England manger Thomas Tuchel making ‘brilliant impact’ – FA chief Bullingham

Football Association chief Mark Bullingham says Thomas Tuchel has already made an “absolutely brilliant impact” since becoming manager of the England men’s team.

Tuchel was appointed successor to Gareth Southgate in October with his 18-month contract beginning on 1 January.

The German will take charge of his first match on 21 March when England face Albania in their opening 2026 World Cup qualifier.

“Thomas has made an absolutely brilliant impact He’s really galvanised the team and integrated some of his own people into our existing team and they’re getting on very well,” Bullingham told the BBC’s sports editor Dan Roan.

“He’s made very good connections with the players and he’s been to a lot of games. He’s energised and it’s going really well.

“He’s got 55 players on his longlist and makes sure that he’s got a strong connection with them, that they know he’s seen them.

“It’s not only the players in England that he’s been to see, it’s players playing abroad. That will only stand us in good stead in the long run.

“Gareth [Southgate] was very, very connected and very smart culturally, and Thomas is the same.

“He realised early on that you don’t build those connections in the 60 days you get together [in training camps during the season].

“So he’s put a lot of effort into that [reaching out to the players].”

The FA has been criticised for allowing Tuchel to partly work remotely from Germany, although Bullingham clarified that Tuchel is based at St George’s Park and is living in London.

“We’re very happy with the job he’s doing. We feel he’s hit the ground running and is doing a brilliant job already,” he added.

“We have two coaches who are not English [Tuchel and Lionesses manager Sarina Wiegman, who is Dutch] and both of them have the opportunity to go home occasionally.

“We’re employing Thomas to galvanise the team and win matches, and we think he will do that.”

On Tuchel’s future beyond the 2026 World Cup, Bullingham said: “He always said ‘I might be here for 10 years but I will only ever sign up for two year cycles’.

“He just wants the focus to be on the next tournament and wants the players to be single-minded on that.”

Bullingham added that he is making changes to the FA’s coaching education team in order to give those coming through the coaching pathway “the support they need to get the jobs at the top level in club football that would make them eligible for the England job”.