Thomas Tuchel defends decision to wait until January to start England job

New England head coach Thomas Tuchel and his Football Association bosses have defended his January start date.

Tuchel was presented to the media on Wednesday and spoke of his excitement to get started, with his 18-month contract covering just one tournament – the 2026 World Cup.

However, he will not begin his new role until January 1, with interim coach Lee Carsley leading the team for the Nations League matches against Greece and the Republic of Ireland next month before he returns to his old position with the under-21s.

The FA also confirmed Tuchel would not attend the World Cup qualifying draw, which is set to take place on December 13 but has not been officially confirmed yet by FIFA.

However, FA chief executive Mark Bullingham said a desire to concentrate solely on the 2026 finals in the United States, Canada and Mexico was a key factor in Tuchel not getting started until January.

“When we first spoke to him, we had our timescale, Thomas had his timescale and it just fitted really well,” Bullingham said.

“What was so impressive was his singular focus on us and the World Cup and that project. It made sense for it to start on January 1 and made sense for Lee to finish the campaign in the Nations League. So we’re very comfortable where we are and that’s what we’ll be doing.”

For now at least Tuchel’s reign is set to last for just one tournament, with his 18-month contract ending after the 2026 finals.

Tuchel added: “It was important for me to narrow it down into a project and not lose the focus, to start in another competition, the Nations League, then go into qualification and the tournament.

“I wanted to have a clean start and a bit of time to recharge fully and start in January and start the first camp in March.”

The FA has at least taken Tuchel off the job market, even if he will not start until January.

He was linked with Manchester United in the summer and surely would have been again should the Red Devils run out of patience with under-pressure current boss Erik ten Hag.

Asked why he had chosen England rather than wait, Tuchel said: “Because the idea and the way (FA technical director) John (McDermott) and Mark presented it was very fast, very exciting and it was very confidential. It was very trustful.

“It was very straightforward and that was basically a decision for this job. It was not a decision against anything else.”

The FA revealed Tuchel had signed his contract on October 8, before Carsley faced questions about his own ambitions for the permanent job.

The decision to delay the announcement until Wednesday was made to “minimise distraction”, the FA said, but arguably placed Carsley in an awkward position.