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Evening Standard
Evening Standard
Sport
Dom Smith

Thomas Tuchel: Former Chelsea boss agrees to become next England manager

Thomas Tuchel is set to be unveiled as the new England manager after agreeing terms with the Football Association.

The German will become just the third foreign manager to become England coach, after the late Sven-Goran Eriksson of Sweden and the Italian manager Fabio Capello.

Tuchel has been out of work since leaving Bayern Munich at the end of last season.

Lee Carsley took over as England’s interim manager in July after Gareth Southgate resigned following eight years in the role, during which time England lost in the European Championship Final twice and also reached a World Cup semi-final under his watch.

Carsley was asked to coach England through their six Nations League group matches this autumn before then returning to his role as the England Under-21s manager. He has overseen victories over Finland (twice) and the Republic of Ireland, as well as last week's shock 2-1 home defeat to Greece.

It was originally assumed that Carsley would want to take on the senior job full-time, but he was inconsistent with his answers this month when asked whether he intends to be considered, and the FA are now set to place former Chelsea manager Tuchel in permanent charge of the national team.

The Manchester City manager Pep Guardiola is out of contract next summer as it stands and is understood to have been tentatively sounded out by the FA over the role at the beginning of the season, but City are growing in confidence that he will sign a contract extension.

Carsley said after Sunday’s 3-1 away in over Finland that England deserve a “world-class” manager, and many will believe Tuchel fits that criteria.

The 51-year-old won the Champions League with Chelsea in 2021 just four months into his time at Stamford Bridge, which also saw him win the FIFA Club World Cup but ultimately ended with off-pitch disagreements and a drop-off in results contributing to his sacking in March 2023.

Tuchel won the Bundesliga with Bayern Munich in 2023, two Ligue 1 titles with Paris Saint-Germain, and won the German Cup while in charge of Borussia Dortmund. He has a 57.26 per cent win rate during his managerial career.

Tuchel’s unveiling as England manager is expected to come as early as this week.

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