Julian Nagelsmann: 10 secrets about the future national team coach

National Coach
He is the captain of the tractor – 10 secrets of Julian Nagelsmann

Julian Nagelsmann, who enjoyed a great reputation at RB Leipzig but was sacked at Bayern Munich, has got the German national team back on track. With white sausage and his tractor?

1. Prison School Movement

Nagelsmann grew up in Landsberg am Lech. He knows the local correctional facility well: as a child he played school sports there. Later, a well-known figure from Bayern Munich, Uli Hoeness, was jailed for tax evasion.

2. A peaceful haven in nature

Nagelsmann says the mountains give “a sense of humility: such a huge area, such incredible calm”. As a child he often went to Ochsenälpeleskopf in the Ammergau Alps, where his family had a hut: he spent a lot of time there with his father. Nagelsmann died when he was 20. “The most terrible experience of my life.”

3. Internship with Tuchel

Nagelsmann’s last active coach was Thomas Tuchel: He coached Nagelsmann in the second team of Augsburg in 2008. When Nagelsmann stopped playing due to a meniscus injury, he had a trial internship with Tuchel. The two then met in the Champions League – just as they did in 2020 as coaches at Paris Saint-Germain (Tuchel) and RB Leipzig (Nagelsmann).

4. Bavarian customs and habits

As a true Bavarian, he sometimes says “Griaß di” and “Pfiat di” to his players. Nagelsmann says his love for white sausage has also “never stopped”. In Frankfurt, where he now works for the German Football Association, he had to get used to “Grie Soß” – Frankfurt’s national dish, green sauce.

5. No scruples

Nagelsmann is a fan of American TV series. His favorite movies are Homeland and House of Cards, in which unscrupulous politician Francis Underwood (Kevin Spacey) and his equally unscrupulous wife Claire (Robin Wright) take over the White House.

6. The Big Screamer

Nagelsmann is being treated by a speech therapist because of a thickening of the edges of his vocal cords. This also helps him be able to scream louder. Here he roars in exemplary fashion during a match between Bayern Munich and Cologne.

7. Cold Hobbies

Football was one of his great passions. A close second was ice hockey. As a youngster, he played for EV Landsberg for three years. During his active football career, he then played for SV Apfeldorf. “That was pretty cool,” Nagelsmann recalls: “Football during the week and ice hockey at the weekend.”

8. Heading to the fields

Like many players, Nagelsmann loves sports cars. As a Jaguar brand ambassador, he drives a Jaguar F-Type convertible. But Nagelsmann can also do something different: He owns a tractor, which he likes to rumble across the Bavarian meadows for a change.

9. Younger Face

His 2008 player pass showed he was only 20. Nagelsmann looked hardly older today – but he took off his silver earring.

10. Early Relationships

They knew each other since school: Nagelsmann met Verena in 2007 and they married in 2018. He says she was not easy to get along with: “I woke my wife up several times by shouting out a player’s name in her sleep.” Manuel! Jamal! Last year, Nagelsmann broke up with her and got together with Bild journalist Lena Watsonburg.