Fabian Hürzeler: The Youngest Manager in Premier League History
Brighton & Hove Albion has been improving at a very rapid pace. It went from a relegation club to a club that escaped relegation and now has become a club that has one of the best management structures in the league. The club has done well on the pitch, having a defined style of play and great results, and off the pitch by recruiting the most talented and underrated gems around the world.
Graham Potter was their manager during their rise. He got them a 9th-place finish in the 2021-22 season. He was followed by De Zerbi, who managed them to become a very dangerous team: tactically and positionally great, they were good at playing from the back and creating dangerous chances.
How Roberto De Zerbi’s Time at Brighton Came to a Bitter End
The 2023-24 season has come to an end now with Brighton finishing 11th. It is a disappointing result considering their 6th-place finish last year, which has resulted in the club parting ways with De Zerbi. While a lot of managers with experience are available, Brighton has decided to go with FC St. Pauli manager Fabian Hürzeler.
Fabian Hürzeler was born on 26 February 1993 in Houston, Texas. At only 15 years of age, Hürzeler was a part of the Bayern Munich academy. He made 36 appearances for Bayern Munich II and scored 3 goals between 2011 and 2013. He then moved to 1899 Hoffenheim II for the 2013-2014 season, making 29 appearances and netting 5 goals.
From 2014 to 2016, Hürzeler played for 1860 Munich II, contributing 2 goals in 45 appearances. His next significant stint was with FC Pipinsried from 2016 to 2020, where he played 87 matches and scored 3 goals. Hürzeler’s playing career concluded at Eimsbütteler TV, where he made 14 appearances and scored 2 goals from 2020 to 2022.
His extensive experience in the lower tiers of German football and his role as a defensive midfielder, a position that requires good game reading skills and vision, laid a strong foundation for his subsequent transition into football management. He got his first managing role at FC Pipinsried as a player-manager, where he started off in 2016 and left in 2020.
In between, he was also summoned to coach the German under-18s and under-20 teams. In 2020, Fabian Hürzeler was appointed as the new assistant coach at FC St. Pauli, working under head coach Timo Schultz. Following Schultz’s dismissal on 6 December 2022, Hürzeler stepped in as the interim head coach.
Hürzeler’s tenure as interim coach proved successful, leading to his permanent appointment as head coach just two weeks later, on 23 December. At 29 years old, Hürzeler became the youngest head coach in the 2. Bundesliga. He helped the club finish 5th in the second tier in the 2022-23 season and in the 2023-24 season his side finished first in the table, earning promotion into the Bundesliga. They’ll be back in the top tier after an 11-year gap.
His achievement with St. Pauli attracted Brighton’s attention towards him and now they’ve signed him on a three-year deal, making him the youngest manager in Premier League history.
“From the start of the process to appoint our new head coach, Fabian was always a standout candidate and one who had caught our attention with his exceptional work at St. Pauli over the past 18 months,” said Brighton chairman Tony Bloom in a club statement.
Hürzeler, who took his first coaching role in 2016, said: “I am absolutely thrilled to be the new head coach of Brighton and Hove Albion.” He added: “The club has a unique history and bold vision for the future, so I am truly excited to be part of the project.”
Let’s analyze Hürzeler’s style of management by looking back at his time at St. Pauli:
Matchday 25, Bundesliga 2: Pauli played Hertha BSC. St. Pauli scored the first goal. On analyzing the goal, we see that 9 players of St. Pauli have pushed into the final third, suggesting that Hürzeler likes to play a high line, committing more players forward.
The ball is played from inside the box to Manolis Saliakas, who scores a long-range shot from outside the defense. They doubled the lead in the 44th minute. In this line of play, we observe that Pauli has 5 players only in the right wing and the inside right channel overloading the space. They played through their opponents with a numeric advantage and great one-touch passing to find Marcel Hartel, who produced a calm finish in the near post of the keeper from just outside the box.
Matchday 26, Bundesliga 2 vs 1.FC Nürnberg: This match also had the same scoreline. Looking at Pauli’s first goal, it came from a header by Johannes Eggestein, and the cross was put into the middle of the box by Philipp Treu. When the cross was put in, 4 players made aggressive runs into the central parts of the opposition’s box.
In general, Hürzeler likes to put players forward and play a high line when his team has possession. The main creativity comes from wide areas through crosses or swift passing. Even in cases where they don’t play a very high line, they have the ability to play through balls, breaking the opposition’s midfield.
He seems to like overloading a certain part of the pitch to give his team a numeric advantage. This also gives them a platform to showcase their inch-perfect passing. While his style isn’t similar to De Zerbi, the basic attributes and abilities of Brighton players are similar to the ones he’s managed.
Hürzeler, just like Brighton’s recent investments, has great potential and is young. Managing a Premier League club will still be a very big jump for him, and the tagline of the youngest manager in the league will put some additional pressure, but the club will be confident about their choice as they haven’t made a wrong one for quite some time now.
By: @TSpec1al
Featured Image: @GabFoligno / picture alliance