Fabian Marc Hürzeler (born 26 February 1993) is a German professional

football manager ''Football Manager'', also known as ''Worldwide Soccer Manager'' in North America from 2004 to 2008, is a series of football management simulation video games developed by British developer Sports Interactive and published by Sega. The game beg ...

and former

player Player may refer to: Role or adjective * Player (game), a participant in a game or sport ** Gamer, a player in video and tabletop games ** Athlete, a player in sports ** Player character, a character in a video game or role playing game who i ...

. He is the current head coach of club

Brighton & Hove Albion Brighton & Hove Albion Football Club, commonly referred to as Brighton, is a professional football club based in Brighton and Hove, East Sussex, England. The club competes in the Premier League, the top tier of English football. Their home gr ...

. He became the youngest permanent head coach in Premier League history at age 31.

Playing career

Hürzeler joined

Bayern Munich Fußball-Club Bayern München e. V. (FCB, ), commonly known as Bayern Munich (), FC Bayern () or simply Bayern, is a German professional sports club based in Munich, Bavaria. They are most known for their men's professional football team, ...

youth academy In sporting terminology, a youth system (or youth academy) is a youth investment program within a particular team or league, which develops and nurtures young talent in farm teams, with the vision of using them in the first team if they show en ...

at the age of ten and went through all of the club's youth teams. He also represented

Germany Germany, officially the Federal Republic of Germany, is a country in Central Europe. It lies between the Baltic Sea and the North Sea to the north and the Alps to the south. Its sixteen States of Germany, constituent states have a total popu ...

at several youth levels, collecting 21 appearances for his country. His career as a professional footballer took place mainly in the lower ranks of German football, playing with

Bayern Munich II FC Bayern Munich II (''FC Bayern Munich Amateure'' until 2005) are the German reserve football teams, reserve team of Football in Germany, German association football club FC Bayern Munich, Bayern Munich, currently playing in the Regionalliga B ...

1899 Hoffenheim II TSG 1899 Hoffenheim II is the German reserve football teams, reserve team of Football in Germany, German association football club TSG 1899 Hoffenheim, based in Hoffenheim, Baden-Württemberg. The team has been playing in the tier four Regionalliga ...

, and 1860 Munich II. He effectively ended his professional playing career at the age of 22, but continued to play at an amateur level with

FC Pipinsried FC Pipinsried is a German association football club from the town of Pipinsried, Bavaria. History FC Pipinsried was formed in 1967 and, for most of its early history the club has been a non-descript amateur side in local Bavarian football. Whi ...

and

Eimsbütteler TV Eimsbütteler Turnverband is a German sports club based in Eimsbüttel, Hamburg. Apart from football, the club also offers a variety of other sports, like basketball, volleyball, and fencing. The club's golden era was in the 1930s and early 1940s ...

Coaching career

Early career

In 2016, Hürzeler, who had been eyeing a transition into a managerial role for many years and had been predicted a "great career as a coach" by former Bayern Munich II teammate

Emre Can Emre Can (; born 12 January 1994) is a German professional footballer who plays for Bundesliga club Borussia Dortmund, which he captains, and the Germany national team. A versatile player, he primarily plays as a central midfielder, but is also ...

, moved down to the amateur ranks of German football, joining

in a joint player/head coach role. In 2018, he also took on the job as assistant manager in charge of the Germany U20s and Germany U18s. Hürzeler took Pipinsried up from Bayernliga Süd, the fifth-highest level in Germany, to Regionalliga Bayern, the fourth division. FC Pipinsried avoided relegation to Bayernliga Süd in the first year, but went down the following season. Hürzeler stayed at Pipinsried for one further year.

FC St. Pauli

In 2020, Hürzeler was named assistant coach at

FC St. Pauli Fußball-Club St. Pauli von 1910 e.V., commonly known as simply FC St. Pauli (), is a German professional association football, football club based in the St. Pauli district of Hamburg. The team plays in the Bundesliga from the 2024–25 Bundesli ...

, working alongside head coach

Timo Schultz Timo Schultz (born 26 August 1977) is a German former footballer, and manager, who was most recently the manager of 1. FC Köln. Career Born in Wittmund, Schultz is a youth product of Werder Bremen. After playing for the club's reserves for fou ...

. Additionally, he joined the Hamburg-based sixth-division club Eimsbütteler tv and was promoted with this club to the Oberliga Hamburg, the fifth-highest level, in 2022. On 6 December 2022, following the dismissal of Schultz, Hürzeler was appointed new head coach at FC St. Pauli on an interim basis. He was given the job of head coach on a permanent basis just two weeks later, on 23 December, following several good results, thus becoming the youngest head coach in the 2. Bundesliga league at just 29 years of age. Hürzeler managed to turn round the team's fortunes, taking St Pauli from in danger of relegation to close to the promotion places by achieving ten wins in a row by April 2023. In April 2023, he obtained his

UEFA Pro Licence The UEFA coaching licences are documents testifying credentials of manager (association football), managers/ coach (sport), coaches among members of UEFA. The governing body for association football, football in Europe mandates several licences, e ...

at just 30 years of age. In March 2024, Hürzeler extended his contract with St. Pauli and on 12 May 2024 St. Pauli were promoted to the

Bundesliga The Bundesliga (; ), sometimes referred to as the Fußball-Bundesliga () or 1. Bundesliga (), is a professional association football league in Germany and the highest level of the German football league system. The Bundesliga comprises 18 teams ...

Brighton & Hove Albion

On 15 June 2024, Hürzeler became the new head coach of

Premier League The Premier League is a professional association football league in England and the highest level of the English football league system. Contested by 20 clubs, it operates on a system of promotion and relegation with the English Football Lea ...

club

, replacing

Roberto De Zerbi Roberto De Zerbi (; born 6 June 1979) is an Italian professional football manager and former player, who is currently the head coach of Ligue 1 club Marseille. Playing career De Zerbi started his professional career at AC Milan. He spent four se ...

. He is the youngest permanent head coach in Premier League history. In his first competitive match with Brighton, Hürzeler's team won 3–0 away at Everton in the Premier League. Hürzeler oversaw an unbeaten start to Brighton's season, which also included a home win against

Manchester United Manchester United Football Club, commonly referred to as Man United (often stylised as Man Utd) or simply United, is a professional association football, football club based in Old Trafford (area), Old Trafford, Greater Manchester, Engl ...

and an away draw at

Arsenal An arsenal is a place where arms and ammunition are made, maintained and repaired, stored, or issued, in any combination, whether privately or publicly owned. Arsenal and armoury (British English) or armory (American English) are mostly ...

, earning him the

Premier League Manager of the Month The Premier League Manager of the Month is an association football award that recognises the best adjudged Premier League manager each month of the season. The winner is chosen by a combination of an online public vote, which contributes to ...

award for August. In his first season, Brighton finished 8th in the Premier League when they beat the Europa League winners

Tottenham Hotspur Tottenham Hotspur Football Club, commonly referred to as simply Tottenham (, , , ) or Spurs, is a professional Association football, football club based in Tottenham, North London, England. The club itself has stated that it should always ...

as well as doing the first league double over them, despite missing out on Europe due to

Crystal Palace Crystal Palace may refer to: Places Canada * Crystal Palace Complex (Dieppe), a former amusement park now a shopping complex in Dieppe, New Brunswick * Crystal Palace Barracks, London, Ontario * Crystal Palace (Montreal), an exhibition buildin ...

winning the FA Cup.

Personal life

Hürzeler was born in

Houston Houston ( ) is the List of cities in Texas by population, most populous city in the U.S. state of Texas and in the Southern United States. Located in Southeast Texas near Galveston Bay and the Gulf of Mexico, it is the county seat, seat of ...

, Texas, to a Swiss father and a German mother while they were working in the United States. His family moved back to Germany when he was two years old, where he grew up in the

Munich Munich is the capital and most populous city of Bavaria, Germany. As of 30 November 2024, its population was 1,604,384, making it the third-largest city in Germany after Berlin and Hamburg. Munich is the largest city in Germany that is no ...

district of

Bogenhausen Bogenhausen (Central Bavarian: ''Bognhausn'') is the 13th borough of Munich, Germany. It is the geographically largest borough of Munich and comprises the city's north-eastern quarter, reaching from the Isar on the eastern side of the Englischer ...

. He holds German, Swiss, and American citizenship.

Managerial statistics

Honours

FC Pipinsried *

Bayernliga Süd The Bayernliga (English: Bavarian league) is the highest amateur football league and the second highest football league (under the Regionalliga Bayern) in the state of Bavaria () and the Bavarian football league system. It is one of fourteen Obe ...

promotion: 2016–17 FC St. Pauli * 2. Bundesliga: 2023–24 Individual *

August 2024 The year saw the list of ongoing armed conflicts, continuation of major armed conflicts, including the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the Myanmar civil war (2021–present), Myanmar civil war, the Sudanese civil war (2023–present), Sudane ...

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Hurzeler, Fabian 1993 births Living people Soccer players from Houston German men's footballers German football managers Germany men's youth international footballers American men's soccer players American soccer coaches German people of Swiss descent American people of German descent American people of Swiss descent Men's association football midfielders German expatriate football managers 2. Bundesliga managers Premier League managers FC St. Pauli managers Brighton & Hove Albion F.C. managers FC Bayern Munich II players TSG 1899 Hoffenheim II players TSV 1860 Munich II players FC Pipinsried players Expatriate football managers in England German expatriate sportspeople in England 21st-century American sportsmen 21st-century German sportsmen