Former Chelsea and Bayern Munich manager Thomas Tuchel has been officially confirmed as the new England manager today, replacing Gareth Southgate.
Southgate stepped down after Euro 2024 and now Tuchel has been announced by England on social media, with the German tactician becoming only the third non-English coach to take the job, after Sven-Goran Eriksson and Fabio Capello.
See below for England’s official announcement, which also previously featured a little teased post of a baseball cap with the Three Lions logo on it, as Tuchel is well known for often wearing a hat on the side lines – though hopefully some fans weren’t misled into thinking Jurgen Klopp was about to be announced instead!
Thomas Tuchel. Our #ThreeLions head coach from 2025. ???????
— England (@England) October 16, 2024
Tuchel has a great CV going into this job, having won the Champions League with an unfancied Chelsea side in 2021, while he also reached the final with Paris Saint-Germain the year before.
The 51-year-old also has league title wins from his time at Bayern Munich and PSG, having worked with some of the best players in the world, including England captain Harry Kane at the Allianz Arena just last season.
While there is bound to be some debate about not hiring an English manager, former Manchester United and Three Lions star Rio Ferdinand isn’t at all concerned about that.
Ferdinand believes Tuchel has the chance to become immortal and that no one will be thinking about his nationality if he can take this team to success, as they’ve been so close to achieving under Southgate.
Speaking on YouTube, Ferdinand said: “I’ve seen murmurings, I’ve seen articles that are written by people, ‘the FA should be patriotic, we should have an English manager, there are so many good English managers, young ones that are waiting’, Graham Potter, I keep seeing his name put in there.
“You want the best to do it. I don’t care, I’m one of those guys, if we win a World Cup or a Euros, all those guys who are writing those articles, I’m going to save them, because they’re the guys who will be screaming, waving their legs about, losing their voice, drinking 12 pints after it and celebrating, and they will not be talking about, ‘oh no, we’ve got a German who’s managing us’.
“That will not be the conversation because if he wins it, it’s immortal. This is an opportunity for these guys to become immortal, and this is why I think Thomas Tuchel is licking his lips, this is the chance to put himself above anybody in this country right now, up there along with Sir Alf Ramsey.”
More must-reads:
Get the latest news and rumors, customized to your favorite sports and teams. Emailed daily. Always free!