DFB coach reveals secret: Nagelsmann’s father worked for the secret service

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Julian Nagelsmann (36) has had an impressive career as a coach. Starting in 2016 with Hoffenheim in the 1st Bundesliga, he ended up as German national coach via Leipzig and Bayern Munich within more than seven years. He was never afraid of the ever-increasing pressure. “I once had my risk of burnout tested. It is zero percent,” he says in an interview with “Spiegel”. Still, he makes sure he can relax, because “I love football, but life is not just football”.

He got into the football world because he didn’t listen to his father. He would have preferred to study economics rather than sports. “There was a fatherly concern behind this, because as a certified trainer you can end up in a fitness studio on a mini-job basis, even if things go really badly,” Nagelsmann explains.

A stroke of fate at the age of 20

His father had a completely different profession. He was in the secret service. But he does not know what exactly he did and is not allowed to say anything more about it, says Nagelsmann. He discovered it when he was 15 or 16 years old. When asked about his father’s work, he always answered what he had thought for a long time: “Professional soldier. Even my grandfather believed his son was a soldier.”

He describes his relationship with his father to “Spiegel” as excellent. Even if it came to an abrupt end. When Nagelsmann was twenty years old, his father took his own life. He often thinks back to the day it happened. He was just doing a coaching course when they told him to go out. As he sometimes was, he said some stupid things. “The next moment I was standing in front of my then father-in-law, who told me that my father had committed suicide.”

Accept decision

It was difficult for him to understand that. “My father left no suicide note, there was no explanation.” However, the manner left no doubt that this decision was clear to him. Even though it “really sucked” for the family, what helped him was “that he really wanted to die.” That’s why Nagelsmann thinks: “I have to respect such a decision.”

Looking back, Nagelsmann says he took a lot from him. “I definitely got the courage to make decisions from my father.” Probably also because he had to deal with his loss very early and had to take care of his family. (beer)

Source : Blick