Why Sebastian Hoeneß is primed to be a hot head coach target this summer

Stuttgart are on course for their second Champions League qualification in three full seasons under Sebastian Hoeneß, having only stayed up through the relegation play-off after he came in to rescue their 2022/23 campaign. The 43-year-old head coach’s reputation has skyrocketed during his time in southwest Germany, as he certainly has done more than enough to warrant interest from top clubs around Europe.

Career so far

In my last podcast appearance on the paywalled feed (which I obviously recommend you subscribe to, if only to hear Hayden’s blasphemous shout for a Spurs transfer target), we actually had a quick chat about Hoeneß among other exciting young coaches. In it, we acknowledged his status as a nepo baby — but crucially, he’s made good on the opportunities he has gotten.

Hoeneß’s playing career was entirely unremarkable; he only made three senior appearances for Hoffenheim and spent most of his time with Hertha BSC’s second team. He decided to take up coaching before turning 30, working for Hertha as well as RB Leipzig’s youth teams before eventually moving to Bayern Munich, where his uncle Uli was club president at the time.

Fast forward a couple of years to 2019, and he was promoted to the head coach post of Bayern’s second team, with whom he made history. In his first and only season at the club, he guided the side to a first-ever 3. Liga title for a reserve team in German football history — the highest honour such a side can win. The impressiveness of that achievement would be underscored the following season, when the team would go on to get relegated to the fourth tier.

Indeed, the ability to get the maximum out of a group of players would prove to be one of Hoeneß’s standout qualities as he moved on to senior football, but it would not become immediately evident. His first job was a two-season spell in charge of Hoffenheim, whom he guided to mid-table finishes. Perhaps the most encouraging sign in them was his early switch to a back five, which helped arrest their defensive slide. They were fun to watch at times (not least thanks to Andrej Kramarić’s efforts), but in the end, the decision to part ways made sense from the club’s perspective.

Hoeneß was out of a job for a few months thereafter, but picked up the phone when Stuttgart came calling in April 2023. They were bottom of the standings at the time and had become a bit of a yo-yo club bouncing between tiers, but their ambition obviously was to be a top-flight regular once again.

Their new head coach ended up exceeding almost everything they could have asked for. After just about guiding Stuttgart to safety through the relegation play-off, Hoeneß led them to the runners-up spot in the 2023/24 Bundesliga season, only behind the invincible Bayer Leverkusen and ahead of Bayern Munich. With that, the young German coach became the talk of the town around Europe.

Tactical development at Stuttgart

Although there reportedly was some interest from major clubs, Hoeneß stuck around as Stuttgart made their first Champions League appearance in over 15 years.

The 2024/25 season proved tougher for the most part as Stuttgart only managed a mid-table finish in the league and could get no further than the continental group stage, but it ended on a high as they won the DFB Pokal — their first major trophy in close to two decades. More importantly, though, Hoeneß and company seemed to learn some valuable lessons and develop the team further, setting them up to bounce back in the new season.

Among the keys to Stuttgart’s success in 2023/24 was their complete stylistic overhaul. They had played a more conservative back five setup to ensure survival at the end of the previous campaign, but after a full pre-season’s worth of training time, Hoeneß instituted a very possession-oriented approach. Interestingly, Leverkusen were simultaneously on a similar trajectory, and the two clubs would go on to top the standings while being the only sides apart from Bayern to be over 60% in terms of average possession.

Both of these teams enjoyed success by somewhat going against the Bundesliga’s traditional more end-to-end and transition-based meta, but sustaining it was a different challenge. Certainly for Stuttgart, it seemed that opponents were better-prepared to face them the following season as they avoided getting press-baited so easily and generally adopted more compact approaches or had better plans to limit their build-up. As a result, Hoeneß’s side struggled to create as many chances and generally had a tougher time going forward.

Of course, there were other factors at play as well. Notably, the added fixture load and departures of key players also impacted the defensive side of their game, with the loss of two starting defenders clearly impacting their solidity at the back.

On the bright side, these challenges pushed this Stuttgart side to improve in both respects by the time 2025/26 came around. While they have stuck to their 4-4-2 setup and continue to want to keep more of the ball, they now have more options and ideas against different types of opponents, especially as pressing intensity has continued to drop across the league.

Stuttgart still have the same principles in possession; they use deep full backs and midfielders to build out with snappy short passing and enjoy releasing the front four in transition, with the wingers coming inside and a striker dropping off to facilitate this. They have notably improved in terms of being able to make more in-game tweaks to the structure, throwing off opponents that look to press them.

Against more disciplined deeper blocks, Stuttgart have remained quite reliant on crossing. The full-backs push up to add width in the final third, where crossing remains a key component of their play. While this can often be a bit of a red flag in terms of a team’s creation ideas, the angles Stuttgart are able to open up as well as the numbers they get in the box has made it sustainable enough for them. All the while, they’ve also managed to do a good job on the counterpress.

The stats seem to suggest that Hoeneß’s side have made bigger improvements defensively, as they are above average in every metric. Interestingly, though, they haven’t shown many new tactical ideas in this regard. Instead, they are simply executing much better so far.

Out of possession, Stuttgart have a solid 4-4-2 mid block in their locker but like to step up higher. They tend to adopt a very player-oriented approach when they press, but have found a good balance to ensure they are not left exposed at the back by cautiously shepherding the ball into a corner before really triggering a squeeze. Beyond that, though, they haven’t shown many variations.

On the whole, Hoeneß has shown himself to be a pretty well-rounded head coach who has constantly been developing his ideas and refining his team’s style of play. He clearly seems to have a preferred approach and setup at Stuttgart, which seems well-suited for a team with the ambitions and resources to compete towards the top end of their table.

Player development

There are a fair few coaches out there who favour a possession-dominant and eye-catching style of play, so what makes Hoeneß really stand out is his track record with player development. More than anything else, the key to Stuttgart’s dramatic turnaround in his first full season with them was his ability to elevate the levels of players across the board.

Two of Stuttgart’s top three all-time sales — and seven of their top 11 — have been made since Hoeneß’s arrival. Nick Woltemade, who was signed on a free transfer from Werder Bremen and sold on to Newcastle United for €75m a year later, is the obvious standout, but Enzo Millot, Serhou Guirassy, Hiroki Ito and Waldemar Anton are others that Hoeneß can take a good deal of credit for.

Beyond these standout names, though, the most impressive aspect of the 43-year-old German tactician’s coaching is his ability to get more out of every member of the squad. Right back Josha Vagnomann is a prime example of this, as he has been made to look like a serviceable right back despite offering extremely little by way of passing.

Other players have shown more marked improvements. Among them is centre-back Ramon Hendriks, who has lately looked quite good with the ball at his feet and has also been more defensively assured this term.

There are many others who have benefited from working under the 43-year-old German coach, including Jamie Leweling, Chris Führich, Maximilian Mittelstädt, Atakan Karazor and Deniz Undav. But the player whose development Hoeneß can take the most credit for certainly is Angelo Stiller, who followed him from Bayern II to Hoffenheim and Stuttgart. The 24-year-old German international is the archetype of passing midfielder that his coach favours, and has come to define his style of play.

Hoeneß seems to be applying such ideas of development and finding the right environment to his own career too, as he reportedly rejected interest from Manchester United after his breakout season. So, any potential suitor this summer will not only have to identify him as the right target but also show why it would be a good move for him. Stuttgart, for their part, will surely hope that such a match is not made.

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