10 consecutive wins since taking over as head coach. Rapid rise from the relegation zone to the promotion zone. Coach Fabian Hürzeller (Germany), a young strategist who is only 30 years old, is writing a miracle like a fairy tale in the second division of German professional football.
Hürzeller led the team to 10 consecutive victories until recently after being appointed head coach of Jean Pauli in the second division of the Bundesliga in December of last year. Jean Pauli jumped to 4th place with 13 wins, 8 draws and 6 losses (47 points). The Bundesliga website recently reported in an article titled “Who is the ex-Bayern Munich youth player who surpasses Jurgen Klopp and revives Jean Pauli?”, “Fürzeller changed Jean Pauli’s fate and made fans dream again.”메이저놀이터
Fürzeller entered the leadership path early. His player experience is only playing 110 games (10 goals) in the German second division for 6 years from 2011. Since then, Hürzeller has been coaching the regional team since 2016, and in 2018, he served as an assistant coach for the German under-18 and under-20 national teams. He took over as coach Jean Pauli in 2020 and became head coach last December. The 29-year-old coach is the second youngest in Bundesliga 2 history.
After actively communicating with the players, Hürzeller changed his playing style. He only aimed at his side enough to be called outright. He intensively broke through the side as a wingback (or fullback), wing forward as well as central midfielder. When defending, 3 attackers and 2 midfielders form a pentagon in the center. It is a strategy that induces the ball to go to the side inevitably by blocking the center. When your opponent has the ball wide, it is much easier to defend. ‘Total Football Analysis’ said, “It is a hybrid formation mixed with several formations,” and analyzed, “No matter how the formation changes, the players play in the same style.”
Jean Pauli scored 18 goals during his 10-game winning streak and reduced the conceded goal to 3 goals. Lee Yong-hoon, editor of soccer analysis company Opta, analyzed, “Jean Pauli has excellent individual skills and teamwork of wingbacks, wingforwards, and midfielders who run close together like a pair.”
Coach Hürzeller is from Bayern Munich youth. “Spending 10 years at Bayern gave me the DNA to own the ball and dominate the game,” he said. The Athletic said, “The 30-year-old coach has completely changed Jean Pauli’s season and now he is aiming for promotion after 13 years.” The 1st and 2nd places in the Bundesliga 2nd Division are promoted to the Bundesliga 1st Division, and the 3rd place goes to the playoffs. Jean Pauli’s points are 6 points less than second place. There are 7 matches left. Jean Pauli, who worried about relegation to the third division a few months ago, now dreams of promotion to the first division. It is all the more surprising that a fearless 30-year-old director is writing a story like a lie.