There have been a lot of talks about American players pushing hard to reach promotion to top flight this season in their respective leagues.

Nicholas Gioacchini successfully did it with Como. Gianluca Busio and Tanner Tessmann are in the playoffs with Venezia, alongside Kristoffer Lund’s Palermo. Josh Sargent is also in the playoffs together with American manager David Wagner for Norwich.

But there is one person who went under the radar of most American fans. Fabian Hürzeler.

Over a week ago, he successfully guided St. Pauli back to the Bundesliga for the first time in 13 years. What’s even more impressive is that he is just 31 years old.

To give you context, he’s five years younger than Tim Ream, and just a few months older than the likes of Walker Zimmerman and DeAndre Yedlin. He’s the same age as St. Pauli’s Australian captain Jackson Irvine, while three players in the squad are older than him.

So, who exactly is Hürzeler? Well, this is his story.

Hürzeler was born in Houston, Texas to Swiss and German parents. His parents were working in the U.S. at the time and they moved to Germany as a family when he was a child.

However, he still has a lot of connections with the U.S. as he comes to visit the country often. 

“I think I will always be connected to the U.S. because it’s the land where I was born,” he told GOAL. 

“I’d say I have some typical attitudes of Americans. I’ll always be open-minded to everything, to everybody, and work hard to reach my dream. That’s one point that always will be connected to the U.S.” 

“I can say that my goal is to fly to the U.S. this summer and watch the Copa América.” 

“I always go on holidays there because I just love the country. I love the people. When we were young, we always vacationed with our family there.” 

“We’d go get a camping car and drive around different cities. We had an amazing, amazing experience there and I will never forget it.” 

Hürzeler retired from playing when he was just 23, but before he hanged up his boots, he did get a call-up to the U.S. U-20 squad.

Being dubbed “the American Julian Nagelsmann”, he’s being compared to the current German national team coach due to their managerial success at a young age.

However, he doesn’t like those comparisons as he is a different person to the German manager with a different personality, different tactics, and a different way of doing things.

"I have to stay humble," he told GOAL. 

"I have to go on my own way. I still have a lot of things to learn. It's not only about detecting things on the pitch; it's also how you treat the media. It's how your impact is in the media and in the world.”

“It's very important that I go on my own, that I try to reflect on my own, and that I go my own way because I can't be the same as Julian Nagelsmann. He went one way, but I'm trying to go the Fabian Hürzeler way. If I can be as successful as Nagelsmann, I will be happy."

Hürzeler was appointed by St. Pauli in December 2022, when he was just 29. They were 15th on the table at the time, and only above the relegation zone due to goal difference.

He instantly turned them around. From January to April, St. Pauli went on a 10-game winning streak. They not only broke the club record for successive wins, but also tied the 2.Bundesliga record.

A year later, he now has them on the top of the table and helped them get a ticket back to the Bundesliga.

After a fantastic job bringing St. Pauli from near the bottom of the table to the top, let’s see what Hürzeler can do in the German top-flight next season. He will be joining another American manager Pellegrino Matarazzo in the Bundesliga, a New Jersey native who’s been in Germany for the past 25 years.

St. Pauli are a famous club, not so much for their performances on the pitch but for their political stance and a huge fanbase.

American fans will also be familiar with the club as they had some USMNT players in the past, such as Joe Gyau, Michael Mason, Cory Gibbs, and of course, Paul Caligiuri who helped the USMNT qualify to their first World Cup in 40 years with his goal.

It will be interesting to see if Hürzeler will try to sign some USMNT players in the summer, considering he will be in the U.S. to watch the Copa América.

Some key USMNT players, such as Gio Reyna and Matt Turner, can surely use much needed playing time at club level in a top league.