Who Is Julian Nagelsmann?

Nagelsmann is not just a top-class coach, he was a highly promising player who played for Augsburg and 1860 Munich at youth level and was the captain of Munich’s U17 team.

Playing days

In the 2006/07 season, he was part of the second team but could not play a single match due to injuries.

Nagelsmann returned to Augsburg for the 2007/08 season, but injured his knee and meniscus for the second time, damaging the cartilage. Due to these injuries, Nagelsmann decided to end his football career. After already assisting coach Thomas Tuchel as a scout in the first half of 2008.

Nagelsmann studied business administration in university for four semesters until he transferred to sports science.

Then it began. Nagelsmann concentrated on coaching, and returned to his former club 1860 Munich as an assistant to Alexander Schmidt for Munich’s U17 team from 2008 to 2010.

Coaching

Nagelsmann joined 1899 Hoffenheim’s youth academy in 2010, before progressing and being promoted to an assistant coach during Hoffenheim’s 2012–13 season, this lasted until 11 February 2016, where Nagelsmann was coaching the club’s U19 team.

Nagelsmann coached Hoffenheim’s U19 to win the 2013–14 Under 19 Bundesliga title.
It was during his time as an assistant coach that he earned his nickname “Mini-Mourinho” as he was dubbed by goalkeeper Tim Wiese.

Head Coach

Nagelsmann was appointed head coach of 1899 Hoffenheim on 27 October 2015 signing a three-year contract. Due to begin his reign at the beginning of the 2016–17 season.

At the time of his appointment, Nagelsmann was 28, and the youngest coach in Bundesliga history, and was to be the successor for Huub Stevens, who had replaced Markus Gisdol the previous day. this was fast-tracked on 10 February 2016, when Stevens resigned as head coach due to health problems, and Nagelsmann’s reign as head coach of Hoffenheim began.

When Nagelsmann took over Hoffenheim in February 2016, they were 17th in the table, 7 points from the safety of 15th spot and facing relegation.

This was changed under Nagelsmann when they avoided relegation by winning 7 of their remaining 14 matches and finished a point above the relegation playoff spot.

They continued their impressive form into the 2016–17 Bundesliga season, where they finished 4th in the table and qualified for the UEFA Champions League for the first time in their history.

During Nagelsmann’ reign at Hoffenheim, he became the youngest ever Bundesliga coach to reach the 100 match milestone.

RB Leipzig

On 21 June 2019, RB Leipzig announced that Julian Nagelsmann would be their coach from the 2019–20 season and signed a four-year contract that would expire in 2023.

Setting the standard Nagelsmann won his first Bundesliga match as RB Leipzig coach against FC Union Berlin 4–0, also leading Leipzig to a 1–1 draw against FC Bayern Munich.

Leipzig thumped Mainz 8–0, it wasn’t until matchday 14 that Nagelsmann would face his former club Hoffenheim a match they won 3–1.

Following Leipzig’s 4–0 win against Tottenham Hotspur, Nagelsmann became the youngest coach in history to win a UEFA Champions League knockout tie going on to defeat Spanish side Atlético Madrid 2–1 in the quarter-finals, meaning Leipzig would progress to the Champions League semi-finals for the first time in their history. Making Nagelsmann became the youngest coach in history to coach aside in the semi-finals.

However, RB Leipzig lost 3–0 to Paris Saint-Germain coached by Thomas Tuchel in the semi-finals.

Following on from his impressive first season at Leipzig, during the 2020/21 season Nagelsmann coached RB Leipzig to second place in the Bundesliga losing out to giants Bayern Munich and lost the DFB-Pokal Final 4–1 against Borussia Dortmund.

Julian Nagelsmann Joins Bayern Munich

It was announced On 27 April 2021, that Nagelsmann would be leaving RB Leipzig, Bayern Munich appointed Nagelsmann as head coach on a five-year deal, effective from 1 July 2021, where he is replacing newly promoted German International coach Hansi Flick.

So there you have it, what do you think of the 33-year-old sensation that is Julian Nagelsmann? How successful will he be at Bayern and beyond? only time will tell, but one thing is for sure we should all be glad to be part of this.

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Image credit Bayern Munich Twitter