The German Bundesliga’s coaching carousel is in full swing as managers all over Germany are either changing jobs or being linked to new destinations. Jesse Marsch became part of the carousel as RB Leipzig’s newest hire, and another American already in the Bundesliga could be set for a job change.
Stuttgart manager Pellegrino Matarazzo has been linked with the looming opening at Eintracht Frankfurt, German outlet Bild reported Thursday. Matarazzo is in the mix alongside current Wolfsburg boss Oliver Glasner and PSV manager Roger Schmidt.
Eintracht Frankfurt has begun its quest for a new head coach, knowing that Adi Hutter will be leaving at the end of the current season for Borussia Monchengladbach. The Super Eagles are currently in the mix for a top-four spot in the Bundesliga, sitting one point clear of fifth-place Borussia Dortmund with three matches remaining.
Matarazzo has been with Stuttgart since 2019, helping the club earn promotion back to the Bundesliga last season. The 43-year-old New Jersey native has led Stuttgart to a 10th-place spot in the German top flight this season, earning him a new contract back in February through 2024.
“I feel very much at home at VfB,” Matarazzo said back in February after signing his new contract. “Together with Thomas Hitzlsperger, Sven Mislintat and Markus Rüdt, we’ve initiated a very positive development. I really enjoy working with all of the team. We want to take the next steps together. I’d like to thank everyone responsible at VfB for their trust and look forward to the future.”
The club has already clinched its survival in the Bundesliga for an additional season, a credit to Matarazzo’s hard work with the squad. Matarazzo will be joined in the Bundesliga next season by fellow American head coach Jesse Marsch, who was announced as the new manager at RB Leipzig earlier on Thursday.
“Either way, I think the bottom line is it’s good to see American managers making an impression in Europe. This can only be good for the growth of the game. Think, Bundesliga managers will be 11% American next year.”
Precisely what about that are you taking issue with? I suspect I could have said, “This is good,” and you would have replied with a three-page contrarian ramble.”
America!
I find this round of musical chairs in Germany particularly perplexing. I suppose it’s the same in England when you can have Big Sam and Steve Bruce and Harry Redknapp and Mark Hughes all switching clubs amongst themselves, but this round in Germany seems a bit extreme. You’d think, for Matarazzo, with his success in the first season in the top tier, consolidating and building on that success with VfB would seem reasonable. They’ve fallen on hard times, but they’re a big club historically. I suppose it comes down to his relationship with the hierarchy and their plans for investment. But I suppose if Frankfurt squeak into the Champions League next year (I’m not convinced that will happen), that could change the calculus.
Either way, I think the bottom line is it’s good to see American managers making an impression in Europe. This can only be good for the growth of the game. Think, Bundesliga managers will be 11% American next year.
sorry but marsch is like the exception proving the rule. i have never heard of this guy and i doubt anyone outside of yanks abroad obsessives have either. whole career in europe in lower divisions then coached there. kind of like wagner. and yet probably easier for him to get a job than bradley or marsch, who have much better resumes. this is backwards. US coaches are basically back where the players were c. 1990. untrusted. outsiders. as though they coach futsal or some other game and not in a high level league which MLS is, kvetching aside. only way marsch gets a job is grooming by red bull. no jobs outside that umbrella. bradley got some random gigs and EPL only through american owners, with a hostile team and fanbase. berhalter got hammarby through AEG. matarazzo went to an ivy and is probably a smart guy but he and wagner are getting hired for jobs our best PROVEN domestic coaches would not get offered. call me when someone gets hired happily by non american owners touting how he did in MLS like it’s not a foreign language. as it stands england seems like they would rather re-hire a guy who got a team relegated than try successful americans. and i’d be curious if they saw this guy with decades in europe as “american.” or is that the whole point here.
Imperative or Irrelevant?
i think we have like 2 head coaches or so in all of europe. one of whom basically lives there year round for decades. other of which came up within a corporate umbrella. 5 years ago swansea fans wanted bradley’s head on a pike just for being american. your argument is grossly exaggerated. i will believe we’ve arrived when we’re not breathlessly discussing the two men with jobs on the whole continent. this is basically the equivalent of the 90s era response to our players. where you could be future all world and they’d cut you.
i will believe we’ve turned a corner when they don’t assume we are ignorant and inferior and want arena schmetzer vanney vermes bradley like one of their own. right now marsch went from winning our league to having to apprentice for years. this is the opposite of respect.
Not really sure if I agree or disagree with you, since I’m not 100% sure what your point is. But I’ll say this. Unlike most/all American coaches from MLS, Matarazzo played in Germany, was an assistant coach in the Bundesliga (under Nagelsmann no less), and got hired in the B2, not the Bundesliga. He most likely knew the language and certainly knew the culture and the league. Having a name that sounds more Euro than American probably didn’t hurt him.
Would Greg Vanney or Peter Vermes get a serious interview if they pursued a job in Germany? I don’t know. There may very well be bias against Americans when it comes to Euro coaching jobs, but in this case Matarazzo had a better resume than any American MLS coach.
I think Frankfurt is sort of a sleeping giant. I get your point about staying put at VfB but Frankfurt can be competitive next season I believe so for me the move makes sense. Not only for the squad but because…what?…4 or five coaches are moving to new clubs, right? Frankfurt can capitalize on this potentially. Even in the case of Nagelsmann and an awesome Bayern squad he is still going to be introducing new ideas. So, things seem less absolute somehow. I think this coming bundesliga season is going to be really interesting in this regard.
So, Matta to Frankfurt. Marsch to Leipzig. Nagelsmann to Bayern. Rose to Dortmund. Hutter to Monchengladbach. Leverkusen and Hertha too, I believe.
I’d be more than happy to see it. If Matarazzo goes to Frankfurt and ANYONE manages to take the title away from Bayern, it means there’s likely to be an American involved.