Last updated on July 1st, 2025 at 11:54 am
Thomas Tuchel is a German professional football manager and former player who is the current head coach of Premier League club Chelsea.
He was born on the 29th of August to Rudolf Tuchel and Gabriele Tuchel. His father was a retired football coach, while his mother was a housekeeper in Krumbach, Bavaria, Germany.
Tuchel started his career as a member of the local club, the TSV Krumbach, coached by his father Rudolf.
Tuchel moved to the academy at FC Augsburg in 1988; however, he never appeared for the first team, being released soon after he turned 19. After he was released, Tuchel signed for 2. Bundesliga side Stuttgarter Kickers in 1992.
Tuchel played eight games during the 1992–93 season. After the 1993–94 season, he was dropped from Kickers’ first team and joined Regionalliga Süd side SSV Ulm, coached by Hermann Badstuber, the father of Holger Badstuber, whom Tuchel would later manage at youth level.
Playing as a central defender, he played for SSV Ulm until being forced to retire in 1998, at the age of 24, after suffering a knee cartilage injury.
Full Name: Thomas Tuchel
Date of Birth: 29 August 1973
Nationality: German
Profession: Football Coach
Net worth: $20 million
Clubs Managed: FC Augsburg II, Mainz 05, Borussia Dortmund, Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea
Tactics:
Tuchel is known for his tactical knowledge and flexibility as well as his implementation of innovative training methods. During his tenure at Mainz, Tuchel cut the corners off the training pitch in an effort to improve passing and movement and enforced his players to hold tennis balls during defensive drills to attempt to limit unnecessary fouling.
With Dortmund, Tuchel often used the 4–1–4–1 and 4–2–3–1 formation; with the former, he made his team force overloads in space out wide, while with the latter, he looked to create overloads in pockets of space in-between the lines of the opposition.
At Paris Saint-Germain, Tuchel primarily played a 4–3–3 with plenty of flair to emphasize the attacking capabilities of wide forwards Neymar and Kylian Mbappé, although, used up to ten different formations while at the club.
Career:
Tuchel began his coaching career in 2000, hired by Ralf Rangnick as youth team coach at VfB Stuttgart, where he aided in the development of future first-team players, namely Mario Gómez and Holger Badstuber.[
He coached the under-19 side of the club to the Under-19 Bundesliga title in the 2004–05 campaign. He left after that season, as the club tired of his personality and chose not to renew his contract.
In 2005, Tuchel returned to Augsburg, with club sporting director Andreas Rettig noting the club’s admiration of Tuchel’s tactical discipline led to him being appointed youth team coordinator.
He was hired despite lacking a UEFA Pro Licence, which he gained in a six-and-a-half-month course in Cologne under Erich Rutemöller.
Tuchel held the position as coordinator for three years, eventually transitioning into management after being offered the position as first team coach at FC Augsburg II for the 2007–08 season.
Tuchel’s time as the coach of Augsburg II impressed many top-level German clubs, and he went on to be appointed by Bundesliga club Mainz 05 in 2009.
At Dortmund, he went on 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.
The team finished the season third in the Bundesliga and was eliminated in the quarter-finals of the Champions League by Monaco.
Tuchel left Dortmund with a record of 68 wins, 23 draws, and 17 defeats in 108 games, with a win percentage of 62.96%.
In May 2018, Tuchel signed a two-year contract with Paris Saint-Germain (PSG), replacing Unai Emery. He rejected Bayern Munich to join the club.
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 4 August.
However, by November, Tuchel would break the record for the most wins to start a domestic league season, as he registered twelve straight victories.
The record was later extended to include two additional victories, prior to the club ending its 100% start to the season on 2 December, after PSG drew 2–2 away to Bordeaux.
By securing victory over Nantes on 22 December, Tuchel also broke the record for most points by Christmas in Ligue 1, with 47 after 17 games.
On 12 August, PSG scored two late goals to beat Atalanta 2–1 in the quarter-finals of the Champions League, marking the club’s first appearance in the semi-finals of the competition since the 1994–95 season.
In the semi-final, PSG defeated RB Leipzig 3–0 to reach their first-ever Champions League Final, as well as their first European final since 1997.
They would go on to lose the match by a single goal to Bayern Munich on 23 August.
Tuchel departed Paris Saint-Germain with a record of 95 wins, 13 draws, and 19 defeats in 127 games, with the best win percentage in Ligue 1 history (75.6%) and the highest average of points per game (2.37, tied with his predecessor Emery).
On 26 January 2021, Tuchel signed an 18-month contract (with the option for an extra year) with Premier League side Chelsea, replacing Frank Lampard.
Tuchel took charge of his first match the following day, a goalless draw at home against Wolverhampton Wanderers, a match that set the record for most possession (78.9%) and passes completed (820) for a manager’s first Premier League game.
Tuchel won his first game on 31 January, defeating Burnley 2–0 at home, and then won his first London derby (and his first away game) by defeating Tottenham Hotspur 1–0 on 4 February.
He was then awarded his first Premier League Manager of the Month in October.
On 17 April, courtesy of a Hakim Ziyech’s goal, Tuchel led Chelsea to the FA Cup Final, defeating league leaders Manchester City 1–0 in the semi-final; Chelsea would eventually lose the final 1–0 to Leicester City.
Tuchel also guided Chelsea to the Champions League Final following a 3–1 aggregate win over Real Madrid in the semi-finals, becoming the first coach to reach consecutive finals with two different clubs.
He eventually led Chelsea to European glory with a 1–0 win over Manchester City in the final.
Personal Life: Thomas married his wife Sissi in 2009. The couple has two daughters. He is a polyglot, speaking German, French, English, and Italian. He describes himself as an “imperfect vegetarian” and consumes minimal amounts of alcohol.
Awards
- VDV Bundesliga Coach of the Season: 2015–16
- Premier League Manager of the Month: March 2021, October 2021
- German Football Manager of the Year: 2021
- UEFA Men’s Coach of the Year: 2020–21
- IFFHS Men’s World’s Best Club Coach: 2021
- The Best FIFA Football Coach: 2021
Trophies
Borussia Dortmund
- DFB-Pokal: 2016–17
Paris Saint-Germain
- Ligue 1: 2018–19,[192] 2019–20
- Coupe de France: 2019–20
- Coupe de la Ligue: 2019–20
- Trophée des Champions: 2018, 2019
- UEFA Champions League runner-up: 2019–20
Chelsea
- UEFA Champions League: 2020–21
- UEFA Super Cup: 2021
- FA Cup runner-up: 2020–21
- FIFA Club World Cup: 2021
- EFL Cup runner-up: 2021–22
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