Thomas Tuchel appointment: A German in charge of England? Nationality matters less than it used to in international football

Thomas Tuchel, England's new German head coach, faces skepticism over foreign leadership in national football teams.

At his first news conference as England’s newly appointed head coach, Thomas Tuchel – a German – was asked on Wednesday (October 16, 2024) what message he had for fans who would have preferred an Englishman in charge of their beloved national team.

“I’m sorry, I just have a German passport,” he said, laughing, and went on to profess his love for English football and the country itself. “I will do everything to show respect to this role and to this country.”

The football rivalry between England and Germany runs deep and it’s likely Tuchel’s passport will be used against him if he doesn’t deliver results for a nation that hasn’t lifted a men’s trophy since 1966. But his appointment as England’s third foreign coach shows that, increasingly, even the top countries in the sport are abandoning the long-held belief that the national team must be led by one of their own.

Four of the top nine teams in the FIFA world rankings now have foreign coaches. Even in Germany, a four-time World Cup winner which has never had a foreign coach, candidates such as Dutchman Louis van Gaal and Austrian Oliver Glasner were considered serious contenders for the top job before the country’s football federation last year settled on Julian Nagelsmann, who is German.

“The coaching methods are universal and there for everyone to apply,” said German football researcher and author Christoph Wagner, whose recent book Crossing the Line? historically addresses Anglo-German rivalry. “It’s more the personality that counts and not the nationality. You could be a great coach, and work with a group of players who aren’t perceptive enough to get your methods.”

Not everyone agrees.

English football author and journalist Jonathan Wilson said it was “an admission of failure” for a major football nation to have a coach from a different country.