There is a story that is very old, but still says a lot about Julian Nagelsmann’s self-confidence and self-image. He, the boy from Landsberg am Lech, was 17 years old and at school when he made a bet with his classmate Christian Träsch, who later became a national team player, which he then described himself as: “If I win the Champions League by 2032 If I win, he has to buy my child an Audi A3.” And if not? Then he would have to buy the car for his child.
Yes, Julian Nagelsmann was already very sure back then that as a coach he would not only win big money, but sooner rather than later he would also win the most demanding competition in world football. And – unlike elsewhere in Bavaria – you probably won’t find a companion today who would say that the thinking of this 17-year-old student has changed since then.
But Nagelsmann, who was unable to pursue a career as a player due to a knee injury, will not be able to win the Champions League again this season. But now he wants to win a competition that is even more valuable because he will probably never experience it again: the European Championships in Germany.
The biggest defeat
On Friday, the German Football Association (DFB) decided that Julian Nagelsmann, 36 years old, could lead this historic but also delicate mission. As national coach, he will be tasked with convincing a team over the next nine months that has almost always lacked conviction in recent years.
Just like in Hoffenheim, where it all began for him as the youngest Bundesliga coach, where he turned a team that was tumbling towards relegation into a team that reached the play-offs for the Champions League the next season. He first moved to Leipzig and then to Munich, where his lifelong dream came true – and where he probably suffered his greatest defeat.
Nagelsmann was released in his second season as FC Bayern football coach. He had to do more there than he was supposed to: He was not only the team’s coach, but also the club’s foreign minister in the vaccination debate and in the Qatar debate. But even afterwards he kept saying more than he should have said. And so in his last weeks there, the impression formed that for the first time he was slipping away what was so important to him: his own convictions.
A comment from Christian Kamp Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 13 Christian Kamp, Frankfurt Published/Updated: , Recommendations: 7 Christopher Meltzer, Munich Published/Updated: ,
Now he wants to convince the Germans not only of their national team again, but also of their national coach again. And, as always, Julian Nagelsmann is betting on himself.
