The World Cup has dealt a blow to the German school of coaching

In sport, a generation is not always defined by age. Three German managers, for example, who over the last decade have embodied the hope – rather than the results – of a different path to success compared to the familiar ones, can all be seen as part of the same legacy. Ralf Rangnick is approaching seventy, Thomas Tuchel is approaching 54, and Julian Nagelsmann is ‘only’ 39: yet they are all protégés of Joachim Löw, World Cup winner in Brazil and the architect of the German football revolution, which is cited at every opportunity as the model to follow for the longed-for revival of Italian football.

Club ownership, youth development, football coaching in schools, openness towards the children of migrants, and an approach free from triumphalism: this is the narrative that for years has set the tone for those who were able and willing to follow it. And it is precisely this narrative that has informed three of the continent’s most studied, discussed, appreciated and imitated managers, who share an Austrian passport and an obsessive tendency to internalise concepts, seek verticality, and integrate individual stars into a sustainable framework regardless of their specific presence, whilst projecting an image of scholars and theorists.
The results, however, have been mixed: a few domestic cups or Super Cups, promotions from the lower leagues, and an Austrian league title. For Tuchel, there was a comfortable French league title with Paris Saint-Germain and a one-off Champions League triumph, skilfully snatched from Chelsea by Manchester City. The prospect of managing a club, as we know, is practically the opposite of selecting players for a national team: where daily routines, repetition of tactics and time to work are required, there is no room for immediacy, sporadic involvement or the forging of a cohesive group.

Nagelsmann, Tuchel and Rangnick all had their big chance at the 2026 World Cup in the US, and in all three cases they disappointed: some far more than others – such as the first, at the helm of his home nation’s team – others slightly less so, whilst the second also bears some responsibility for England’s collapse against Argentina. The third, the most celebrated of the three as an organiser and supervisor (much like Fabio Capello before taking the Milan dugout), had the most thankless task at the helm of Austria: yet he only progressed to the next round thanks to Algeria’s leniency, before suffering a crushing defeat at the hands of a superb Spanish side.

Above all, it was their respective theories – partly shared, partly divergent – that came unstuck: it was RasenBall Leipzig, Red Bull’s pandering offshoot, that forged the idea of a new brand of football centred on data and expected goals, the interchangeability of players and innocuous transfers designed to boost the club’s capital gains through a series of Chinese-style financial manoeuvres. In the national team, however, everything revolves around the players in the best form; they should not be constrained by an ill-fitting framework for a whole month, following an exhausting season. Harry Kane, who scores over 70 goals but fails to find the net against Norway and Argentina, is the epitome of Tuchel’s positional football.

For years, hopes for a different future have been pinned on Nagelsmann, but Paraguay’s fierce physicality was enough to stifle the talent of Jamal Musiala, Florian Wirtz, Leroy Sané and Kai Havertz. All playing the same 4-2-3-1 formation, which seems as salvific as it is indispensable, at least until the final whistle: France’s defeat in the semi-final illustrates how the formation effectively hands a midfielder to the opposition, leaving the side vulnerable both to counter-attacks – with scant firepower in front of the defence – and to the dominance of their opponents, particularly when it comes to the ball possession of Spain and Argentina.

It is therefore the bleakest of summers for the new prophets, who are no longer even ‘new’: and whilst the German Football Association is bringing Jürgen Klopp back from the sidelines to return to the glories of Löw’s era – a pragmatic and disillusioned forerunner of the so-called prodigies now out of favour – the clubs are rushing to snap up Basque managers: Andoni Iraola at Liverpool, Mikel Arteta set to defend Arsenal’s Premier League title, and Unai Emery enjoying the Europa League trophy he has just lifted. Along with their neighbours – namely Iñigo Pérez from Navarre (moving from Rayo Vallecano to Villarreal) and the Riojan national team manager Luis de la Fuente himself – will they be the ones calling the shots in 2030?