Fabian Hurzeler: Brighton’s new Record-Breaking Head Coach

Author: Liam Lacey, Last Updated: 16.09.2024

With Joao Pedro’s late winner against Manchester United Brighton have kicked off their 2024/25 Premier League season with a perfect two from two as life under their new Head Coach Fabian Hurzeler gets underway in the best possible fashion. But who is the Texas born German chosen by Brighton’s much revered data analysis to be their new boss, and become the youngest ever Head Coach in the history of the EPL, at the age of just thirty-one?

Fabian Hurzeler was born in Houston, Texas in 1993 before moving back to Germany as a child where his football career started at Bundesliga giants Bayern Munich’s academy. Hurzeler worked his way up through all of Bayern’s under-age groups, also featuring for Germany’s youth teams up until U-19 level. Bayen’s second team was as far as he made it at the Bavarian giants, making thirty-six appearances for the reserves between 2011 and 2013 before leaving for Hoffenheim’s reserve team. One season was spent with them before he returned to Munich in 2014 and joined 1860 II, playing for them for two seasons.

Hurzeler’s Coaching Career Begins

In 2016 Hurzeler effectively ended his professional playing career by joining amateur side FC Pipinsreid as player/coach. Hurzeler by this stage had been eyeing a career in coaching with his former Bayern II teammate Emre Can even predicting a big future in the game for Hurzeler as a coach. He combined this role with a position within the German Federation as a U-18 and U-20 Assistant Coach. Hurzeler would stay with FC Pipinsreid until 2020, when he left the club to join FC St. Pauli as an assistant to Head Coach Timo Schulz.

He would remain an assistant to Schulz until December 2022 when Schulz who had come close to leading St. Pauli back to the Bundesliga at the end of the 2021/22 season was sacked by the club. Hurzeler was installed as the interim boss on December 6, 2022, and just two weeks later was officially named as the Head Coach of FC St. Pauli, aged just twenty-nine years old.

Under their rookie boss the team’s fortunes changed instantly. After his appointment as Head Coach the club soared from being in danger of relegation from Bundesliga 2 to fifth place in the table at the end of his first season in charge. He did this by leading the team to ten wins in a row, a record for a new boss in German club football.

In his second season, the 2023/24 campaign, his first full season in charge Hurzeler was able to lead St Pauli back to the Bundesliga for the first time in thirteen years. Not only did Hurzeler lead the club back to the Bundesliga, he also achieved it in a style that drew praise from pundits and fans alike. A full pre-season allowed the fledgling boss to hone and perfect the playing style he wanted to adopt with his team and after a shaky start that included four draws out of their first five league fixtures their season took off.

How does Hurzeler setup?

Hurzeler’s approach to football has quite clearly been influenced by his time at Bayern Munich. Ball possession and an ability for his teams to be flexible in how they are set up are hallmarks of a Fabian Hurzeler side. While he has set up with a 4-2-3-1/4-4-2 in his first two games at Brighton, his St Pauli team played in a 3-4-3 shape with the central centre back the key player in the team’s build-up.

His St Pauli side played with great width and pace to try and unsettle the opposition as much they could, something we have already witnessed in his Brighton side. Kairo Mitoma and Yankuba Minteh have so far provided width, pace and a ferocious work rate to help enable the German to install his playing philosophy on his new team in such quick fashion. St Pauli had the highest amount of successful open play passes in Bundesliga 2 last season as well as the setting a Bundesliga 2 record for distance covered. They also had the best defensive record in the division something he will hope to improve in his Brighton team from last season when they conceded sixty-two goals during the Premier League season.

There are lots of similarities between Hurzeler and his predecessor in the AMEX dugout Roberto de Zerbi. Both are front foot, attacking, possession-based coaches who seek to impose their philosophy onto the opposition and much like the Italian, who had a solid base to take over from when he replaced Graham Potter, Brighton fans will hope that the young German coach can easily slot into the shoes of the much liked de Zerbi.

Overview

The new manager has every reason to be pleased with the transfer business completed this summer. Brighton invested nearly £200 million in new signings, demonstrating their commitment to strengthening the squad. As they strive to establish themselves as a major force in the Premier League, the leadership of record-setting and innovative manager Hurzeler could be the catalyst for their continued growth.

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✒️ Liam Lacey – Football and GAA Sports Expert

Liam Lacey is a sportswriter from County Laois in Ireland who specializes in delivering content on GAA and Football matters (though he does see himself as somewhat of a tennis aficionado also!) Liam has written about All Ireland Gaelic Football and Hurling Championships, Premier League, Champions League and International Football offering expert opinion and match previews and predictions. Occasionally even getting some right!