Chelsea Sacked Manager Thomas Tuchel Following UCL Defeat

After losing to Dinamo Zagreb on Tuesday night in the Champions League, Chelsea fired manager Thomas Tuchel.

After 20 months, the 49-year-old former manager of Paris St. Germain and Borussia Dortmund departs from Stamford Bridge.

Till a successor is found, owner Todd Boehly has appointed Tuchel’s coaching staff as interim management.

According to a club statement, the owners feel that hiring a new head coach is “the proper moment.”

The statement added, “The new ownership group believes it is the proper moment to make this change as it approaches 100 days since taking over the Organization, and as it continues to work diligently to push the club forward.”

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“Chelsea FC would like to publicly express its appreciation to Thomas and his team for all of their work while they were club employees. After helping Chelsea win the Champions League, Super Cup, and Club World Cup during his tenure there, Thomas will rightfully have a part in Chelsea’s history.”

Four months after taking over for Frank Lampard on January 26, 2021, Tuchel led the team to their second Champions League championship.

Later that year, he added the Fifa Club World Cup and the Uefa Super Cup.

Before Lampard’s departure in January 2021, Chelsea had dropped from first in the Premier League at the beginning of December 2020 to eighth, leaving them out of the running for the championship and in danger of missing out on a Champions League ticket.

Tuchel managed to go undefeated in his first 13 league games, a record for a new Chelsea manager. Tuchel drew his first game in charge, at home against Wolves, but won his next four.

Despite losing to Aston Villa, he finished fourth that season, beating Leicester to the last Champions League spot on a penultimate day.

Tuchel replicated Roberto di Matteo’s accomplishment of leading Chelsea to the 2012 Champions League championship after taking over halfway through the season by leading Chelsea to victory against Manchester City in the 2021 Champions League final in Porto.