Serious blow of fate
Nagelsmann’s new assistant coach has a tragic story
March 25, 2026 – 8:52 p.mReading time: 2 minutes
Alfred Schreuder should support the German national team at least until the World Cup. He had to cope with a severe blow of fate in his life.
He is the new helper of national coach Julian Nagelsmann: Alfred Schreuder. The 53-year-old has been the new assistant coach of the German national team since Monday and is expected to support Nagelsmann and his team up to and including the World Cup in the summer.
Schreuder and the national coach know each other well: they worked together at TSG Hoffenheim between 2016 and 2018. Schreuder then worked for FC Barcelona as an assistant coach before continuing his career as head coach of Club Brugge, Ajax Amsterdam and in the United Arab Emirates, first at Al-Ain and then at Al-Nasr. He is currently on the sidelines for Al-Diraiyah FC in Saudi Arabia. On Friday, in the first test match against Switzerland, he will carry out his “second job” as Nagelsmann Co for the first time.
While Schreuder has already celebrated a number of successes professionally, including winning the Spanish Cup once, winning the Dutch Cup twice and becoming Dutch champion twice, he had to accept a tragic stroke of fate in his private life.
In 2006, Schreuder’s daughter Anouk died of a brain tumor at the age of six. The native Dutchman spoke to the “Kicker” years ago about his loss and how it shaped him: “Even afterward, you’re afraid for your children, that something like that can happen again,” he said. “It doesn’t go away, but you learn to live with it,” Schreuder continued.
But the loss taught Schreuder to correctly classify challenges and setbacks in life. “Indirectly it is also an answer to the question of why it is easy for me to tell players why they are not playing. If you have lost your daughter – what could be more difficult?” he explained. He can also accept a possible dismissal from a club more calmly: “There is a lot of strength. When you read about the question of whether you are shaky as a coach, you can only smile about it,” said Schreuder.
