Prince William met new England supervisor Thomas Tuchel for the primary time in the present day forward of his first matches in command of the Three Lions.
Tuchel formally took cost of England firstly of the yr after Sir Gareth Southgate stepped down after the Euros in the summertime, together with his first match coming subsequent month in opposition to Albania. This afternoon, William, who’s Patron of the Soccer Affiliation, welcomed Tuchel to WIndsor Citadel in addition to Mark Bullingham, the CEO of the FA.
A snap posted to social media confirmed William and the brand new England boss shaking fingers. It was captioned: "Nice to satisfy new @England males's supervisor Thomas Tuchel for the primary time in the present day, and listen to about plans for the workforce" and included a robust arm emoji.
Tuchel, who’s German, has been tasked with main England to World Cup glory within the 2026 event. The Three Lions will face Albania, Latvia, Andorra and Serbia within the qualifiers. Nonetheless, he’s anticipating a troublesome qualification marketing campaign, with Albania first up at Wembley on March 21. Tuchel has insisted that reaching the World Cup is not going to be straightforward regardless of the shortage of one other prime degree aspect of their group.
"It's a tough group," mentioned former Chelsea boss Tuchel. "Serbia and Albania have some good particular person gamers, prime coaches and a few very well-known ex-players, so it is going to be very robust. We’ll must be very respectful of that.
"We now have to be at our prime degree to make it to the World Cup – it's crucial job in the mean time to not get distracted. We additionally don’t need to get distracted by the position of favourites."
Tuchel's go to to Windsor Citadel comes after the Prince of Wales despatched a extremely private message to his predecessor Sir Gareth Southgate, who stop as England supervisor final July – simply days after his aspect misplaced the Euro 2024 ultimate to Spain.
Taking to social media minutes after the information was introduced, William mentioned: "Gareth, I need to thanks – not because the President of the @FA, however as an @England fan. Thanks for making a workforce that stands shoulder to shoulder with the world's most interesting in 2024."Thanks for displaying humility, compassion, and true management beneath probably the most intense strain and scrutiny.
"And thanks for being an all-round class act. Try to be extremely pleased with what you’ve achieved. W." The Prince of Wales additionally shared a candy picture of himself sharing a joke with Southgate throughout a earlier go to to the England coaching floor.
Southgate introduced he was standing down as England supervisor, saying it’s time for a "new chapter" for the nationwide workforce. "As a proud Englishman, it has been the honour of my life to play for England and to handle England. It has meant all the things to me and I’ve given it my all," he mentioned in an announcement.
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