Texas-born Fabian Huerzeler is new FC St. Pauli head coach
- by Mike Woitalla @MikeWoitalla, Dec 26, 2022
Fabian Huerzeler, who was born to German parents in Houston in 1993 and raised in Germany, has been named head coach of German second division club FC St. Pauli.
The 29-year-old was in Bayern Munich's youth program when in 2011 U.S. U-20 head coach Thomas Rongen discovered his eligibility to play for the USA. Rongen had led U.S. Soccer's search for foreign-raised talent.
Huerzeler didn't end up on of Rongen's team, which failed to qualify for the 2011 U-20 World Cup by losing to Guatemala in the quarterfinals of the Concacaf U-20 Championship. (The squad included Sebastian Lletget, Greg Garza and Bobby Wood).
After falling to breakthourgh with Bayern Munich, Hoffenheim and 1860 München II, Huerzeler moved to Bavarian regional league club FC Pipinsried, where he started his coaching career as player-coach in 2016.
In 2020, he joined St. Pauli as assistant coach after stints as German youth national team assistant coach. Huerzeler replaces Timo Schultz with St. Pauli in 15th place of the 18-team league.
