New Delhi [India], October 17 : Thomas Tuchel has been appointed as the new England head coach of the men's football team. He is excited about the challenge and eager to win over his critics by aiming to add another star to the shirt and lead the country to victory at the 2026 World Cup.
The 51-year-old German was officially introduced as Gareth Southgate's successor at Wembley on Wednesday, having signed an 18-month contract. This appointment makes him only the third foreign-born men's manager in England's history.
Football Association (FA) chief executive Mark Bullingham revealed that the organization considered around 10 candidates, including some English options.
According to sources, Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola was also among those under consideration.
Tuchel boasts an impressive record, having won 11 major trophies during his tenures at Borussia Dortmund, Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea, and Bayern Munich.
However, he has never remained with a club for more than two years since his five-year spell at Mainz, which ended in 2014.
"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," Tuchel said as per quoted by ESPN.
"The point was in this particular case that 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," he added.
"I am used to work on a daily basis with staff, with the team, to have the influence on 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 German noted.
"The last piece of it for me to understand that this is something that can really 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," he said.
"We are focused on the qualification and on the World Cup. It will help us in the nomination process. It will help us in the communication towards the players within the staff," Tuchel said.
"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," he emphasized.
As the first German to manage England's men's team, Tuchel follows in the footsteps of Sven-Goran Eriksson and Fabio Capello, both of whom were non-natives in the role.
The appointment comes after interim boss Lee Carsley sparked controversy by opting not to sing the national anthem, having previously represented the Republic of Ireland as a player.
When asked how he would approach this issue, given the historical rivalry between England and Germany, Tuchel stated, "I understand from Mark [Bullingham] that singing the anthem is a personal choice. Some managers have sung it, while others haven't. I haven't made my decision yet, and 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 will 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," Tuchel remarked, as per quoted by ESPN.
"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, for never being shy of 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," he added.
Under Southgate, England made significant progress over eight years, reaching back-to-back Euro finals, a World Cup semifinal, and a quarterfinal, yet they still seek to end their 58-year wait for a major trophy.
"I know that there are some trophies 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 quarterfinal, semifinal, finals is impressive. And it shows that we have players who compete in the strongest league in the world, day in, day out. So we have the ingredients," Tuchel said, as per quoted by ESPN.
"And we fully trust that this is the moment to install maybe also from club football patterns, behaviours, principals that can maybe help to push the team over the line. We will need luck, we will need the momentum, we will need to be lucky, not to have injuries and so on, little decisions within the games, that is a given," he added.
"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," Tuchel noted.