Prince William shares message of support for new England manager Thomas Tuchel

The Prince of Wales has shared his excitement for the announcement of the new England manager.

Prince William, a huge football fan, has taken to site X (formerly Twitter) on the Prince and Princess of Wales’ official account to write a message of support for former Chelsea boss Thomas Tuchel, who has signed an 18-month contract to be England’s next boss.

William shared: “Exciting times for England, with a generation of talented players and a new manager taking the reins.” In a personal message to Tuchel, he added: “Thomas, wishing you the best of luck, we’re all behind you!” He signed it with his signature ‘W’, which means it came from the Prince himself.

The 51-year-old will start his role on January 1, 2025, and succeeds Gareth Southgate, who stepped down in July in the wake of the disappointing final of Euro 2024. The FA first contacted the German over the summer and this week agreed on a deal worth £5million per year.

Tuchel, who won the Champions League with Chelsea in 2021, said in a statement: “I am very proud to have been given the honour of leading the England team. I have long felt a personal connection to the game in this country, and it has given me some incredible moments already.

“To have the chance to represent England is a huge privilege, and the opportunity to work with this special and talented group of players is very exciting. Working closely with Anthony as my assistant coach, we will do everything we can to make England successful and the supporters proud.

“I want to thank the FA, in particular Mark [Bullingham] and John [McDermott], for their trust and I am looking forward to starting our journey together.” Anthony Barry has been announced as the new assistant head coach.

It comes after William was seen out on the field playing a very different sport on Tuesday. The Prince showed off his “unbelievable arm” playing non-contact American football with youngsters at an NFL event supporting children living in deprived parts of the UK.

Youngsters shouted, “What a throw” as acting quarterback William lobbed the ball across the pitch to his teammate. Children from Birmingham, Manchester and London gathered to play NFL flag, the non-contact version of American football, at Kennington Park hockey pitch, south London, in the community event.

Prince William told GB women’s flag football captain Phoebe Schecter that he played American football on the beach in summer when he was younger, but shrugged off his sporting ability and said, “I try my hand at most [sports]” though “not very well”.

Schecter disagreed and later said: “Honestly, Prince William was great – his arm strength is unbelievable when he let that first ball rip, I couldn’t believe it. Honestly, I think if we had better receivers around, we would have had multiple touchdowns happening, but his ability to take control of the offence, going into a completely unfamiliar territory really, calling the cadence, receiving the ball, doing a hand-off at one point, making those tactical decisions – it was phenomenal.”