When Maurizio Sarri decided to leave Chelsea in order to return to his native Italy as the Juventus manger, the club turned to a playing legend in the form of Frank Lampard to take over. He lasted until the January of 2021 before Roman Abramovich’s patience with his former player finally ran out. Having employed Dutch, Italian, Portuguese, Israeli, Brazilian, Spanish and English managers, the one major nationality the Russian hadn’t worked with was German. Perhaps that was part of the reason why the decision was taken to bring Thomas Tuchel in as Lampard’s replacement, winning three trophies.
Thomas Tuchel’s Honours as Chelsea Manager
| Season | League Titles | Domestic Cups | European/International Cups |
|---|---|---|---|
| 2020/21 | – | – | Champions League |
| 2021/22 | – | – | Super Cup, Club World Cup |
Tuchel the Player
Thomas Tuchel was born on the 29th of August 1973 in the German town of Krumbach. It was actually part of West Germany at the time, with the country having not yet been reunited. He quickly established himself as one of the key players for his local side TSV Krumbach, where his father Rudolf was a coach. In 1988, though, he earned himself a move to the academy of FC Augsburg, but struggled to make a lasting impression. In fact, by the time he left the club as a 19-year-old he hadn’t made a single appearance for the first team. One thing that Tuchel might have learned, though, was that he might be better as a manager.
One of his Augsburg coaches, Heiner Schumann, noted, “he 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”. In 1992, having been released by Augsburg, Tuchel joined the 2. Bundesliga side Stuttgarter Kickers. He made eight appearances during the 1992-1993 season, but after the 1993-1994 campaign he was dropped from the Kickers team and moved to Regionalliga Süd side SSV Ulm. A central defender, Tuchel suffered a knee cartilage injury in 1998 that forced him to retire as a player, aged just 25-years-old at the time.
Becoming a Coach
Two years after his retirement as a player, Thomas Tuchel was given his first coaching job by Ralf Rangnick, who asked him to become the youth coach at VfB Stuttgart. He aided in the development of some talented young players, coaching the Under-19 side the Under-19 Bundesliga title in 2004-2005. At the end of that season the club didn’t renew his contract, leading him to return to Augsburg as the Youth Team Coordinator. This was in spite of the fact that he didn’t have a UEFA Pro Licence, which he eventually gained. He transitioned into management as the first team coach at FC Augsburg II for the 2007-2008 campaign.
His work as the FC Augsburg II coach impressed numerous Bundesliga coaches, with Mainz 05 being the first to take a risk on him after Jörn Andersen had failed to adequately replace Jürgen Klopp. He had been the youth coach for the previous year, but took on the main role in 2009 and got the squad playing high-pressing football. They finished ninth in his first season and fifth in his second. He eventually left having won 72 games. In the April of 2015, Borussia Dortmund appointed Tuchel as the replacement for the departing Jürgen Klopp, believing that his high-pressing game would work well with players who had done the same thing under Klopp.
Arriving at Chelsea
During his time at Borussia Dortmund, Tuchel won the DFB-Pokal. He was dismissed three days after the final, with his time in charge being marred by controversy. Even so, his record of 68 wins from 108 games was enough for Paris Saint-Germain to bring him in, signing a two-year contract to replace Unai Emery and turning down an offer from Bayern Munich. The arrival of Kylian Mbappé for a fee of €180 million was one of his first signings, with his time in France seeing the club win Ligue 1 for consecutive seasons as well as the Coupe de France and Coupe de la Ligue in 2019-2020 as well as the Trophée des Champions in 2018 and 2019.
As had become commonplace for Tuchel, his time at Paris Saint-Germain was marred by a fractured relationship with the hierarchy of the club. By the time he left he had won 95 games from 127, which was the best win percentage in Ligue 1 history. It was enough to convince Roman Abramovich that he was the right man to replace Frank Lampard, bringing him in on an 18-month contract. His first match in charge was a 0-0 draw with Wolverhampton Wanderers before progressing in both the League Cup and the Champions League. When they defeated Everton 2-0 it was a record for the most consecutive clean sheets in the first games of a manager.
When Chelsea won 2-0 against Atlético Madrid in the Champions League last 16, it set a record for the longest unbeaten run. They beat Manchester City 1-0 in the FA Cup semi-final, losing the final itself 1-0 to Leicester City. More importantly, a win over Real Madrid in the semi-final saw Chelsea reach the Champions League final, once again having to take on Manchester City. Kai Havertz scored the only goal of the game as the Blues won the Champions League for the second time in the club’s history. It led to Tuchel signing a contract extension, winning the UEFA Super Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup and losing the League Cup final to Jürgen Klopp’s Liverpool.
Life After Chelsea
During Tuchel’s time in charge of Chelsea, the club was frozen as an asset of Roman Abramovich, owing to Russia’s invasion of Ukraine and the fact that he was seen as an ally of Russian President Vladimir Putin. That was lifted on the 30th of May 2022 after Chelsea had been bought by American Todd Boehly. The club spent more than £250 million, but the manager was reportedly dissatisfied with his involvement in transfers. Boehly felt that Tuchel was a ‘nightmare’ to deal with, whilst he had also been said to have fallen out with numerous first-team players. On the seventh of September 2022, the day after Chelsea lost to Dinamo Zagreb, Tuchel was sacked.
Having won 60 out of 100 games, Tuchel was still seen as a decent manager by many clubs. The result was a decision from Bayern Munich to ask him to take over from Julian Nagelsmann, who had been a player for him at Augsburg. Upon arrival he described the players as ‘one of the most talented and best in Europe’ and said that he was there ‘to win all of the titles’. Bayern were knocked out of the DFB-Pokal in his second game and then knocked out of the Champions League less than a month later, with Manchester City winning 4-1. The club was in second place heading into the final day of the season.
When Munich won 2-1 against FC Köln, it was enough to secure the title thanks to the fact that Borussia Dortmund, one of Tuchel’s former clubs, drew 2-2 with Mainz 05, the club that had been the first to take a risk on him. It was Bayern Munich’s 11th consecutive title and the third of Tuchel’s career. The club lost to RB Leipzig in the DFL-Supercup and in the middle of February it was confirmed that he would leave the club by mutual consent as part of a ‘sporting realignment’. They made it to the semi-final of the Champions League but were knocked out by Real Madrid, with Bayer Leverkusen winning the Bundesliga for the first time in the club’s history.