Julian Nagelsmann (born 23 July 1987) is a German professional football manager. He has managed TSG Hoffenheim, RB Leipzig and Bayern Munich in the Bundesliga. 

Born in Bavaria, Nagelsmann retired as a footballer at age 20 after a succession of injuries. In 2010, he began his coaching career as a youth coach at TSG Hoffenheim, eventually coaching their first team in 2015, where he led them to a third place finish in the Bundesliga and Champions League qualification. He departed Hoffenheim in 2019 and was appointed at fellow Bundesliga club RB Leipzig, reaching the semi-finals of the UEFA Champions League in 2020.

Nagelsmann was appointed by Bayern Munich in 2021 for a world record managerial transfer worth €25 million (£21.7 million), making him the most expensive manager ever. He won the Bundesliga title in his debut season, but was dismissed as manager from the club in March 2023.

Nagelsmann is known for his versatility with formations, maintaining possession, and implementing gegenpressing, whereby the team, after losing possession, immediately attempts to win back possession, rather than falling back to regroup. He is considered to be one of the best young managers in world football.

Early life
Nagelsmann was born on 23 July 1987 in Landsberg am Lech, Bavaria. He played for FC Augsburg and 1860 Munich at youth level, and was the captain of Munich's U19 team. In the 2006–07 season, he was part of the second team but made no appearances due to injuries. Nagelsmann returned to Augsburg for the 2007–08 season coached by Thomas Tuchel, but injured his knee and meniscus for the second time, damaging the cartilage. As a result, he decided to end his footballing career at the age of 20. He had already assisted his head coach Thomas Tuchel as a scout in the first half of 2008. He studied business administration in university for four semesters until he transferred to sports science. Then he concentrated on coaching, returning to his former club 1860 Munich as an assistant to Alexander Schmidt for Munich's U17 team from 2008 to 2010.

Coaching career

Early career
Nagelsmann joined TSG Hoffenheim's youth academy in 2010 and coached different youth teams in the following years. He was an assistant coach during Hoffenheim's 2012–13 season, and up until 11 February 2016, was coaching the club's U19 team. He coached Hoffenheim's U19 "junior team" to win the 2013–14 Under 19 Bundesliga title. During his time as assistant coach, goalkeeper Tim Wiese nicknamed Nagelsmann "Mini-Mourinho".

TSG Hoffenheim
Nagelsmann was appointed head coach of TSG Hoffenheim on 27 October 2015. He was due to begin his tenure at the beginning of the 2016–17 season. He was given a three-year contract. At the time of his appointment, Nagelsmann was 28, and the youngest coach in Bundesliga history. He was to be the successor for Huub Stevens, who had replaced Markus Gisdol the previous year. On 10 February 2016, Stevens resigned as head coach due to health problems, and Nagelsmann's tenure as head coach was brought forward by the Hoffenheim board a day later.

2015–18: Avoiding relegation and Champions League qualification
When Nagelsmann took over the club in February 2016, Hoffenheim were 17th in the table, 7 points from the safety of 15th spot and facing relegation. Under Nagelsmann they avoided relegation by winning 7 of their remaining 14 matches and finished a point above the relegation playoff spot.

Hoffenheim's good run of play continued in the 2016–17 Bundesliga season, where they finished 4th in the table and qualified for the UEFA Champions League qualifying phase for the first time in their history.

On 9 June 2017, Hoffenheim extended the contract of Nagelsmann until 2021. In the Champions League play-off round, Hoffenheim lost to Liverpool 6–3 on aggregate, then finished last in their Europa League group with only one win against İstanbul Başakşehir. After finishing third in Bundesliga, the club which had their best place in the league in their history managed to secure a direct qualification for the next Champions League season.

2018–19: Final season
In the Champions League, Nagelsmann became the youngest coach, aged 31 years and 58 days, to feature in the competition, doing so in the first group stage match against Shakhtar Donetsk. However, Hoffenheim finished last in their group with three draws and three defeats.

On 21 June 2018, Hoffenheim announced that Nagelsmann would be leaving the club at the end of the 2018–19 season. He oversaw his 100th league game as Hoffenheim coach on 19 January 2019, in a 3–1 defeat to Bayern Munich. In doing so, he became the youngest Bundesliga coach to reach the 100 match milestone.

RB Leipzig

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

2019–20: Champions League semi-final
Nagelsmann won his first Bundesliga match as RB Leipzig coach against Union Berlin 4–0, he also led Leipzig to a 1–1 draw against Bayern Munich. 

On 17 September 2019, Nagelsmann became the youngest coach, aged 32 years and 56 days, to win a Champions League match, doing so in a 2–1 away win against Benfica in the first group stage match. On match-day 10, Leipzig won against Mainz 8–0. Nagelsmann faced his former club Hoffenheim on match-day 14 and won 3–1 against them.

After finishing top of their group, RB Leipzig reached the Champions League knockout phase for the first time in their history. On 10 March 2020, following Leipzig's 4–0 win against José Mourinho's Tottenham Hotspur, Nagelsmann became the youngest coach ever to win a UEFA Champions League knockout tie. On 13 August, RB Leipzig defeated Spanish side Atlético Madrid 2–1 in the quarter-finals, meaning Leipzig would progress to the Champions League semi-finals, in which Nagelsmann became the youngest coach, therefore, to manage a side in that round.

On 18 August, RB Leipzig played against Paris Saint-Germain in the Champions League semi-finals, where Nagelsmann faced his former boss during his time at Augsburg, Thomas Tuchel. However, RB Leipzig lost 3–0 to Paris Saint-Germain.

2020–21: DFB-Pokal runner-up
In the 2020–21 season, RB Leipzig reach the round of 16 in the Champions League to be eliminated by Liverpool, finished second in the Bundesliga and lost the DFB-Pokal Final 4–1 against Borussia Dortmund.

Bayern Munich
On 27 April 2021, Bayern Munich appointed Nagelsmann as head coach on a five-year deal, effective from 1 July 2021, replacing Hansi Flick for a then world record managerial transfer fee of €25 million.

2021–22: First Bundesliga and DFL-Supercup titles
Nagelsmann's first competitive match was a 1–1 draw against Borussia Mönchengladbach in the Bundesliga. In Nagelsmann's first win with Bayern, he won his first title as a coach in Bayern's 3–1 victory over Borussia Dortmund in the 2021 DFL-Supercup.

On 24 August 2021, Nagelsmann led Bayern to a 12–0 victory against Bremer SV during the first round of the 2021–22 DFB-Pokal. The scoreline was their biggest win in 24 years, since their 16–1 victory against DJK Waldberg in the DFB Cup in August 1997.

On 12 April 2022, Nagelsmann and his team were knocked out of the UEFA Champions League quarter-finals, 2–1 on aggregate by Villarreal, and on 23 April, he won his second title, his first Bundesliga title, with three matches to spare.

2022–23: Second DFL-Supercup title and mid-season sacking
On 30 July 2022, Nagelsmann won his second DFL-Supercup title after a 5–3 win over his former club RB Leipzig. Later on, he managed to win all group stage matches in the Champions League for the second consecutive season, beating top clubs such as Barcelona and Inter Milan, to reach 14 consecutive victories in that round, 12 wins with Bayern and 2 with RB Leipzig; hence, equalling a record previously held by Louis van Gaal. In the Champions League round of 16, Nagelsmann led Bayern to defeat Paris Saint-Germain 3–0 on aggregate.

On 24 March 2023, during the international break after a 2–1 defeat against Bayer Leverkusen, Nagelsmann, who was in a skiing holiday in Austria, was sacked by Bayern, with the club one point behind Dortmund in the league, and was replaced by his former Augsburg coach Thomas Tuchel. The decision was taken by Bayern CEO Oliver Kahn and sporting director Hasan Salihamidžić in consultation with club president Herbert Hainer. Kahn mentioned that fluctuations in performance following the World Cup prompted the decision, taking into consideration the objectives set for the current season and beyond. The sack came ahead of Der Klassiker match in the league, DFB-Pokal quarter-final against Freiburg, and Champions League quarter-final matches against Manchester City.

Nagelsmann ended his tenure at Bayern at 71.4% winning rate, with only Pep Guardiola, Hansi Flick and Carlo Ancelotti averaging more Bundesliga points than him.

Personal life
Nagelsmann married his childhood sweetheart Verena in 2018, with whom he had two children. The couple split in 2023, when it was revealed he was in a relationship with Lena Wurzenberger, a 30-year-old sports reporter for Germany's biggest newspaper, Bild. In March 2023, Wurzenberger resigned from her work at Bild, following Nagelsmann's dismissal from his job at Bayern.

Outside football
Nagelsmann played ice hockey for EV Landsberg for three years, and SV Apfeldorf during his time at Augsburg. He enjoys mountain biking, skiing, and skateboarding. He is a vegetarian for two reasons, most important for him is animal welfare, the second is environmental protection.

Managerial statistics

Honours

Manager
RB Leipzig
 DFB-Pokal runner-up: 2020–21

Bayern Munich
 Bundesliga: 2021–22
 DFL-Supercup: 2021, 2022

Individual
VDV Coach of the Season (Germany): 2016–17
German Football Manager of the Year: 2017
UEFA Men's Coach of the Year third place: 2019–20

References

External links

Profile at the FC Bayern Munich website

1987 births
Living people
People from Landsberg am Lech
Footballers from Upper Bavaria
German men's footballers
Men's association football defenders
TSV 1860 Munich II players
FC Augsburg II players
Regionalliga players
German football managers
TSG 1899 Hoffenheim managers
RB Leipzig managers
FC Bayern Munich managers
Bundesliga managers
Association football coaches