Tuchel: England 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 sceptics by putting “another star on the shirt” and guiding the country to victory at the 2026 World Cup.

The 51-year-old was unveiled as Gareth Southgate’s successor at Wembley on Wednesday after agreeing an 18-month contract to become only the third foreign-born men’s manager in the country’s history.

Football Association (FA) chief executive Mark Bullingham revealed the organisation 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 honours during his time with Borussia Dortmund, Paris Saint-Germain, Chelsea and Bayern Munich but has never stayed anywhere for more than two years since a five-year spell 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 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.

“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 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.

“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.

“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 start work on Jan. 1, is the first German to manage England’s men’s side, following Sven-Göran Eriksson and Fabio Capello as non-natives in the role.

Interim boss Lee Carsley stoked controversy when declining to sing the national anthem given he had represented 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. There were managers who sang it and other who 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 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.

“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.”

England reached back-to-back Euros finals under Southgate — in addition to a World Cup semifinal and a quarterfinal — during eight years of substantial progress without ending their 58-year wait for silverware.

“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 of 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.

“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.

“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.”