Thomas Tuchel: Bayern Munich's departing coach and his fascinating journey to Bavaria
Thomas Tuchel spent the best part of a decade honing his craft on the touchline with Mainz and Borussia Dortmund, before reaching consecutive UEFA Champions League finals with Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea. Before he leaves Bayern Munich in the summer, bundesliga.com charts his compelling coaching journey.
bundesliga.com takes a closer look at the man who will leave the Bayern Munich dugout at the end of the season...
A defender by trade, Tuchel joined the Augsburg youth academy as a teenager but was released at the age of 19 without ever making the first team. He subsequently had a short-lived spell with the Stuttgarter Kickers in Bundesliga 2, making eight outings at that level, before joining third-tier outfit SSV Ulm.
There he played 68 times before being forced to hang up his boots for good due to a serious knee injury at the age of 24 in 1998.
Eager to prove to himself that he could be a success away from the football pitch, Tuchel studied Business Administration at university, working as a waiter in a bar at the same time.
Yet the pull of football remained strong and Tuchel's springboard into coaching came from none other than Ralf Rangnick, who would go on to enjoy success with Schalke, Hoffenheim and RB Leipzig, among others. The two struck up a good relationship at Ulm, where Rangnick was head coach from 1997–99, and after recovering from his knee injury, Tuchel was keen for one last throw of the dice as a pro.
He contacted Rangnick, then in charge at Stuttgart, nine months later asking for a trial with the club's reserves. Rangnick was only too happy to oblige, but when Tuchel was ultimately unable to continue playing due to chronic cartilage damage, Rangnick sowed the coaching seeds by asking if he could imagine working in youth football.
Curiosity piqued, Tuchel shadowed coaches in the club's academy for a while before eventually taking over the U14 team in 2000. His foot now firmly wedged in the door, there was no looking back.
Want more Bundesliga Action?
Learning on the job and guided by late mentor Hermann Badstuber – father of former Stuttgart and Bayern defender Holger – Tuchel was promoted to assistant coach of the U19s in 2004, swiftly demonstrating his promise on the touchline by helping the side win the U19 Bundesliga title the following year.
That sparked a rapid ascent up the ladder and, just nine years after waiting tables in a bar, he would be in a Bundesliga dugout for the first time thanks to his tactical shrewdness, man management and ability to recognise and grab opportunities when they arose.
In 2006 he returned to Augsburg, this time as U19 head coach, completing his coaching badges that same year. In 2007/08 he took charge of the club's reserve team before switching to Mainz and winning the U19 Bundesliga title in 2008/09 with a side that included future World Cup winner André Schürrle.
Credentials well and truly established, in summer 2009 he was targeted by both the German Football Association (DFB) for a role as U21 assistant coach and Hoffenheim for a position as reserve team head coach.
However, the appeal of the Bundesliga was too strong and he was named as Mainz first team coach on 3 August 2009 after his predecessor, Jörn Andersen, was dismissed following the side's DFB Cup first-round exit to lower-league outfit VfB Lübeck.
Despite Mainz only being promoted to the top flight the previous season, Tuchel steered them to a ninth-placed finish in his debut campaign. He then kicked off his second term at the helm with seven successive wins, including a 2-1 victory away to record German champions Bayern.
Mainz earned a shot at the UEFA Europa League for the first time in the club's history after finishing fifth in 2011/12, only to be beaten over two legs by Romanian side Gaz Metan Medias in the third qualifying round.
During his time at Mainz, Tuchel earned a reputation as one of German football's most tactically astute young coaches, regularly switching up formations according to the task in hand, whilst always staying faithful to his own unique fundamentals.
"There's definitely a style that’s been attributed to me, that we brought to the table at Mainz: pace going forward and attack-minded football,” he told German newspaper die Zeit. "I prefer certain qualities, an active playing style, bold defending and pacy play in attack."
Watch: Tuchel's Top 5 Mainz moments
He is also unafraid to take unconventional approaches to his work. Once, instead of using video analysis following a painful defeat, he motivated his players with a quote from NBA legend Michael Jordan: "I've failed over and over and over again in my life. And that is why I succeed."
Similarly, Tuchel also contracted a young hobby football analyst, René Marić, to do scouting and opposition analysis for him. At the time, Marić was merely an enthusiastic football fan, posting his musings to his blog.
Tuchel saw one of his reports and was impressed; it helped kick-start Marić's career, the 31-year-old going on to work as an assistant coach with Borussia Mönchengladbach, Borussia Dortmund and Leeds United.
To this day, Tuchel remains the most successful coach in Mainz's history, averaging more points per game (1.41) than the man who took them into the Bundesliga for the very first time back in 2005/06 - Jürgen Klopp (1.13).
Feats of that kind do not go unnoticed and after five overachieving years at Mainz he took a 12-month sabbatical before succeeding Klopp yet again, this time at Dortmund.
There, he nurtured young talents including Christian Pulisic and Ousmane Dembélé, turning them into world-beating wingers, as well as helping BVB finish as Bundesliga runners-up in 2015/16 and taking the side to DFB Cup glory the following year.
And, as was the case at Mainz, he became the most successful coach in Dortmund history with an average of 2.09 points per Bundesliga game, a record he holds to this day.
Tuchel's time in Dortmund lasted just two seasons and, nine years after his first job as head coach, he was appointed at the helm of French giants Paris Saint-Germain in summer 2018, winning the Ligue 1 title in his maiden campaign. He backed that up with the domestic treble the following season, then took the club to its first ever Champions League final, narrowly missing out as PSG youth product Kingsley Coman secured the crown for Bayern.
Picking up the reins at Chelsea in January 2021, where he took over from Frank Lampard, Tuchel worked wonders. Taking the club from ninth to fourth in the Premier League and reaching a second straight Champions League final.
With the help of fellow Bundesliga-made stars Pulisic, Kai Havertz and Timo Werner, he got the better of Manchester City and ex-Bayern coach Pep Guardiola in Porto to get his hands on continental football's biggest honour - earning the 2022 FIFA Best Coach prize for his efforts.
Following his dismissal from his Chelsea duties at the start of the 2022/23 season, Tuchel had to wait seven months for his next job, at Bayern. It was a difficult start to life at the Allianz Arena but, after winning just two of his opening seven games in all competitions, he led Die Roten to an 11th consecutive Meisterschale.
If there's one thing for sure, he'll be desperate to leave Bavaria with a bang by making it 12 on the spin.
Related news
Could the Bundesliga win extra Champions League spot(s)?
The fifth-placed team in the 2023/24 Bundesliga might be in line for a bonus spot in the 2024/25 UEFA Champions League. And maybe even sixth...
What can be confirmed this matchday?
Only nine points separate the top four and the entire bottom half of the table could still go down. Find out what can be decided on Matchday 30 in Bundesliga 2…
Bundesliga 2 promotion race
Kiel and St. Pauli have a welcome cushion on the promotion play-off place, with Düsseldorf and Hamburg jockeying for position immediately below the top two...