From March 2023 to the end of June 2024, Thomas Tuchel was the head coach of FC Bayern Munich. After Mainz and Dortmund and his stints at Paris and Chelsea, he had (finally) arrived at the top of the German league. However, the relationship was characterized by many lows and few highs and ended prematurely.
In October, just a few months after his departure from Bayern, Tuchel took on a new role: he became England’s national team coach. He was the first German and only the third foreigner to do so, after Sven-Göran Eriksson and Fadio Capello.
Much is said about his football expertise, but also about his difficult character. But what makes Thomas Tuchel tick in his private life?
Who is Thomas Tuchel’s girlfriend, what does he earn now as England national coach, and what about his vegan diet, children and his reading hobbies.
Thomas Tuchel’s girlfriend: Natalie is from Brazil
Tuchel is currently in a relationship with his girlfriend Natalie Guerreiro Max. Despite the German-sounding name, Max is a Brazilian woman who Tuchel has been dating since May 2022.
The couple met in London, where Tuchel was working as Chelsea FC coach at the time, while Natalie Max is a businesswoman. Tuchel is around 14 years older than his current girlfriend.
As a successful business owner, Tuchel’s girlfriend Natalie Max is more reserved in public than many other players and coaches’ wives. Her social media profiles are private and there are no scandals.
Max brings two children into the relationship and once achieved the dubious honor in the UK of being named a “rocking mom” and “great inspiration” on the “Yummy Mummy UK” website.
Shortly after the public confirmation of the relationship, Tuchel and his girlfriend were spotted on a luxury vacation in Sardinia. On the Mediterranean island, they treated themselves to a private villa for £20,000 per night.
Profile Thomas Tuchel: age, wife, height
Thomas Tuchel divorce & children
But Natalie Max is not the only one to bring two children from a previous marriage into her relationship with Thomas Tuchel. The same applies to the new Bayern coach, who was married for a long time.
From 2009 to 2022, Sissi was the Thomas Tuchel wife. Together, the couple had two daughters. First, Emma-Josefine was born in 2010, followed a year later, in 2011, by Kim Tuchel.
But all the happiness in the world could not save the relationship between Thomas Tuchel and Sissi, who is two years older. In April 2022, it was announced that Sissi Tuchel had divorced her husband.
The year before the divorce, they had both met with a notary in London because Thomas Tuchel wanted to financially secure his wife and children. That’s why he signed over part of his assets to her.
Thomas Tuchel salary: How much does he earn
As one of the most successful coaches in Europe, Tuchel will undoubtedly have survived the loss of part of his fortune. In his coaching career, he had recently earned extremely well!
The Thomas Tuchel salary at FC Bayern is said to have been around 12 million euros. Without success and title bonuses.
At Chelsea, Tuchel received a salary of €8.3 million per year. Compared to other Premier League coaches, this was only the eighth-highest annual salary. At Paris St. Germain, Tuchel earned even more. The talk is of a salary of around €10 million. At Borussia Dortmund, Thomas Tuchel’s salary was still €4 million a year.
How much does Tuchel earn as England national coach – how high is Tuchel’s salary in England?
As England national team coach, Tuchel’s salary is said to be around 6 million euros a year. Any bonuses for winning the World Cup and/or European Championship titles are not included here.
According to the major English daily newspaper The Sun, Tuchel will receive a contract from January 1, 2025 until the 2026 World Cup, which will be held in Canada, Mexico and the United States.
Nutrition: Thomas Tuchel is no longer vegan
During his tenure at Borussia Dortmund, Thomas Tuchel suddenly became increasingly gaunt. His cheekbones became more and more prominent, causing fans across Germany to discuss Tuchel’s diet more than his tactical moves.
“Tofu Tuchel” became his new nickname in the well-known tabloids because he started eating a vegan diet. For Tuchel, nutrition in soccer is a crucial factor in getting the last percent out of the players and himself.
“It was ultimately the elimination of wheat and grains. In conjunction with a lot and a lot of sports,” the coach explained. ‘I used the time to swim four times a week. At the same time, the change in diet, the pounds just kept dropping.’
He brought his own beliefs to the canteen at BVB. Wheat, sugar and a large proportion of meat meals disappeared, along with soft drinks and pizza. Instead, the BVB stars were offered water and tofu.
“No more sugar, no more wheat. At first it wasn’t that easy to give up the usual things,” said national player Ilkay Gündogan in a later interview. ”But now I like everything. And my body feels fitter.”
Nevertheless, Tuchel no longer eats vegan food. Instead, he is mostly a vegetarian, although every now and then a visit to a fast food restaurant can creep in – but only in the dark after an away game, as he emphasizes.
The Krumbacher also doesn’t miss out on visits to the baker: “I have a sweet tooth, and now and then I eat a piece of cake again. So don’t worry.”
In addition, a part of Tuchel’s diet should never be missing: “No beer, no wine – but a glass of champagne after a win” – with friends or colleagues from the coaching team. Nevertheless, Tuchel knows his way around drinks: during his business studies in Stuttgart, he worked as a bartender on the side.
Thomas Tuchel’s career so far
Tuchel and Bayern: Success story or problems again?
It is indisputable that Thomas Tuchel is one of the most successful German coaches ever to join FC Bayern. Whether in the youth team at VfB Stuttgart or in the professional ranks at Mainz, Dortmund, PSG or Chelsea: he always had success.
He was able to win titles everywhere – except at Mainz 05, where the conditions did not allow for it. The most impressive success was undoubtedly the Champions League victory with Chelsea in 2021, after he had only taken over the team in the middle of the season.
A similar effect is hoped for in Munich, where the record champions have stagnated under Nagelsmann. Tuchel is a tactical nerd who once said he spends 80 percent of his “waking hours” on soccer.
Tuchel learned the coaching profession at the youth training center of VfB Stuttgart. “I realized that I could get access to the group, to the people, very quickly and that I have a certain talent for assessing and judging young players,” explained Tuchel.
One of his greatest supporters is Ralf Rangnick, who brought Tuchel to VfB Stuttgart as a youth coach and gave him a chance to become a coach there. Tuchel was a player under Rangnick at SSV Ulm in the 1997/1998 season, but he had to end his career due to injury.
“Rangnick then offered me a coaching internship with the U17s,“ Tuchel recalls of his beginnings as a coach in Stuttgart.
”Even then, I could see that Thomas is good with people, likes to communicate, is analytical and always thinks in the overall context. All the things you need as a coach,” says Rangnick.
From Stuttgart and Augsburg, he came to Mainz 05, where he was suddenly promoted to head coach in 2009. In Mainz, he caused a sensation with his team, which attracted the attention of larger clubs.
One of them was Borussia Dortmund. He moved there after a year out for the 2015 season.
Thomas Tuchel’s greatest successes
At BVB, Tuchel became the coach with the best points average of all time in the Bundesliga.
Nevertheless, in the end there were irreconcilable differences with the management team around Hans-Joachim Watzke and Michael Zorc. This was probably also related to the bombing of the BVB team bus in spring 2017. Even winning the 2017 DFB Cup did not help.
Despite various successes in Paris, the disputes here also became too great in the end. In this case, it was the sporting director Leonardo who signed players that Tuchel couldn’t work with. The result was public criticism, which was not well received.
The only team with no real problems was Chelsea. It’s a given that a top coach like him doesn’t get along with an owner like Todd Boehly, who is not really into football.
And ultimately, there were also repeated problems with Tuchel at Bayern Munich over the year and a half he was there – whether with players, club officials or TV experts. Bayern patron Uli Hoeneß summed up his time with Tuchel in one word: “disaster”.
Tuchel’s private life away from football
Even though Thomas Tuchel is involved in football almost around the clock, he still has other interests. This is evident from the fact that he studied business administration in Stuttgart while playing football and even completed his diploma.
In addition, Tuchel began vocational training to become a physiotherapist, and also studied sports science and English, but at some point he was no longer able to cope with the dual burden.
It is quite possible that the trainer will return to such topics after his time in professional soccer.
When Tuchel wants to relax, he likes to do so with books and music. Musically, Tuchel’s heart beats for German artists. According to his own statements, he likes to listen to songs by Clueso, Blumentopf, Freundeskreis and Max Herre.
Tuchel also particularly enjoys reading crime novels and thrillers. But specialist literature – Tuchel has a penchant for architecture – can also be found on the bookshelves of the successful football coach.
