Thomas Tuchel, Jürgen Klopp and the best Bundesliga coaches to shine abroad
Thomas Tuchel will be breaking new ground when he takes over as England’s new manager on January 1, but it won’t be the first time that he, nor a number of German coaches, have taken the biggest jobs abroad.
The former Mainz and Borussia Dortmund coach becomes just the third foreign manager of the Three Lions, and the first from Germany, in a deal which sees the 51-year-old delve into international football for the first time.
With some of the world’s best players in Bayern Munich striker Harry Kane and former Borussia Dortmund star Jude Bellingham, there’s arguably no higher pressure job in international football than England.
Tuchel’s remit will be to win the 2026 World Cup, and while the ultimate trophy in world football has proved elusive for his predecessors, this isn’t the first time a German has entered new territory and shone.
bundesliga.com takes you through five of the best to become hits abroad.
Jürgen Klopp
Arguably Germany’s most famous export, and not just in sport, Klopp’s achievements at Mainz and Dortmund were exceptional, and at Liverpool things were no different.
Taking over the Anfield club in 2015, the Stuttgart-born tactician arrived at a sleeping giant in a world of trouble after Steven Gerrard’s retirement and Luis Suárez’s departure. A sixth-place finish was followed by a Premier League-worst eighth, but Klopp was rebuilding, and did so in extraordinary fashion.
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In 2019 he won the team’s sixth Champions League title after losing the final the previous year, and in 2020 he ended the club's 30-year wait for the Premier League prize. All in all, he won every trophy on offer, and became one of the greatest coaches in English football with the rivalry between Liverpool and Manchester City an era-defining one thanks to ‘Kloppo’.
Jupp Heynckes
Most famous for his incredible European treble with Bayern in 2013, Heynckes actually became one of the world’s best coaches through his experiences abroad.
A legendary player in his own right as a striker for Borussia Mönchengladbach, Heynckes didn’t take long to prove himself as a coach with a UEFA Cup win in the Gladbach dugout in 1979, before four more trophy wins in his first stint with Bayern.
The Gladbach native then jetted abroad for stints with Spanish trio Athletic Bilbao, Tenerife and Real Madrid, as well as Portuguese giants Benfica. Among his achievements are the first of two Champions League titles with Los Blancos in 1998.
Otto Rehhagel
In similar style to Klopp, Rehhagel was a Bundesliga lifer until he took up a job abroad and smashed it out of the park.
The Essen-native coached the most games in Bundesliga history (836) during stints with Bayern, Dortmund, Kaiserslautern and Werder Bremen, collecting three Bundesliga titles and three DFB Cups.
Any idea that he could only do it at home was spectacularly wiped out when he rocked up with the Greek national team in 2001.
Rehhagel steered the team to Euro 2004 glory, beating tournament hosts Portugal in the final in what was one of the biggest shocks not in international football. As the only coach to win the European Championship not with his native country, Rehhagel made sure that he wasn’t just seen as a legend in Germany, but across the continent.
Christoph Daum
Daum sadly passed away at the age of 70 in August 2024, but German football was able to reflect on one of its greats, and a trailblazer for his countrymen who have since had success abroad.
A Bundesliga runner-up on five occasions with Cologne and Bayer Leverkusen, Daum lifted the Meisterschale with Stuttgart in 1992 and then jetted off to Turkey.
In stints with Istanbul giants Beşiktaş and Fenerbahçe he won the Süper Lig three times, the Turkish Cup one, and Super Cup twice.
Daum also won the title in Austria with Austria Wien, and was a runner-up in Belgium with Club Brugge. His last job saw him try his hand at international football with Romania, making the former midfielder one of Germany’s best-travelled and most-loved coaches.
Thomas Tuchel
Having made his name in the Bundesliga with Mainz and Dortmund as a master tactician, Tuchel went abroad for the first time to Paris Saint-Germain and enhanced his reputation even further on the world stage by winning six trophies in France.
Perhaps most impressively, he did what many considered was impossible and took PSG to a Champions League final in 2020, only to lose by a single goal to Bayern, but that was a sign of what was to come.
Tuchel would arrive at Chelsea in January 2021 and win the Champions League with them that summer to achieve legendary status. He collected two more titles (the UEFA Super Cup and the FIFA Club World Cup) and reached the final of every competition the Blues competed in during his 20 months at Stamford Bridge before returning to Germany with Bayern Munich in 2023.
It’s clear Tuchel loved his time in the UK, and is now back as England manager. He takes on a task with more pressure than any other name on this list had, and should he win the World Cup and end 60 years of hurt, he’ll likely top the lot.
Honourable mentions
One name who could soon have pride of place on this list is Bayern treble winner Hansi Flick, who has enjoyed to a flying start with Barcelona in his first job abroad. Another to coach in Spain was Bernd Schuster, who was in charge of five different La Liga sides and won the title with Real Madrid.
Numerous coaches have tried their hand at international management, including Jürgen Klinsmann with the USA and South Korea, and Domenico Tedesco who is with Belgium after coaching in the Russian Premier League. None of those have yet had the success of Winfried Schäfer, who won the 2002 Africa Cup of Nations with Cameroon before numerous stints in the Middle East and Asia.
Legendary two-time Champions League winner Ottmar Hitzfeld also went abroad too, but only to Switzerland, winning multiple titles with Grasshopper, Zug and Aarau before taking over the Swiss national team.
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