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11th Feb 2016

Five things that are older than Hoffenheim’s ridiculously young new manager

Nooruddean Choudry

You know you’re getting old when football managers start to look younger.

Hoffenheim have made history this week by appointing Julian Nagelsmann as their new head coach. At 28 years of age, he becomes the youngest Bundesliga manager ever.

He replaces Huub Stevens, who was forced to retire due to ill health. Stevens is just about old enough to be Nagelsmann’s grandfather at 62.

The young Bavarian was born in July 1987 (which is depressing in itself), and here are just a few things that are older than his tender years…

His players

That’s right – five of Nagelsmann’s first-team squad are older than their new manager, including club captain Pirmin Schwegler who pips him by a few months.

The Simpsons

The first episode of the Simpsons may have aired in 1989 – when Nagelsmann was a two-year-old – but the animated family debuted on the Tracy Ullman Show in April, 1987.

Emilia Clarke

She may look ridiculously young for her age, but the Game of Thrones star is a relative oldie at 29, and that makes her almost a year the German novice’s senior.

Pingu

Again, you would be forgiven for thinking that Pingu was but a wet-feathered nestling, but the mischievous penguin made his bow on Swiss TV back in 1986.

Pixar

Toy Story came out in 1995, when the new Hoffenheim coach was the ripe old age of eight, but Pixar was founded in 1986, predating Nagelsmann’s birth certificate.