“We are absolutely in love with him. He’s been an incredible manager. The results are extraordinary and we’re flying.”
Those words from Ben Parker will be familiar to fans of any club who have been on the kind of winning run Brighton and Hove Albion are currently on.
But all the signs on and off the pitch suggest that the man in question — Brighton’s German coach Fabian Hürzeler — is more than just a flash in the Premier League pan.
Hürzeler has never coached in the Bundesliga. After winning promotion to Germany’s top flight with St. Pauli in 2024, he left to become the youngest man ever to take charge in England’s Premier League at 31. His team currently sit third, having won six games in a row including a 5-0 thrashing of bitter rivals Crystal Palace last weekend.
It was the repeat of a fixture last season that marked Hürzeler’s lowest Brighton ebb, with a 1-0 home loss making it one win in 12. “There are only two options,” the German coach said at the time. “Give up or keep pushing harder, and that’s always the option I choose in my life.”
Fan relationship a two way street for Hürzeler
Parker, the co-editor of Brighton and Hove Albion fanzine, Dogma, admitted to DW that there were plenty who were not sure that persisting was the answer. “There was some disquiet at the end of that game, there were people shouting: ‘You’re getting sacked in the morning.’”
While such sentiment may be difficult to swallow for many coaches, Parker said that Hürzeler told him in an interview soon after joining the club that he welcomed it when needed.
“He talked about wanting a fan relationship that had a two way aspect. The club and him are really ambitious, so if the performances aren’t up to scratch we should be telling him that. And that’s what happened on that day. I see the whole thing as being quite healthy.”
Hürzeler never played at the top level. He represented Germany’s youth teams and turned out for Bayern Munich’s reserves but soon grew frustrated with second-team football. He then accepted a player-coach role at German fifth-tier side Pipinsried at the age of 23, which he performed alongside a job at an art dealership in Bavaria, where he moved with his family at the age of two having been born in the US.
Age and playing career no barrier to progress
That unusual path to top-flight management and some innovative tactics at St. Pauli led to a perception in Germany that Hürzeler was a little aloof and something of a ‘laptop manager’ in the vein of former Bayern Munich and Germany boss, Julian Nagelsmann who had a similarly nondescript playing career. This, so the charge goes, meant he wasn’t able to forge the relationships and togetherness needed to make a team more than the sum of its parts.
That was rarely what was reported by his players and staff at St. Pauli, nor is it Hürzeler’s belief. “I want to be myself, I don’t want to play a role, and my age definitely helps regarding understanding the players,” he said.
Hürzeler was a popular figure at St. Pauli, who he led back to the Bundesliga Image: Axel Heimken/dpa/picture alliance
“I always say I speak their language and I understand their thoughts, because it wasn’t that long ago when I played.”
His antics on the sideline also earned him a reputation as a bit of a hot-head. Hürzeler was booked seven times during St. Pauli’s promotion push and since joining Brighton, the German has been booked nine times and been sent off once. When asked about this, he said: “Emotions are part of the game.”
Parker said this authenticity has also been reflected in his relationship with Brighton and Hove, on the south coast of England.
German duo take center stage
“For most Brighton fans he comes across as quite a quirky, interesting, left-field figure. The mantra he set out when he first arrived was quite counter-culturalist, to challenge the establishment, and that fits well here,” Parker said.
“You will see him walking along on the seafront, going up for coffees around town and he travels back and forth on an ebike, not in a chauffer-driven car as a lot of managers might. He’s also hosted fan events in pubs, which I believe he paid for. So I’d say he’s very approachable.”
But Hürzeler isn’t the only 30-something German beloved in Brighton. Pascal Gross, who rejoined the club from Borussia Dortmund in January, is also a firm favorite. The midfielder, who retired from Germany duty after the World Cup earlier this year, has scored three and made four in the club’s opening seven league games and said he felt compelled to return.
“I missed the special connection I have with the people here,” the 35-year-old told Sky Sports.
Pascal Gross has been a key player for Brighton since returning to the club in JanuaryImage: Richard Lee/Shutterstock/IMAGO
“I was here for seven years, got married here and both my kids were born in England. The most important milestones in my life happened here. I missed my friends and the feeling of being deeply connected to the club.”
The feeling is mutual, said Parker. “Pascal Gross is everybody’s favorite player. He’s Brighton’s first best signing, from Ingolstadt, and second-best signing, from Dortmund. He’s a sensational player, and it’s probably true to say there is a lot of warmth towards towards German football and Germany because of these hugely important characters at the football club.”
Hürzeler has Bayern in mind, but Brighton in present
The Premier League club’s success has been built on a smart coach and player recruitment strategy guided by local owner, Tony Bloom. Part of the model is that those who shine brightest will often be snatched by the bigger fish.
“I think he’s said he’s a supporter of Bayern Munich and he uses them as an example of the standards he wants,” said Parker of Hürzeler. “I can see that he could be a good fit in a couple of years time. He won’t go to a Liverpool or a Chelsea, I think there’s a strong pull to Bayern in particular.”
Bayern’s current boss, Vincent Kompany, is in little danger at the moment, though Bayern coaches are only ever a few losses from crisis. For the meantime, Hürzeler is also happy where he is, having extended his contract to 2029. Again, the feeling is mutual.
Next up in the Premier League is a trip to Liverpool, where Jürgen Klopp became the first German coach to make a real mark on the Premier League. But before that, Hürzeler’s team have an assignment in the Europa Conference League, a competition Brighton are among the favorites to win. Parker hopes a first major trophy is in sight.
“If he can be the person that wins us that first trophy, then he will go down as the greatest.”
Edited by: Jonathan Harding