Thomas Tuchel: New England head coach wants to ‘make our dream come true’ at 2026 World Cup
Unlike Eriksson and Capello when they came to the job, Tuchel has prior experience of working in English football.
His Chelsea team lifted the Champions League, Club World Cup and Uefa Super Cup in a largely successful 20-month spell, before he was sacked in September 2022.
This is Tuchel’s first international managerial role. He has a 57% win percentage as a manager at top-flight clubs in all competitions, including a 56% win ratio with Chelsea in the Premier League.
Among his other successes, Tuchel led Paris St-Germain to a domestic treble in 2019-20 – also leading the French club to the Champions League final in that Covid-affected season – and guided Bayern Munich to the 2022-23 Bundesliga title.
“It is very new because I come from club football, but the new role is also very exciting,” Tuchel said.
“Once I made a time frame up in my mind from January [2025] to the World Cup, I felt already excited and it suited my passion to push this group of players, and to be part of this federation with such a strong record in the last tournaments – to push it over the line and to try to put a second star on the shirt.”
Tuchel explained the initial 18-month deal would allow him “to demand from myself to not lose the focus” on the immediate period building up to the World Cup.
Renowned as an excellent tactician, Tuchel earned recognition for getting the better of Manchester City’s Pep Guardiola in the Champions League final in 2021 – with the Spaniard another figure reported to have been approached for the England job.
Asked about the hiring process, Bullingham said the FA “interviewed approximately 10 people” which included “some English candidates within that”.
“The whole process was confidential, said Bullingham. “I understand at times that may be frustrating for people, but we had to make that confidential for us but also really, more importantly for the candidates.
“We were absolutely delighted to end up with Thomas and we believe he gives us the best chance of winning the World Cup, so we believe we’ve got the best candidate for the job.”
