Thomas Tichel is one of the most successful and sought-after coaches of the modern era of football. Having worked his way up from the low division in Germany to the top of the footballing world.
He has coached some of the biggest teams in the world, and he has won numerous trophies across Europe, including the UEFA Champions League.
Also, he has developed a reputation for his excellent tactical and managerial skills. With that being said, in this post, you will learn about the teams Tuchel has coached in his career and the success he has achieved with each team.
Thomas Tuchel Teams Coached
- Stuttgart ( youth )
- FC Augsburg ll
- Mainz 05
- Borussia Dortmund
- Paris Saint-Germain
- Chelsea
Tuchel has been able to manage six teams so far in his coaching career, and at the time of writing this post, he is a free agent that is without a team.
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1. Stuttgart
In 2000, Ralf Rangnick appointed Thomas Tuchel as Stuttgart youth team coach where he began his coaching career. Also, he assisted in the development of future first-team players Mario Gómez and Holger Badstuber.
And In the 2004–05 season, he led the club’s under-19 team to the Under-19 Bundesliga championship. After that season, he left because the team had grown weary of him and decided not to renew his contract.
2. FC Augsburg ll
In 2005, Augsburg appointed Tuchel as the youth team coordinator, and despite not having a UEFA Pro Licence, which he obtained after completing a 6-month course in Cologne under Erich Rutemöller, he was appointed due to his tactical discipline.
After accepting the job of first-team coach at FC Augsburg II for the 2007–08 season, Tuchel kept the coordinator position for three years before moving into management.
With Augsburg II, he oversaw a team that included Julian Nagelsmann, a defender who was prone to injuries himself and who switched to coaching after Tuchel asked him to scout for the team in 2008.
As a result of his reputation for becoming aggressive toward referees during games, Tuchel frequently received fines from the Bavarian Football Association (BFV).
However, After the completion of the 2007–08 campaign, Augsburg II finished in fourth position.
3. Mainz 05
Some big German clubs were pleased with Tuchel during his time as the head coach of Augsburg II, and in 2009, Mainz 05 of the Bundesliga appointed him as their head coach.
After serving as a youth coach at Mainz for the first 12 months during which time his under-19 team won the Under-19 Bundesliga, he was promoted to a senior team coach with a two-year contract.
Christian Heidel, the club’s executive director, claims that Tuchel’s obsession with perfection which even extended to inspecting the condition of the field before a game versus Olympiacos was a factor in their decision to appoint him.
However, the squad’s makeup was evident in Tuchel’s tactical strategy at Mainz; despite having players who were less technically proficient, he advised them to use long distribution and concentrate on pressing off the ball, usually overloading one area of the opponent’s half to reduce the opportunity for counter-attacking because constant high-pressure would create opportunities by dispossessing or inducing errors from the opposition.
In his debut season as manager, Mainz finished ninth in the league standings. And the following season, Mainz had a flawless start under Tuchel, winning seven of their first seven matches, including a triumph over Bayern Munich.
At the end of the campaign, the team finished in fifth position, and the club gained 11 points to advance to the third qualifying round of the 2011–12 UEFA Europa League.
In the 2010–11 season, only four Bundesliga teams scored more goals than Mainz, who finished with 52 overall. Tenn of those goals were scored by Sami Allagui, a crucial player in Tuchel’s pressing, and fifteen had been scored by André Schürrle, a budding star.
Despite a rough beginning and end to the season, there were a lot fewer difficulties than in the previous year, and the squad came in six points short of seventh place.
Adám Szalai, the team striker was able to convert some chances and scored thirteen times, while Nicolai Müller and Andreas Ivanschitz scored eight and seven goals, respectively though, In the DFB-Pokal quarter-finals, Mainz was eliminated.
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In addition, Tuchel guided Mainz to a seventh-place finish in what would end up being his final season with the team, qualifying them for the 2014–15 UEFA Europa League group stages.
He had signed Japanese forward Shinji Okazaki at the start of the campaign and he was used as a central striker having a good season.
Tuchel stayed at Mainz until the end of the 2013–14 season, despite receiving admiration from Schalke 04 and Bayer Leverkusen in the second half of the campaign.
Nevertheless, he requested Mainz to terminate his contract in May 2014 having stated that in 2013, he had already decided to part ways with Mainz after the current campaign.
Though the board refused to terminate his contract, on May 11, 2014, he was permitted to leave. In all, Tuchel ended his Mainz career as the head coach with a record of 72 wins, 46 draws, 64 losses from 182 games, and a win percentage of 39.56%.
4. Borussia Dortmund
Jürgen Klopp, Borussia Dortmund’s head coach, made it known in April 2015 that he would step down after the 2014–15 campaign.
Dortmund quickly chose Tuchel after making enquiring about the availability of several coaches. Tuchel was eager to adopt the same press-based footballing philosophy that had become a club trademark under Klopp.
On April 19, 2015, Tuchel was officially named the club’s new head coach for the next season. He signed a three-year contract that became effective on July 1 and went back to coaching after more than a year without a club.
Tuchel and Klopp followed the same route from Mainz to Dortmund. However, Tuchel identified goals that may help the team compete and “close the gap at the top” after securing the futures of several key players.
Building on Klopp’s foundations, Dortmund and Tuchel kept the team’s core while making clever decisions. Roman Bürki and Julian Weigl, players who weren’t considered stars but had the potential to be, were bought as a result of this philosophy, while Gonzalo Castro joined the team for €11 million.
Tuchel frequently used Weigl in a 4-1-4-1 formation behind two central midfielders. Tactically, Weigl with the other two midfielders would work the ball until Dortmund could force an overload in space out wide before quickly attacking from that point.
Fortunately, Tuchel and his team were trophyless in the 2015–16 season, despite making an appearance in the 2016 DFB–Pokal Final, where they lost to Bayern Munich on penalties, after going unbeaten in his first fourteen games at Borussia Dortmund.
Additionally, Liverpool, who were now led by Klopp, eliminated his team from the UEFA Europa League in the quarterfinal round.
The campaign was noteworthy for further showcasing young potential, with American youngster Christian Pulisic dominating the season’s games.
The team’s average league possession of 61% and its average pass accuracy of 85% were notable improvements from the team’s counter-pressing days with Klopp when Dortmund set a club record with 82 goals scored in the 2015–16 Bundesliga.
Their 78 points, which ranked second in club history, would have been enough to win the league in all but this was nit the case. Regardless, Dortmund earned a spot in the UEFA Champions League by coming second in the Bundesliga.
Dortmund spent a lot of money on players coming in in the transfer market to prepare for the upcoming season, spending a total of €109.75 million; the team was trying to find replacements for key players Mats Hummels, Gündogan, and Mkhitaryan.
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It should be noted that Ousmane Dembélé, Marc Bartra, Emre Mor, Mario Götze, and Raphael Guerrero were signed for a combined €64 million.
Tactically, Tuchel moved Guerrero from left back to midfield after he was successfully recruited after his performance at UEFA Euro 2016.
Dortmund then defeated Eintracht Frankfurt 2-1 in the DFB-Pokal final, with goals from Dembélé and Aubameyang, giving Tuchel his first major coaching trophy and the club’s first trophy in five years.
Despite the triumph, Tuchel’s only honor while playing for the club would be the DFB-Pokal, as he was sacked three days later, on May 30, 2017.
His relationship with the club management, particularly CEO Hans-Joachim Watzke, who referred to Tuchel as a “difficult person,” caused controversy during his time as first-team coach.
After Watzke agreed to UEFA’s demand that the club plays their Champions League quarter-final first-leg match against Monaco on April 12, 2017, a day after the team’s bus was bombed, Tuchel openly condemned Watzke.
5. Paris Saint-Germain
After he rejected an offer to manage Bayern Munich, Tuchel signed a two-year contract to replace Una Emery as the head coach at Paris Saint-Germain (PSG) in May 2018.
Building his team, Tuchel signed Kylian Mbappé, a forward from Monaco for a cost of €180 million on July 1.
While he ordered the departure of several players, including first-team players Yuri Berchiche and Javier Pastore as well as promising youth Gonçalo Guedes, to balance this huge signing and to comply with UEFA Financial Fair Play rules.
On July 6, the club signed free-agent goalkeeper Gianluigi Buffon after making money off the sales of several bit-part players.
In Tuchel’s first game as the head coach, PSG defeated Monaco 4-0 to win the Trophée des Champions on August 4, earning him his first honor at the club. Eight days later, he also won his first league game when the team defeated Caen 3-0.
With a glimpse, Tuchel’s brief unbeaten streak came to an end on September 18 in Paris as he lost 3-2 away to Liverpool in a Champions League group stage match.
But by November, Tuchel had won twelve straight games, shattering the mark for the most victories to start a domestic league season.
Later, when PSG drew, the club concluded its perfect start to the season on December 2 by adding two more victories to the record.
However, Tuchel was eliminated from his first competition at PSG in January 2019, losing to Guingamp on January 9 in the Coupe de la Ligue quarterfinals. The biggest home victory in PSG history came ten days later when he defeated the same opposition by a score of 9-0.
Following, PSG lost to Manchester United in the first round of the Champions League, therefore these additions did not help the team advance in Europe.
The team won 2-0 away from home in the first leg, but got defeated 3-1 at home and was eliminated from the competition. While six weeks and some games before the season’s end, PSG won the league on April 21, and It was Tuchel’s first league title trophy as the head coach.
After suffering three straight league losses, Paris Saint-Germain lost the 2019 Coupe de France Final to Rennes on penalties six days later.
According to history, This was PSG’s worst performance since 2012. In addition to his contract, Tuchel agreed to a one-year contract extension after the season, which would expire in 2021.
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On August 3, 2019, Tuchel retained the Trophée des Champions against Rennes to start his second campaign at PSG. He also defeated Nîmes 3-0 at home to win his first league match of the year, however, PSG’s second league match ended in a 2-1 loss to Rennes.
Following, Tuchel won praise for his tactical plan as PSG overcame Real Madrid 3-0 at home in the club’s opening UEFA Champions League match of that season, despite playing without first-team regulars Neymar, Edinson Cavani, and Mbappé.
After a 1-0 victory over Belgian club Club Brugge on November 6, he later led the squad to qualification to the first knockout stage with two group games remaining. Unfortunately, A strained relationship with the club’s hierarchy hampered Tuchel’s time at Paris Saint-Germain.
He stated that he felt “[more like] a politician in sport” than a coach during an interview with the German television channel Sport 1.
Tuchel’s remarks, along with his prior criticism of the team’s transfer activity, were denounced by PSG’s sporting director Leonardo. Leonardo stated that Tuchel “[must] respect the people above [him]” and described the remarks as negative for the team.
Leonardo had a falling out with Tuchel over the signing of defensive midfielder Danilo Pereira because the manager wanted a central defender, and Tuchel frequently used Pereira in that position. Tuchel left Paris Saint-Germain with a record of 95 victories, 13 draws, and 19 losses in 127 games.
He also had the highest win percentage (75.6%) and points-per-game average in Ligue 1. (2.37, tied with his predecessor Emery).
6. Chelsea
Tuchel signed an 18-month deal (with an additional year’s option) with Premier League team Chelsea on January 26, 2021, to replace Frank Lampard as the head coach. He was the club’s first German to be named as head coach.
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Despite saying he didn’t want to join his new team in the middle of the season so he could participate in the preseason, Tuchel accepted the role after Ralf Rangnick turned down the offer of temporary head coach.
The following day, Tuchel took charge of his first match, a scoreless draw at home against Wolverhampton Wanderers.
This game set records for most possession (78.9%) and passes completed (820) for a manager’s first Premier League game.
Tuchel won in his debut match on January 31 by defeating Burnley 2-0 at home, and on February 4, he defeated Tottenham Hotspur 1-0 to win his first London derby (and his first game away).
Tuchel extended his unbeaten streak to five games on February 11 by leading Chelsea to a 1-0 away victory over EFL Championship team Barnsley. This victory advanced Chelsea to the FA Cup quarter-finals.
However, according to history, Tuchel is the first head coach in Premier League history to keep consecutive home clean sheets in their first five home games on March 8 after a 2-0 home league victory over Everton, extending his unbeaten streak to eleven games.
On March 17, Tuchel extended his unbeaten streak to 13 games against Atlético Madrid at home in the second leg of the Champions League Round of 16 matches, setting the record for the longest unbeaten streak by a new head coach in Chelsea’s history.
This was credited in part to a more tactical approach to games and the switch to a three-man defense; Tuchel’s team took the same number of shots per game (13.8 vs. 13.9) as Lampard’s team, but they created more chances.
In addition, Tuchel guided the team to the FA Cup Final by defeating league-leading Manchester City 1-0 in the semifinal on April 17 thanks to a goal from Hakim Ziyech while the team lose the FA Cup Final match 1-0 to Leicester City.
Tuchel became the first coach to advance to consecutive finals with two different teams after leading Chelsea to the Champions League Final after defeating Real Madrid 3-1 on aggregate in the semifinals.
In the end, he guided Chelsea to victory over Manchester City in the final, winning 1-0. Tuchel then agreed to a contract extension, keeping him with the team through 2024.
After the defeat to Leeds on August 21 (followed by a discussion to remove Tuchel from his position), Tuchel had a breakdown in communication with the owners, and Boehly reportedly called Tuchel a “nightmare” to deal with.
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Tuchel had also fallen out with several first-team players, such as Hakim Ziyech, Christian Pulisic, Werner, Lukaku, and Hudson-Odoi, from game time; Tuchel also reportedly clashed with Werner during a pre-season defeat to Charlotte on 20 July.
However, after Jose Mourinho (67.03%), Antonio Conte (65.09%), and Carlo Ancelotti (61.09%), Tuchel left Chelsea with a record of 60 wins, 24 draws, and 16 losses in 100 games, good for a win percentage of 60% and the fourth-highest victory rate of any Chelsea manager who marks at marks 100 games.
7. Bayern Munich
The German has been appointed as the manager of the Bavarian giants Bayern Munich and will be looking to make them more formidable than they were under former manager Julian Nagelsmann. It remains to be seen how his time at the Allianz Arena would turn out.
In Summary
Thomas Tuchel Is one of those coaches that has tactically defined modern football with different approaches to the game. His coaching career began in 2000 when he was appointed as the coordinator of the Stuttgart youth development.
And down to this moment, he has risen to coach some of the biggest teams in the world in an exciting league with a proven track record.
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