What is the difference between Julian Nagelsmann and Domenico Tedesco? "The biggest difference is that Julian won the German title with Hoffenheim's under-19s, whereas Domenico didn't," said Dirk Mack, a man who knows them both well.
The director of Hoffenheim's youth academy was only teasing The 49-year-old really only has warm words for both outstanding coaches, who emerged from Hoffenheim's youth set-up and are now plotting successful careers at the highest level.
This Saturday Hoffenheim face Schalke in the Bundesliga and on the touchline will be the two youngest coaches in the league. Julian Nagelsmann, 30, has been coach of Hoffenheim since February 2016, while Domenico Tedesco, 32, took the reins at Schalke in July. Both earned their stripes in Hoffenheim's youth set-up, with Tedesco taking Nagelsmann's place when he was promoted to the first team.
Watch: the Bundesliga's new coaching breed
The pair also gained their coaching badges together, with Tedesco finishing top of the class ahead of Nagelsmann. "I'm sure they've ribbed each other about that once or twice," Mack said, even if he does not feel there is much importance to who finished ahead of whom. Besides, as the course was drawing to its conclusion, Nagelsmann was right in the thick of a Bundesliga relegation battle.
"In the last month and a half, I think I only went to Hennef [sport school] three times," Nagelsmann recalls. "I had other problems to resolve." Often, the pair would drive from Baden to the Rhineland together, although "Domenico would sit in the back row and I'd be at the front," recalled Nagelsmann. "Not because I wanted to look swotty, but I always wanted to get there later." By which time, only the undesired pews were remaining.
Nagelsmann successfully saved Hoffenheim from relegation and led them into Europe just 12 months later.
When the two youngest coaches in the Bundesliga meet this weekend, there will inevitably be talk of a generation change in the Bundesliga. Even in Mainz, there is a 38-year-old coach in Sandro Schwarz – another to have come through the youth ranks and now coach the first team. In Bremen, Alexander Nouri is just 38, while the 36-year-old Hannes Wolf – formerly a youth team coach at Borussia Dortmund – is now into his second season as head coach at Stuttgart.
Thomas Tuchel was the pioneer in 2009, successfully making the step up from youth-team coach to the first team. And like Tuchel back then, Nagelsmann's success in saving Hoffenheim from relegation and then leading them into Europe the following season suggests a great coaching career is in the making.
There's been a youthful coaching revolution in the #Bundesliga ⚔️
And #Nagelsmann & #Tedesco are leading the way