Thomas Tuchel (German pronunciation: ; born 29 August 1973) is a German professional football coach and former player. He is the head coach at Ligue 1 club Paris Saint-Germain.
Born in Krumbach, Tuchel's starred as a member of local youth club, TSV Krumbach, before moving to the FC Augsburg academy in 1988. However, he never appeared for the first team, being released soon after he turned 19, where he was quickly granted the opportunity to play in the 2. Bundesliga for Stuttgarter Kickers in 1992.
He featured in only eight games in 1992–93 season, with largely unimpressive performances, and following an even more disappointing 1993–94 season, he was dropped from Kickers first team, and quickly joined third-tier Regionalliga Süd side, SSV Ulm, becoming a mainstay for the club over his four-year spell, featuring in 69 matches as an imposing central defender. Despite this, he was forced to end his active career in 1998, at age 25, after suffering a chronic knee cartilage injury earlier that year.