This Young American's Bizarre Tactics Broke 2. Bundesliga

Only twelve people younger than 32 years old have ever managed a Bundesliga team. And they all did it between 1968-1994 except for ONE. 

But that is all about to change.

Next season FC St Pauli will return to the Bundesliga with a 31 year old German-Swiss-American at the helm.

But to be successful in the top league, Fabian Hürzeler will need to be able to adapt his bizarre tactics that at times leaves his team with no midfield to the most difficult competition they’ll have faced yet.

The problem is FC St Pauli is a squad of journeymen with a visionary manager, but now to make this next chapter a success, this team and this manager will need to evolve quickly.

This incredible club backed by the rabid misfits and punks of Hamburg will try to give the league buccaneers a new superpower.

I’ve spent the last week reviewing their entire 2. Bundesliga season to give you a sneak peak at what the most intriguing team and manager combo looks like on and off the pitch. Spoiler alert… this club might change what a community-backed football club is capable of.

PART I - Fabian Hürzeler

Fabian Hürzeler was born in Houston to a German father and Swiss mother as his parents practiced dentistry in the States. At a young age he left the United States to be raised in Germany, but his family always took vacations back in America.

This link kept him close to his country of birth, and he even trained with the US youth national teams.

And anyone in the comments that wants to argue with me on his American-ness… here’s what he had to say:

“I think I will always be connected to the United States because, in the end, it’s the land I was born. I try to work hard to reach your dream. I think that’s one point that always will be connected to the United States.”

While he showed promise as a youth as part of the Bayern Munich academy, he couldn’t seem to crack the senior team no matter where he went. By the time he had reached the age of 22, he knew he wasn’t going to make a professional career out of playing the game… But what if there was another way?

Enter a 23 year old player/manager for 5th tier FC Pipinsried. We love a player-coach around here! Fabian showed his managing chops early on. This was a star in the making.

His teammate at FC Bayern 2 actually predicted this… Emre Can said in 2016 Hürzeler would have a “great career as a coach”.

FC Pipinsried’s greatest accomplishment at the time was sneaking into the 5th division of german football.

Fabian Hürzeler had other ideas.

While studying for his UEFA Pro license and taking on additional roles as an assistant to Germany youth teams, Hürzeler sharpened his managerial blade getting the club from the small village in Bavaria promoted to Germany’s 4th tier.

A height FC Pipinsried had never seen and wouldn’t see again once Hürzeler left.

The success of implementing attractive football in lower divisions along with his ability to maximize player production landed him as an assistant to Timo Schultz with 2. Bundesliga side FC St Pauli in 2020.

Now if you don’t know, there is quite a large and important context surrounding FC St. Pauli. They are likely the most well known 2nd division club in the world. Supported by the far-left, the punks, and the misfits of Hamburg. The fans expect the team to play with a similar rebellious nature.

They are a club more than any other based around a shared identity - Representative of unity, freedom, rebellion, and the working class.

In the early 1990s, the media in Germany began to recognize the Kult-image skull and crossbones of the club, focusing on the punk part of the fan-base in TV broadcasts of the matches. By this time, the media also started to establish nicknames like “League Buccaneers” as well as the satirical "das Freudenhaus der Liga" ("Brothel of the League").

This proud club in the shadow of Hamburger SV hasn’t been back to the Bundesliga since 2011.

With Timo Schultz at the helm and Hürzeler as assistant, FC St Pauli had lost an achingly close promotion campaign in 2021/22, and while the 2022/23 season was poised to see another challenge for promotion, by December the club had fallen just outside of the relegation spot only saved by goal-difference.

As the footballing world took a breath to watch the Qatar World Cup and the 2. Bundesliga entered it’s mid-season winter break, FC St Pauli made a decision that would change their trajectory forever.

Part II - A 29 Year Old Manager

At just 29 years old, American born Fabian Hurzeler became the youngest manager ever in 2. Bundesliga. 

With his club staring relegation in the face, Hürzeler’s squad would break a record held by Jurgen Klopp. The club won the first 10 matches of Fabian Hürzeler’s tenure. Bringing them from the brink of relegation in December to the edge of promotion by April.

The campaign finished with the club tied in 4th place, one place outside of the promotion playoff.

This year, with one game still to be played, FC St Pauli and Fabian Hürzeler have secured promotion to the Bundesliga with a rare combination of progressive tactics and a squad made of journeymen from Australia to Estonia.

So how did a now 31 year old manager create an entirely new and unique way of playing with an eclectic mix of footballing exiles?

PART III - The 2-0-8 formation?!

I just want you to know - this thumbnail is not clickbait. The team regularly abandons the midfield in favor of spreading the pitch as wide as possible and pushing what seems like the entire team into or near the box.

Formations are just simple ways to envision how a squad might line up, but with St Pauli under Hürzeler it’s better to just start with a basic understanding that no player outside of the goalkeeper plays a specific position.

You will regularly find defenders in attack, wingers in defense, and central strikers on the wing.

This is all because Hürzeler prefers space and structure over personnel. 

Let’s just say for simplicity’s sake the squad regularly starts in a 3-4-3 (which I would argue they do).

The squad is perfectly happy to set up during rest defense in a 5-2-3, and just as happy to fall into that shape if the initial press doesn’t win the ball.

In possession things get wild and wacky. Two defenders, three defenders, two midfielders, zero midfielders, 3 attackers, 5 attackers, 7 attackers - it all depends on the situation.

And let me just say this right now. I have been watching and analyzing soccer for 20 years. I have NEVER… never seen a squad play this fluidly with players having such a deep understanding of space.

And what I mean by that statement is simple: When one player moves into space, the most efficient next player moves into the space left behind. 

The team seems to be completely selfless in the sense that attackers are not too proud to sit and defend, and defenders are confident enough to step up into the middle or attacking third.

What I really love about this tactic is that the team maintains a ruthless grip on possession by putting numbers into the attacking spaces.

Their defenders and goalkeeper will hold the ball at their feet to bait the press out of position.

This team scores goals in one of three ways.

The first is from their possession when they’re able to throw numbers forward. It is not uncommon to see 5 players attacking an opponent’s back line.

We’ll see here the skill and ability to break down a defensive line with numbers.

And really this isn’t rocket science. This strategy is all about overloading space with more players than the opponent.

The second way this team scores is through their counter-pressing.

After losing possession they’ll try to win the ball high up the pitch and catch the opponent off-balance to create advantages towards goal.

The third is much less sexy but I wouldn’t be doing this team justice if I didn’t mention it. 

Hürzeler has made a concerted effort to score more from set-pieces and corners and concede less. This has been something he’s mentioned as part of his pragmatic education as a coach in lower divisions where athleticism and your ability to be physically dominant is more important than technique.

Now I mentioned the counter-press and the coolest thing for me watching these games wasn’t on the attacking side, it was the defensive nature of this team.

Because FC St. Pauli controls so much of the possession, they are set to attack and counter-press on the first action when they lose the ball.

If the ball isn’t won in that pressing action, the team is happy to reset into a compact 5-2-3.

And you should not think of this team as a high-pressing team. Because the line of confrontation is usually at the halfway line or deeper.

We should think of this team as an intense defensive unit. 

The high-press makes the opponent panic, and then to have to fight through a compact 5-2-3 that squeezes you out of the middle of the pitch and into the sidelines seems to also squeeze the life out of their opponents.

Because not only has Herzeler’s squad scored the fourth most goals in the league this year, they’ve also given up the least.

And that is a recipe for success for any club in any league.

Not to mention he’s gotten the best seasons out of multiple career journeymen, but especially the central midfielder Marcel Hartel whos highest goal total in a season before this one was 5…

He has 17 goals and 12 assists playing this buccaneering style of football.

What the f***?!

Whether you want to consider him German or Swiss or American it doesn’t matter.

Fabian Hürzeler seems to be proud of all nationalities he represents, and his personal uniqueness is driving an incredibly unique and successful club higher and higher.

This article and the subsequent video I’ll publish has been a ton of work to make but I have enjoyed every second of the process. If you enjoyed and want to see more content for the optimistic soccer nerds out there it would be amazing if you considered subscribing. It’s free!

I’ll need some time to edit the video, so it won’t be out for at least a few more days. Thanks for your patience!