In 2009, fourth division club VfB Lübeck knocked Mainz 05 out of the cup, after which promotion coach Jörn Andersen was kicked out at Rheinhessen. The club presented an unknown man as the successor: a 35-year-old named Thomas Tuchel took over. A risk that pays off.
In May 2009, Jörn Andersen, who was unleashed by Norwegian standards, stood on the players’ tunnel at the Bruchweg Stadium in Mainz and, soaked through after a beer shower, let himself be celebrated: With a 4-0 win against Rot-Weiss Oberhausen, the Rheinhessen had already one year after the much-cried farewell of the club saint Jürgen Klopp made it clear to return to the Bundesliga. And Andersen is the man of the hour.
A few weeks later, the promotion coach is gone, even before he was even allowed to look after his team in the Bundesliga. After an embarrassing 2-1 in the first round of the cup after extra time at fourth division club VfB Lübeck, the Norwegian is knocked out before 1. FSV Mainz 05’s fourth Bundesliga season begins. Because “his plan had nothing to do with our philosophy,” then manager Christian Heidel explained to the bewildered football public that it was the earliest dismissal of a coach in Bundesliga history. “At Mainz 05 we have a clear profile of how a coach should work with the team and in the club. Our strengths are teamwork, closeness to the team and internal communication. Our approach and that of Jörn Andersen no longer matched.”
After seven intensive years under Jürgen Klopp, who within a few years had turned FSV Mainz 05 from a largely indifferent second division team into an exciting Bundesliga club and out of a largely indifferent second division player into an exciting coach, and an extremely successful year under Andersen, there was excitement again around the break way.
But it was just a cool strategic decision that Christian Heidel made together with the board after several crisis meetings with and without Andersen. “The decision to separate from Jörn Andersen had nothing to do with the outcome of the cup game in Lübeck,” Heidel, who has long been directing and sorting things at Mainz 05 again after a commitment at Schalke 04, looks back to ntv.de. However, the embarrassing loss of the cup gave the development of a new dynamic.
In the summer of 2009, the former goalscorer Andersen had long since lost the team he had previously led to the Bundesliga. A professional from back then reported that Andersen had removed and disposed of personal pictures of the players from the team dressing room on his own initiative during the summer break. That didn’t go over well. The preparation was a disaster, up to 14 players were out, a friendly against Borussia Dortmund had to be canceled due to a lack of staff. Things that were chalked up to Andersen. “I tackle the players harder. So far I’ve done very well with it,” said the coach in an interview with “Welt” without advice. Andersen went through a complete transformation in just a few weeks. To the negative.
What nobody suspected at the time: VfB Lübeck, with all due respect, as 79th in the all-time table of the 2nd Bundesliga in German football history rather a side note, gave the starting signal for a world career with the sensation. Because in Mainz they pulled someone out of a hat that really nobody outside of 1. FSV Mainz 05 had on their list. Except maybe for a few connoisseurs of youth football.
Thomas Tuchel was the name of the man who was allowed to take his first steps in professional football in Mainz – and now has Borussia Dortmund, Paris Saint-Germain and Chelsea FC in his CV. The then 35-year-old is now the Champions League winner and was later named world coach. In 2009 he was promoted as the newly crowned German A youth champion, with the eventual world champion André Schürrle they beat Borussia Dortmund in the final with the goalscorer Mario Götze.
“Tuchel is a cost-effective solution,” wrote “Zeit” at the time. “Is Tuchel also a good solution? At least there is a good omen, because many things are reminiscent of 2001. At that time, Jürgen Klopp went from defender to coach, Mainz was about to be relegated to third division. Klopp was the last resort, because for one The experienced man didn’t have the money like today. But things went uphill with Klopp, all the way to the Bundesliga.”
A few days after Lübeck’s bankruptcy, Tuchel faced a professional team for the first time – and delivered quickly. “My first thought was, ‘Okay, the U19 manager, what’s that going to be?’ Naively, I couldn’t really imagine that there would be someone in front of us who could lead a Bundesliga team directly onto the pitch,” recalls Niko Bungert on the club’s website these days. Bungert, who later became the team captain, first scored against Lübeck and then, with a mistake, initiated the turning point that would have serious consequences for the club’s history. “However, all doubts were completely wiped away when Thomas Tuchel entered our dressing room for the first time and brought such optimism, such positive energy with him, and the whole team was immediately carried away with his first speech.”
And Tuchel, who had previously only worked in the youth field, arrived quickly: After two draws at the start, his team also beat FC Bayern Munich on the 3rd matchday. “I’m a communicative, meticulous coach who works close to the team. My philosophy is: forward-looking defense, strength in tackles, quick play at the top,” Tuchel had previously explained in an interview for the guests’ website. “It seems to be in line with the club’s expectations of the coach’s work and our team’s game.”
FC Bayern under Louis van Gaal was taken by surprise with the fast, intense football, and the football public was amazed again. This time about the new coach and the clever boldness of the Mainz makers. Andersen, the bankruptcy of the cup and the turbulence that followed were quickly forgotten. At the end of the first season under the new coach there was a strong 9th place, the following year Tuchel led his team with seven wins in a row to the start record in the history of the Bundesliga at the time.
For Thomas Tuchel, a rapid rise began with Andersen’s end: he twice led FSV Mainz 05 into international business before leaving the club again in 2014. He won the DFB Cup with Borussia Dortmund, he led Paris Saint-Germain to various national titles and in 2020 to the Champions League final, which he won with Chelsea in 2021. That made him World Coach of the Year 2021. Tuchel is currently on hold after his surprising dismissal at Chelsea in September.
VfB Lübeck was eliminated by a 3-1 draw against VfB Stuttgart in the second round of the cup, and since then the club has played fourth-class, only interrupted by a one-year interlude in the third division. At 1. FSV Mainz 05, the cup sensation from August 2009 “started something”, as Niko Bungert says today. “The club is grateful to him because he managed to establish Mainz in the phase after Kloppo, with a football that made sense.” Mainz 05 has played continuously in the Bundesliga since 2009.
In the evening (6 p.m. / Sky and in the live ticker on ntv.de) VfB Lübeck will once again welcome 1. FSV Mainz 05 to a cup duel. The requirements are similar: Here the Bundesliga team, there the Regionalliga team. And at Mainz, Bo Svensson is back on the bench: then as a player, now as a coach. Svensson is successful, popular and sporty and humane beyond any doubt.
Svensson is also part of Heidel’s Mainz comeback: The former doer returned to “his” club for New Year 2021 when he was emotionally on the ground: “I had decided that I would do it if I got the people. The condition was for me that Bo said yes and that Martin Schmidt said yes. I had the feeling that this was a team that I knew well, that I trust and with which we might have another small chance.”
In addition to Bo Svensson, the trainer, Martin Schmidt, the ex-trainer and future sports director, with whom Heidel had explored the joint rescue mission for four hours on Christmas Eve, also said yes. Then the trio first turned the mood, then the team easily climbed out of the relegation zone. The worst thing that can happen to Bo Svensson in Lübeck is a retirement. The best thing that can happen to the club this time is progressing.
