Thomas Tuchel: England Coaching Job A Step Into The Unknown

Thomas Tuchel has admitted taking charge of England is a “step into the unknown” but said he is relishing the prospect of winning over his skeptics by putting “another star on the shirt” and guiding the country to victory at the 2026 World Cup.

The 51-year-old was introduced as Gareth Southgate’s successor at Wembley on Wednesday after signing an 18-month contract, becoming only the third foreign-born men’s manager in the nation’s history.

Football Association (FA) chief executive Mark Bullingham revealed the organization spoke with “approximately 10 people,” including “some English candidates,” with sources telling ESPN that Manchester City boss Pep Guardiola was among those considered.

Tuchel has won 11 major honors during his time with Borussia Dortmund, Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea, and Bayern Munich but has never stayed anywhere for more than two years since his five years at Mainz, which ended in 2014.

Asked how he felt about potentially having just one shot at ending England’s 58-year wait for a men’s trophy, Tuchel said, “Let’s see, let’s see. It is 18 months, and then we agreed to sit together, and we’ll see. I have good experience with 18 months personally, unfortunately, sometimes. I’m working on my long-term game. You never know.

“The point was, in this particular case, it was important for me to have a little bit of a frame around it because it is a little bit of a step into the unknown for me.

“I am used to working daily with staff, with the team, to influence 60-80 people in a training camp every single day, to be three days a week away in hotel rooms and prepare matches. This will be very different.

“The last piece of it for me to understand that this is something that can excite me to the fullest was the timeframe of 18 months and to also demand from myself to not lose the focus, for all of us. So I think it is a good timeframe for all of us because it will help us to focus.

“We are focused on the qualification and the World Cup. It will help us in the nomination process. It will help us in the communication with the players within the staff.

“So I think this is now very streamlined and very easy to explain. We are here to work on the best possible outcome for the World Cup ’26. And then let’s see. Whatever comes, comes.”

Tuchel, who will begin his role on January 1, is the first German to lead England’s men’s team, joining Sven-Göran Eriksson and Fabio Capello as the only non-native managers in the position.

Interim boss Lee Carsley stoked controversy when declining to sing the national anthem, given he had represented the Republic of Ireland on 40 occasions as a player.

When asked what Tuchel would do given the rivalry between England and Germany, he said, “I understood from Mark [Bullingham] that it is a personal decision, first of all if you sing it. Some managers sang it, and others didn’t. I have not made my decision yet. I want to be very honest with you.

“Your anthem is very moving, the English anthem is very moving. I experienced it several times here at Wembley, even out with the players at the FA Cup final. It was very touching. No matter what decision I take … we have time until March … I will always show my respect to my new role, to the country, and, of course, to a very moving anthem. But as this is a new subject I will take a bit of time for this decision.

“I’m proud to be here, I’m proud to represent England. I want to put the second star on this shirt. I think we deserve a fair chance; we deserve the credit for having a good record in the country and for never being shy about how much we love to live in the country and how much we enjoy working with the players in the Premier League.

“Maybe this counts a little bit for a British edge on my German passport. So we will try to convince them by results and the way we play.”

Under Southgate, England qualified for consecutive Euro finals, as well as a World Cup semifinal and a quarterfinal, achieving significant progress over eight years, although they still have not ended their 58-year wait for silverware.

“I know that some trophies are missing for the federation, and of course, I want to make it happen,” Tuchel said.

“The group of players proved that they are there. The consistency of the quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals is impressive. And it shows that we have players who compete in the strongest league in the world, day in and day out. So we have the ingredients.

“And we fully trust that this is the moment to install maybe also from club football patterns, behaviors, principals that can maybe help to push the team over the line. We will need luck, we will need momentum, we will need to be lucky, not to have injuries, and so on; little decisions within the games are a given.

“But we feel confident to add something from our experience in club football that can maybe help. But most important is …. even if we speak out now very openly about what the target is, about the second star … we have to prove ourselves all the time.”