.jpg) Tedesco withSpartak Moscow in 2020 | |||
| Personal information | |||
|---|---|---|---|
| Full name | Domenico Tedesco[1] | ||
| Date of birth | (1985-09-12)12 September 1985 (age 40) | ||
| Place of birth | Rossano, Italy | ||
| Height | 1.78 m (5 ft 10 in) | ||
| Position | Defender | ||
| Team information | |||
Current team | Fenerbahçe (manager) | ||
| Senior career* | |||
| Years | Team | Apps | (Gls) |
| ASV Aichwald | |||
| FV Zuffenhausen | |||
| ASV Aichwald | |||
| Managerial career | |||
| 2017 | Erzgebirge Aue | ||
| 2017–2019 | Schalke 04 | ||
| 2019–2021 | Spartak Moscow | ||
| 2021–2022 | RB Leipzig | ||
| 2023–2025 | Belgium | ||
| 2025– | Fenerbahçe | ||
| * Club domestic league appearances and goals | |||
Domenico Tedesco (Italian pronunciation:[doˈmeːnikoteˈdesko]; born 12 September 1985) is an Italian-German professional football manager who is the head coach of Turkish Süper Lig clubFenerbahçe.
A former youth coach atVfB Stuttgart andHoffenheim, he made his senior breakthrough atErzgebirge Aue in March 2017, keeping the last-placed 2. Bundesliga side up. He was appointed bySchalke 04 later that year and finished second in theBundesliga in his debut season, also reaching theUEFA Champions League knockout phase, before leaving in March 2019.
Tedesco then coachedSpartak Moscow (2019–2021), finishing runners-up in theRussian Premier League in 2020–21. In December 2021 he took overRB Leipzig, winning the club’s first major trophy, the2022 DFB-Pokal, and reaching theUEFA Europa League semi-finals, departing in September 2022.
In February 2023 he became head coach of theBelgium national team, guiding an unbeaten qualification forUEFA Euro 2024 before a round-of-16 exit; he left the post in January 2025. Ten days afterJosé Mourinho’s departure, Tedesco was appointed Fenerbahçe manager on a two-year contract in September 2025.
Domenico Tedesco was born on 12 September 1985 inRossano,Province of Cosenza,Calabria,Italy. When he was two years old, his family emigrated toEsslingen in the German state ofBaden-Württemberg; he later acquired German citizenship.[2][3]
As a youth and amateur he played locally, including for ASV Aichwald in theKreisliga A in the Stuttgart region.[4]
Alongside his early coaching work Tedesco completed a co-operativebachelor’s degree inbusiness engineering inStuttgart and later a master’s degree in innovation/industrial management; during this period he also worked in the automotive sector in Baden-Württemberg.[5]
On 1 July 2008 he joined the youth department ofVfB Stuttgart as an assistant coach underThomas Schneider; from 2013 he served as assistant of the under-17 team. After the 2014–15 season he left Stuttgart to become a youth coach at1899 Hoffenheim, and ahead of 2016–17 he was promoted to the club’s under-19 side.[6]
On 8 March 2017, the then bottom-placedErzgebirge Aue appointed Tedesco as head coach, tasking him with avoiding relegation.[7] He made an immediate impact, collecting 13 points from his first five league matches and stabilising the side with a compact, possession-aware 3-/5-at-the-back structure. Aue ultimately finished 14th and stayed up, with Tedesco recording six wins, two draws and three defeats (6–2–3) across his 11 league fixtures in charge.[8]
Schalke appointed Tedesco head coach on 9 June 2017 on a two-year contract after his breakout spell at Erzgebirge Aue.[9] His debut campaign quickly produced a defining moment in theRevierderby on 25 November 2017, when Schalke came from 0–4 down at half-time to draw 4–4 away toBorussia Dortmund; the comeback was widely hailed in the German press.[10] Tedesco led Schalke to second place in the2017–18 Bundesliga, the club’s best league finish since 2009–10, and qualification for theUEFA Champions League.[11] Schalke also reached theDFB-Pokal semi-finals, losing 0–1 at home toEintracht Frankfurt on 18 April 2018.[12]
The following season began poorly. Schalke opened the2018–19 Bundesliga with five straight defeats—the worst start in the club’s top-flight history—and slipped toward the relegation places.[13] Despite advancing from theChampions League group stage, Schalke were eliminated in the round of 16 byManchester City, losing 2–3 inGelsenkirchen and 0–7 inManchester (10–2 on aggregate).[14] Amid a seven-match winless league run, Schalke relieved Tedesco of his duties on 14 March 2019.[15][16]
On 14 October 2019, Tedesco was appointed head coach ofSpartak Moscow on a contract running to June 2021, replacing interim coachSergei Kuznetsov.[17] In the pandemic-interrupted 2019–20Russian Premier League, Spartak finished seventh after the summer restart period.[18]
On 16 December 2020, Tedesco and the club confirmed he would not extend his deal beyond the end of the 2020–21 season, citing family reasons andCOVID-19 travel impacts.[19][20] Spartak ended 2020–21 as league runners-up, clinching second place with a 2–2 draw withAkhmat Grozny on the final day, which carriedUEFA Champions League third-qualifying-round entry.[21][22][23] He left the club upon expiry of his contract in June 2021, with Spartak publicly thanking him for returning the team to European qualification.[24]
On 9 December 2021, Tedesco was appointed head coach ofRB Leipzig, replacingJesse Marsch on a deal running to 2023.[25] He inherited a team in mid-table and, following a strong Rückrunde, guided Leipzig to a fourth-place finish and qualification for theUEFA Champions League.[26] In Europe, Leipzig reached the club’s first continental semi-final, losing 3–2 on aggregate toRangers in the2021–22 UEFA Europa League (1–0 H, 1–3 A).[27]
On 21 May 2022, Leipzig won theDFB-Pokal for the first time in the club’s history, defeatingSC Freiburg on penalties after a 1–1 draw a.e.t. at theOlympiastadion;Péter Gulácsi saved the decisive spot-kick andChristopher Nkunku scored Leipzig’s equaliser.[28] Under Tedesco, Nkunku produced the most prolific season of his career and was voted theBundesliga Player of the Season for 2021–22.[29]
Tedesco’s Leipzig frequently alternated between a back-three (3-4-2-1 / 3-4-1-2) and a back-four, with an emphasis on compact pressing and fast transitional attacks built aroundChristopher Nkunku,Dominik Szoboszlai,Dani Olmo and the ball-progression of centre-backJoško Gvardiol.[30][31]
The 2022–23 campaign began with a 5–3 defeat toBayern München in theDFL-Supercup,[32] a 4–0 Bundesliga loss away toEintracht Frankfurt,[33] and a 4–1 home defeat byShakhtar Donetsk on Matchday 1 of the UEFA Champions League group stage.[34] On 7 September 2022, the club parted company with Tedesco; he was succeeded byMarco Rose the following day.[35][36]
On 8 February 2023, Tedesco was appointed head coach of theBelgium national football team on a contract running throughUEFA Euro 2024.[37] He began with a 3–0 away win overSweden in qualifying (Romelu Lukaku hat-trick) and a 3–2 friendly victory away toGermany—the Belgians’ first win over Germany since 1954.[38][39]
Belgium topped theirUEFA EURO 2024 qualifying group unbeaten (W6 D2), finishing aboveAustria andSweden with 22 goals scored and four conceded.[40] In June 2023,Thibaut Courtois withdrew from the squad after a dispute around the captaincy; Tedesco said the goalkeeper had left the camp ahead of theEstonia qualifier, while Courtois later issued his own account of events.[41]
AtEuro 2024, Belgium finished second inGroup E with four points but scored only two goals across three matches, losing 1–0 toSlovakia, beatingRomania 2–0 and drawing 0–0 withUkraine.[42][43][44] Belgium were eliminated in the round of 16, losing 1–0 toFrance in Düsseldorf after an 85th-minute deflected strike fromRandal Kolo Muani.[45]
On 17 January 2025, theRoyal Belgian FA announced that Tedesco had been relieved of his duties following a post-tournament review.[46]
On 9 September 2025,Fenerbahçe confirmed the appointment of Tedesco as first-team manager on a two-year contract.[47][48] Five days later, he managed his first match, securing a 1–0 victory overTrabzonspor.[49]
On 2 November 2025, despite falling behind 2–0 away to their arch-rivalBeşiktaş in a 2–3Süper Lig match, he contributed to their 3–2 win with his substitutions and changes in the game plan.[50]
Fenerbahçe fans have shared on social media that Tedesco physically resembles theOttoman EmperorMehmed the Conqueror.[51] After theBeşiktaş derby victory on 2 November 2025, Fenerbahçe also shared posts on their social media accounts that evoke this similarity.[52]
Tedesco describes his preferred game model as one that “divides the space well,” with the ball and the team constantly prepared to attack or control transitions: “I like to compare it to a boxer who should never let his guard down… we want to win the ball back as often as possible because we love attacking – although always with a certain balance and structure.”[53]
Across his teams, he has favoured flexible back-three structures (3–4–2–1 or 3–5–2) that create a strong “rest-defence” behind the ball (typically three plus two in midfield) to secure counter-protection while allowing the wing-backs to advance high and wide.[54] In possession his sides prioritise occupation of the half-spaces, frequent third-man combinations and rotations between the inside forwards and wing-backs to unbalance opposition back lines; out of possession they use height-adjusted pressing (from high press to compact mid-block) with clear triggers to jump on backward or square passes and immediate counter-pressing on ball loss.[55]
Set-plays are a recurrent weapon: Tedesco devotes specific micro-cycles to dead-ball rehearsal and opponent-specific routines, something highlighted duringRB Leipzig’s 2021–22 run (goal patterns from rehearsed corners and second phases).[56] He is also known for heavily data-supported preparation (opponent tendencies, set-play databases, pressing traps), for tailored individual development plans, and for multilingual, detail-rich communication on the training ground—factors frequently cited by players such asChristopher Nkunku,Joško Gvardiol andDominik Szoboszlai when discussing their improvement under his staff.[57]
While his teams can control games with longer build-up, Tedesco has repeatedly stressed “game adaptability” over dogma—altering pressing heights, matching opposition shapes with situational back-four or back-three shifts, and accepting more direct attacks when space behind the line can be exploited.[58]
Tedesco holds dual Italian–German citizenship and ismultilingual, speakingItalian,German,English,French andSpanish; he also acquired basicRussian during his stint at Spartak.[59][60] The surname “Tedesco” literally means “German” in Italian, a fact often noted in profiles of the coach.[61] He is married and has two daughters, and during his time in Germany has been based with his family in Stuttgart.[62]
| Team | League | From | To | Record | PPM | Ref | |||||||
|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|---|
| G | W | D | L | GF | GA | GD | Win % | ||||||
| Erzgebirge Aue |  2. Bundesliga | 8 March 2017[63] | 9 June 2017[64] | 11 | 6 | 2 | 3 | 14 | 10 | +4 | 054.55 | 1.82 | [65] |
| Schalke 04 | Bundesliga | 9 June 2017[66] | 14 March 2019[67] | 75 | 33 | 17 | 25 | 102 | 98 | +4 | 044.00 | 1.57 | [68] |
| Spartak Moscow |  Premier League | 14 October 2019[69] | 24 May 2021[70] | 54 | 27 | 10 | 17 | 89 | 64 | +25 | 050.00 | 1.69 | |
| RB Leipzig | Bundesliga | 9 December 2021[71] | 7 September 2022[72] | 38 | 20 | 9 | 9 | 84 | 46 | +38 | 052.63 | 1.87 | [73] |
| Belgium |  National Team | 8 February 2023[74] | 17 January 2025[75] | 24 | 12 | 6 | 6 | 41 | 19 | +22 | 050.00 | 1.75 | |
| Fenerbahçe |  Süper Lig | 9 September 2025[47] | present | 14 | 9 | 4 | 1 | 28 | 13 | +15 | 064.29 | 2.21 | |
| Total | 216 | 107 | 48 | 61 | 358 | 251 | +107 | 049.54 | — | ||||
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