesliga – Spieltag / Tabelle" (in German). kicker. Retrieved 11 May 2014.
  8. 1 2 "Thomas Tuchel leaving Mainz 05". Deutsche Welle. 11 May 2014. Retrieved 11 May 2014.
  9. ↑ "Rekordsommer für Mainz 05: Transferüberschuss von zehn Millionen Euro" (in German). main-spitze.de. 10 July 2013. Retrieved 24 March 2014.
  10. 1 2 3 Hummel, Thomas (11 May 2014). "Verwirrspiel um Tuchel löst sich auf". Süddeutsche Zeitung (in German). Retrieved 11 May 2014.
  11. ↑ "Jurgen Klopp v Thomas Tuchel – The False 9". The False 9. 23 April 2016. Retrieved 30 April 2016.
  12. ↑ "Mainz-Manager Heidel: Trainer Tuchel will zurücktreten". Süddeutsche Zeitung (in German). Deutsche Presse-Agentur. 10 May 2014. Retrieved 10 May 2014.
  13. 1 2 "1. FSV Mainz 05" (in German). kicker. Retrieved 17 January 2014.
  14. ↑ "Jurgen Klopp: Borussia Dortmund coach to leave at end of the season". BBC Sport. 15 April 2015. Retrieved 15 April 2015.
  15. 1 2 "Borussia Dortmund: Thomas Tuchel to replace Jurgen Klopp". BBC Sport. 19 April 2015. Retrieved 20 April 2015.
  16. 1 2 3 Reinold, Jan (30 June 2015). "BVB: Erste Einheit unter Tuchel" (in German). kicker. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
  17. ↑ Singer, Jonny (4 July 2015). "Borussia Dortmund kick off pre-season by putting SEVENTEEN goals past team of German Olympic legends in charity match". Daily Mail. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
  18. ↑ "Borussia Dortmund coach Thomas Tuchel 'satisfied' with first win". ESPN FC. 30 July 2015. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
  19. ↑ "Europa League: Dortmund knocked out by famous Liverpool comeback". Deutsche Welle. 14 April 2016.
  20. ↑ "Borussia Dortmund thrash Manchester United in China". ESPN FC. 22 July 2016. Retrieved 22 July 2016.
  21. ↑ "Man City beat Borussia Dortmund 6–5 on penalties in ICC". ESPN. 28 July 2016. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
  22. ↑ "OFFICIAL STATEMENT: 25 JULY". Manchester City F.C. 25 July 2016. Retrieved 28 July 2016.
  23. 1 2 "Thomas Tuchel sacked by Borussia Dortmund three days after leading club to first trophy in five years". The Telegraph. 30 May 2017. Retrieved 31 May 2017.
  24. ↑ "Eintracht Frankfurt 1–2 Borussia Dortmund". BBC Sport. 27 May 2017. Retrieved 30 May 2017.
  25. 1 2 "Manager Thomas Tuchel leaves Borussia Dortmund". BBC Sport. 30 May 2017. Retrieved 30 May 2017.
  26. ↑ "Borussia Dortmund part company with Thomas Tuchel days after German Cup win". Guardian. 30 May 2017. Retrieved 31 May 2017.
  27. ↑ "Thomas Tuchel's toxic breakdown with Borussia Dortmund hierarchy". ESPN. 29 May 2017. Retrieved August 18, 2017.
  28. 1 2 Johnson, Jonathan (14 May 2018). "Paris Saint-Germain appoint Thomas Tuchel as coach to replace Unai Emery". ESPN. Retrieved 14 July 2018.
  29. ↑ "Kylian Mbappe will officially complete his £166m switch from Monaco after curious contract clause means PSG have to buy after avoiding relegation". Daily Mail. 18 February 2018. Retrieved 6 July 2018.
  30. ↑ "Pastore signs for AS Roma". A.S. Roma. 26 June 2018. Retrieved 6 July 2018.
  31. ↑ "Yuri Berchiche, new Athletic player". Athletic Bilbao. 2 July 2018. Retrieved 6 July 2018.
  32. ↑ "Official statement I Gonçalo Guedes". Valencia. 27 August 2018. Retrieved 27 August 2018.
  33. ↑ "Celtic sign striker Odsonne Edouard for a club record fee of £9m". Sky Sports. 16 June 2018. Retrieved 6 July 2018.
  34. ↑ "Jonathan Ikoné est un Dogue!" (in French). Lille OSC. 2 July 2018. Retrieved 6 July 2018.
  35. ↑ "Gianluigi Buffon signs with Paris Saint-Germain". Paris Saint Germain F.C. 6 July 2018. Retrieved 6 July 2018.
  36. ↑ "Thilo Kehrer set to move to PSG". schalke04.de.en. 12 August 2018.
  37. ↑ "Juan Bernat signs for PSG for €15m". Goal. 31 August 2018.
  38. ↑ "Premier trophée pour un PSG sans pitié" [First trophy for a merciless PSG]. LFP.fr (in French). Ligue de Football Professionnel. 4 August 2018. Retrieved 4 August 2018.
  39. ↑ https://www.ligue1.com/ligue1/feuille_match/84618
  40. ↑ https://www.uefa.com/uefachampionsleague/season=2019/matches/round=2000980/match=2025057/index.html
  41. ↑ "Landesliga Sued" (in German). manfredsfussballarchiv. Archived from the original on 9 February 2012. Retrieved 7 December 2016.
  42. ↑ "1. Bundesliga – Spieltag / Tabelle". kicker.de (in German). kicker. Retrieved 7 December 2016.
  43. ↑ "1. FSV Mainz 05". kicker.de (in German). kicker. Retrieved 7 December 2016.
  44. ↑ "1. FSV Mainz 05". kicker.de (in German). kicker. Retrieved 7 December 2016.
  45. ↑ "1. FSV Mainz 05". kicker.de (in German). kicker. Retrieved 7 December 2016.
  46. ↑ "1. FSV Mainz 05". kicker.de (in German). kicker. Retrieved 7 December 2016.
  47. ↑ "Borussia Dortmund". kicker.de (in German). kicker. Retrieved 31 July 2015.
  48. ↑ "Borussia Dortmund". kicker.de (in German). kicker. Retrieved 7 December 2016.
  49. ↑ "Borussia Dortmund". kicker.de (in German). kicker. Retrieved 7 December 2016.
  50. ↑ "Thomas Tuchel devient le nouvel entraîneur du Paris Saint-Germain". PSG (in French).
  51. ↑ "Thomas Tuchel: Paris SG".
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